Billboard Charts: The Evolution of Music Genre Popularity

Evolution of Music Genre Popularity in the US since 1958, according to Billboard Magazine Hot 100 Charts!

-27,000+ songs are grouped into 16 major genres. Six of the genres - rock, pop, soul, country, R&B, and rap/hip-hop - account for over 77% of the tracks represented.

- "Rock & roll" is separated from traditional "rock" in the genre schema.

- The swing music of artists like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin - often described as "pop" in the late '50s and early '60s - are presented as "pop standards." The pop music more familiar to today's listeners just falls under "pop."

- Different approach with "soul" music too. Our definition of soul encompasses several sub-genres that could arguably have their own buckets like funk, Motown, and disco. However, there is substantial enough overlap between these genres in the data from Spotify to lump them together.

Data Source: Billboard Magazine Hot 100 Charts

Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Charts
Billboard Top 10

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[TheModernMusician]

The heights of Rock in 80s are still holding it high up!

[mintmono]

Not gonna lie I did expect Rap/Hip Hop to do better

[McConnellsGuitar]

So one way of reading this is that the 90s and early 00s were the most musically diverse period we've had in recent history.

[JonMichaelDeShazer]

Your graph is skewed and here's why:

First, musical genres are far more segmented nowadays than 30 years ago. Metal for decades, for example, was considered a sub-genre of rock music. Pop music's style changes with the times too. Much of Pop music today would be classified as electronic music whereas 25 years ago, it was more RnB influenced. Other than chord progressions and song structure, pop music sounds nothing like it did 20 years ago. The style is constantly adapting to what sells.

Secondly, the Billboard Hot 100 determines singles not album sales. Rock Album sales dominated in the 1990s. Bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana weren't selling hit singles, they were selling albums. Rock has always been stronger on album sales than single sales which is why they don't show up very high on the hot 100 in the 1990s.

Rock is not dead my friend.

[pattibookworm]

These genres are inaccurate. Disco was king in the 70s, and it wasn't really rock. So why is rock shown as so big in the 70s?

[trentonb]

Metal, punk and all the other sub genres shouldve just bedn part of rock...which would've made it much bigger on the graph, especially throughout the 90s and early 2000s... Other than that good video

[DaveFore_AudioEngineering]

Surprised to see Rap/Hip Hop drop from 1993 to 1998, aka the "Golden Era" of the genre.

[theYguy]

So the biggest issue that I have with this is a lot of people mistaken what Rock is. It's a very diverse genre. Punk and Metal, sorry to break it to you, it's Rock Music, it's different *Rock Genre* and I've seen people at the college campuses make the same mistake. It'll be like someone saying "Oh Crunk, G-Funk and Rap are all different music genres" when they're all part of the Hip Hop music family. Like it's that bad and often times Rock is broken up to make other genres like rap seem like they're just as big (concert tickets etc show this isn't the case). New Wave, which was a popular Rock genre in the 80s with dance themes, is still popular today. Anything Synth-pop, Synthwave, Electro-Clash, and even with some sources being divided claim Electro-Pop are all part of the same music family (Electro-Pop is considered a variant for Synth-Pop), almost all being sub-genres of New Wave, which again is Rock music. Which means chart toppers like Blinding Lights from The Weekend, is a Rock song, along with a lot of Lady Gaga's number ones also being Synth-Pop. I like Rock because, it is very diverse. You have artists like Bruno Mars for example, releasing hits like Locked out Heaven (Reggae Rock) and his song with Mark Ronson, Uptown Funk (Minneapolis Sound which is a subgenre of Funk Rock), all technically being Rock. I think if we stop classifying Rock music as just guitars, white guys, and the stereotypical sound, we'll find that it's still a relevant music genre today. It's so diverse that songs like Sunflower by Post Malone and Swae Lee is also a fusion genre song which incorporates Dream Pop, a sub-genre of Alternative Rock. Is Rock still the power house it once was during the 80s? No. Is it dead like a lot of people think, only appealing to moody teens and adults wanting to live an alternative life style? Nope. Cool video by the way.

[DOMICH]

I'm going to go ahead and blame "Balls To The Wall" by Accept for the great rock collapse of the mid 80s

[jonldavis]

Hard to believe 88-91, rock music had such a big downturn with bands like Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Metallica, ACDC all having huge selling albums. And I know grunge music ruined it for me but did it really destroy the rock scene by that much?

[squidwardtenticles]

Its kind of sad how rap music has taken over now and that rock is no longer part of the mainstream.

[mtnnoonan]

Damn, "le wrong generation" people were right. Curse these modern times. I really was born in the wrong generation.

[nox]

I wonder what made rock dramatically drop in the mid 70's

[henrygustavekrausse]

Unfair to the best of them all:
CLASSICAL

[josefernandovillanuevahida]

Billboard sometimes do it wrong. For example Yesterday, Let it Be or Penny Lane are pop songs but they take them as rock.

[groovysoundsradio]

No mames el R&B tuvo que estar en alto muchos años entre los 70s - 80s

[notsogood]

Somethings not right here... it's been reported that Rap is the #1 genre right now. Ok... this is only up to 2013. Right now... 2019... Rap music is #1.

[richardleach]

Who made his shit, why are the best selling genres of each year at the bottom each year?

[JavierRojas-wtuz]

R&B+ Hip Hop...and there of course is the QUEEN