The pop music (short for "popular" music) phenomenon first took hold in the 1950s. Borrowing freely from European folk music, gospel and country, the genre's most celebrated artists, from The Beatles to Michael Jackson and ABBA, have touched millions of people worldwide and continue to do so. For some, however, pop music, as a commercial genre, will always lack the artistic range and stature of rock and roll, for example.
More about the history of pop music.
Some of the artists have yet to be sorted by musical genre. To see a complete list of artists, please browse the all the artists list.