1960s The decade starts out with such Teen Idols such as, Johnny Tillotson, Bobby Vee, Brian Hyland, Tommy Roe, Gene Pitney, and Frankie Avalon. It explodes midway with Carole King, Neil Diamond, Burt Bacharach, Aretha Franklin, Isley Brothers, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, and Simon and Garfunkel. It can be said that The Beatles led the British Invasion in this decade.

1970s A proliferation of new sounds from the disco of the BeeGees, the piano sounds of Billy Joel and Elton John, the country of the Eagles, the rock-influenced pop of artists like Rod Stewart, Steely Dan, and Fleetwood Mac. ABBA was a swedish band who grew to fame after winning Eurovision Song Contest and starting a whole new revolution of pop music. 1980s Notable highlights for pop music in the 1980s are Michael Jackson's second Epic label release, Thriller, which went on to become the best-selling album of all time, and Madonna albums "Like a Virgin", "True Blue", "Like a Prayer" . Michael Jackson was sometimes referred to as "The King of Pop" and Madonna was named "The Queen of Pop". Other artists included Michael Bolton, Prince, Janet Jackson, Duran Duran, The Police, ABBA, Cyndi Lauper, Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, Kylie Minogue and Culture Club.

1990s and 21st century The 1990s and 21st century were marked by a resurgence of boy band and girl group trends. From the UK came the likes of Take That, Blue, the Spice Girls, a highly successful formula. Irish boy bands of the time include Boyzone and Westlife. The US had New Edition, New Kids On The Block followed by the Backstreet Boys, Hanson, girl trio Destiny's Child and then 'N Sync and Pop Princesses Willa Ford, Mandy Moore, Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera. Canadian Avril Lavigne became popular with her album Let Go. Australia had Boys from Oz. 1999 saw the rise of the Latin explosion with Ricky Martin at the forefront with his worldwide smash hit "Livin' La Vida Loca". Other latin artists to follow were Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, and Marc Anthony. In 2002, Justin Timberlake had critical and commercial acclaim with his "Justified" album, emerging as the new "Prince of Pop", Jesse McCartney has emerged from Dream Street as a high-rating singer with songs like She's No You, Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff has become popular in the 2000s. Artists like Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Kylie Minogue, Celine Dion, Garth Brooks, Shania Twain and Madonna have also been highly successful. Reality television shows, such as American Idol, begin producing multi-platinum artists like Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken. British pop rock groups such as McFly emerge.