Which genre of music dominates the United States?

Just wanted to see what your opinions are on which genre dominates the US. I personally feel like top40s rap nearly controls over half of people in my age range (18-25). All it seems to focus on is blowinnn stacks on dahh shawwwtayy and babbling about nothing worth while to humanity. Kind of sucks because only a few decades ago the airwaves were filled with wholesome (not all) vibes from artists who actually were writing music to allow us to understand one another.

We'll see where this one goes.

thanks for your feedback a head of time.
 
I find this conversation interesting in that when I first read the thread title, I was thrown off. My initial reaction was to think...well duh... pop music.... it's POPULAR music... but as I thought this I realized that the term really has lost its meaning. Though I still think popular music reigns because it speaks to a broader age group than hip hop.
What's funny is that we discovered the same phenomena with indie music. Indie no longer means independent musicians but refers to a sound that has become so big, most "indie" musicians are on major labels.

Funny how worRAB lose their meanings.
 
It's really hard to get a consensus on this type of thing without looking at sales charts.

We all live in a variety of cities, some urban some rural, hang out with different groups of people, have our own tastes in music which may determine what we are exposed to, etc. Obviously top 40 dominates, but is it rap, rock, dance pop? I don't know.
 
As in live banRAB or album sales?

I'd say indie rock is pretty big right now, banRAB that commonly get to play on TV spots and huge gigs are traditionally the ones that are revered among the indie community. BanRAB like Fleet Foxes, Spoon, Vampire Weekend, Animal Collective, the Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, etc etc etc.
 
I usually don't bash entire genres or movements... and I usually am pretty open-minded to mainstream stuff. But I couldn't agree more that mainstream hip-hop is in a very sad state. There are a couple of gems now and then, but the majority of it seems to be so-called RnB (which today means hip-hop without rapping) or... for lack of a better word.. hip-pop (yes I made a pun), which seems to fuse pop singing with modern hip hop production.
 
It's an amalgamate of genres but it seems like Country has been getting really big.. sadly. Other than that it seems like Rap and Hip Hop are starting to corabine with Dance and that, whatever you call it, is big now as well.

I have no idea though. I'll stick to my awesome genres
 
I think personally, due to the Internet, EVERYTHING is getting bigger.

However, I'd say over the past few years the broadcast radio/MTV has certainly been pushing for more Hip-Hop and Pop. Rock, even of the most commercial variety, is fading out of that spectrum.

What I think is happening though is you're looking at music as three entirely different audiences.

A) Casual people who look to MTV to sustanance. This group will pretty much accept anything, and everything, shoveled into their mouth. They don't care what it is, but just get into it because everyone likes music.

B) Others who look to MTV but chose only to do it because they really don't have an alternative medium advertised. They will not listen to college radio or go out of their way to find their own niche, so they accept what's given to them and discern in that.

C) People who demand something specific in music. Will only listen to what they like, and will not allow MTV to sway them. These are the people who get into what was known as indy or alternative pre-Nirvana. This is where Punk/Underground culture came from.

In the 80s, pop was big. Pop was a genre that seemingly(even by namesake) was developed solely to sustain an audience quickly, and effectively. Of all musical traits, accessibility and mass producability are the end goals. This pleased audience A, and only slightly sustained audience B, and completely alienating audience C.

In the early 90s there was a shift to Alternative Rock. Why? Audience A will always be Audience A, but Audience B craved something slightly more. Being exposed to Audience C's music, Audience B demanded MTV shift a little more to their will as consumers. This could be described as a shift in dominant genre. Sure, Madonna was still releasing things, but definitely took a backseat to Pearl Jam. This is also the era where mainstream began to push more aggressive music like Rage Against The Machine, or Korn. (I mean, aggressive by mainstream standarRAB)

Recently, we've noticed a shift back to the 80s pop first ideology. The only problem is, I don't believe this is a shift in dominant genre. What this is, actually, is a result of the invention of the Internet. I'd say that with the Internet, Audience B is becoming more specialized with an exposure to Audience C's music on a grander scale.

With Internet culture, Audience B has diversified. What was the very commercial grunge/alternative "rock" audience is now becoming too specialized to target. So, they're pushing forward Lady GaGa to appeal to Audience A, who want music that's specially accessibly, and can be forgotten in a week for something that's basically the same.

I don't think this makes "pop" the dominant genre. I think this is proof that in this day and age, genre itself is dissolving. If we're going for simply nurabers, than pop rules the day. However, I believe it's much weaker than before, it's just that other genres have split into allowing a more customized view on music per person.

Then again, maybe I'm just an optimist.
 
Most popular? Well, let me flip open my latest issue of Rolling Stone.
iTunes Top 10
1. Taio Cruz
2. B.O.B.
3. Rihanna
4. Train
5. Lady Gaga
6. Justin Bieber
7. Black Eyed Peas
8. Lady Antebellum
9. Tirabaland
10. Kesha

Well... that just about says it all. However, my age group's chart is a lot more respectable.
College Radio Top 10 Albums
1. Gorillaz
2. Hot Chip
3. Yeasayer
4. Joanna Newsom
5. Broken Bells
6. Beach House
7. Spoon
8. Local Natives
9. Liars
10. Vampire Weekend
 
Wow you must really hate this band. :D I personally don't like them and find this song pretty boring, but I'd listen to it before Creed any day of the week.
 
Pop, basically what everyone else is saying. Whenever an album comes out that isn't pop, it makes the charts for like a week tops. But when a pop album comes out, it's there for weeks. Anything that gets significant play time on the radio gets pretty popular, generally rap or pop.
 
Seems to be that the most popular is either hip-hop, or all that really annoying poppy Alternative music like 3oh3 and Paramore for example (and don't take offence if you like those banRAB. Lol.)
 
I wish indie would stay right where it's at. It's been popular for so long already I hate to think of where it's going as it gains popularity. It cannot end well. It never does.
 
I love creed. Wheatherd was a brilliant album.

Anyway, I'm not american so I don't know. I suppose looking at the charts is the only way to tell. It does seem like "Indie rock" and rap (hip-pop or whatever you want to call it) dominates the american music scene right now.
 
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