Pop music, or simply pop, emerged in its modern form in the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom, initially encompassing rock and roll and other youth-oriented styles. By the late 1960s, it diverged from rock, becoming associated with more commercial, accessible, and ephemeral music, characterized by short songs, repeated choruses, and danceable rhythms. While "popular music" broadly describes all music targeted for mass appeal, pop music refers to a distinct genre designed to appeal to everyone, often characterized as "instant singles-based music aimed at teenagers."

Musicologists like Simon Frith note that pop is professionally produced "as a matter of enterprise not art," driven primarily by profit and commercial reward rather than significant artistic ambition. It is "provided from on high" by record companies and promoters, exemplified by artists such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and ABBA, who helped define its widespread appeal and mainstream success.