2020s in music
Key artists in the 2020s included Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, Morgan Wallen, Kendrick Lamar, Olivia Rodrigo, The Weeknd, Megan Thee Stallion, Sabrina Carpenter, BTS, Chappell Roan, Charli XCX, Harry Styles, Bad Bunny, Travis Scott, Doja Cat, Playboi Carti, and Tyler The Creator.
In 2022, older musicians like Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, and Bruce Springsteen sold their music rights for hundreds of millions of dollars, capitalizing on this nostalgia-driven demand.
Established artists from the previous decade, such as Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Harry Styles, and Justin Bieber, continued to dominate the charts, benefiting from their strong fanbases and major label support.
[33][34][35][36] During the early half of the decade, mainstream artists such as Billie Eilish, Ice Spice, Olivia Rodrigo, Doja Cat, and Lil Nas X remained popular, thanks to their major label backing.
[54] They are: At the beginning of the 2020s, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo, Harry Styles, Bruno Mars, Doja Cat, The Weeknd, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, and Lil Nas X emerged as some of the top-selling pop contemporary acts.
"[59][60][61] Alongside these major stars, artists like Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Charli XCX, and others also gained popularity during this time, marking their own rise in the music scene.
[70] Following the success of her fifth studio album, Emails I Can't Send in 2022, Carpenter began to gain momentum with pop hits like "Nonsense" and "Feather".
[76] Her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess was met with critical and commercial acclaim after many of its tracks went viral, including "Pink Pony Club", "Red Wine Supernova", and "Hot to Go!
After opening for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, Abrams' songs "I Love You, I'm Sorry" and "That's So True" became commercially successful, with the latter reaching the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
[88] Her eighth studio album, Endless Summer Vacation, was preceded by the number one single, "Flowers", which was met with instant commercial success, becoming the fastest song to reach 100 million streams on Spotify—within a week.
[135] The soundtrack of Encanto, Disney's 2021 animated fantasy film, written and produced by American playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda, was a viral phenomenon, enjoying widespread popularity on the internet.
Artists such as Tee Grizzley, Sada Baby, Babyface Ray, Veeze, Polo G, Icewear Vezzo, Babytron, and 42 Dugg blended street stories with trap-influenced beats, creating a unique sound that resonated across the U.S.
Female rappers achieved widespread popularity and helped create the market for women in the predominantly male mainstream hip-hop genre thanks to their openly sexual lyrics and danceable instrumentation.
Artists such as JPEGMafia, Clipping, Danny Brown, Run the Jewels, Moor Mother, Jungle Pussy and Genesis Owusu dominated the industrial hip hop scene in the early 2020s.
Visions of Bodies Being Burned, the fourth studio album by American hip hop group Clipping, was released on October 23, 2020, through Sub Pop and received positive reviews from music critics.
Drake accused the label of artificially inflating Lamar's streaming numbers on Spotify, claiming this made the charts unfair and hurt his position in the music industry.
Other artists, such as Yeat, Summrs, Nettspend, SoFaygo, 2hollis, OsamaSon, Cochise, TyFontaine, Lancey Foux, and KanKan, also played important roles in defining and diversifying rage rap.
[191][192] While these artists brought their own influences to the genre, they maintained its core principles of intensity, aggression, and chaotic energy, helping rage rap gain wider recognition, particularly in underground hip-hop circles.
[citation needed] Musicians such as The Weekend, SZA, Bruno Mars, H.E.R., Bryson Tiller, Muni Long, Summer Walker, Jhené Aiko, Silk Sonic, Victoria Monét, Khalid, Daniel Caesar, PinkPantheress, Miguel and Chris Brown dominated the 2023 R&B Billboard charts.
[216][217] This group of artists exemplifies the blurring of genre lines in the streaming era, where even mainstream acts like Billie Eilish, Melanie Martinez, and Twenty One Pilots are often classified as indie or alternative, despite being signed to major labels and receiving regular airplay on pop radio.
[241] Social media expanded the exposure of indie artists for established acts such as Tame Impala, Arctic Monkeys, The 1975, Steve Lacy, Rex Orange County, Mac Demarco, d4vd, TV Girl, Clairo, Laufey, Girl In Red, Men I Trust, Alex G, Lana Del Rey, Wallows, Beach Bunny, Phoebe Bridgers, Boygenius, Beabadoobee, Faye Webster, Her's, Dayglow, Current Joys, The Neighbourhood, Cigarettes After Sex, Joji, Boy Pablo, Beach House, and Mitski to lesser known artists like Black Country, New Road, Ethel Cain, Hemlocke Springs and Black Midi.
[250] The song, which was released on June 10, 2022, received almost immediate acclaim, rocketing up the Official Singles Chart and also debuting straight inside the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100.
Key artists such as Peso Pluma, Junior H, Christian Nodal, Natanael Cano, Eslabon Armado, Fuerza Regida, and Grupo Frontera were at the forefront of this movement.
Subgenres of regional Mexican music, including corridos tumbados, sierreño, norteño, and ranchera, made notable appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 from 2020 to 2024, reflecting the genre's growing influence.
Contemporary Artists such as Wisp, Julie,[319] Narrow Head, DIIV, Quannnic, FlyingFish, Jane Remover, Glare and Modern Color gained prominence in online music discussion circles.
Hyperpop-adjacent musicians like such as Charli XCX, Ayesha Erotica,[324] Dorian Electra, Odetari, Slayyyter, A.G Cook, Quinn, Alice Longyu Gao, Gupi, Hannah Diamond, Yung Lean, Midwxst, Arca, Ericdoa, Odetari, Frost Children, Glaive, Kim Petras, Jane Remover, Alice Glass, ElyOtto, Ecco2k, That Kid,[325] Bladee and 100 gecs produced songs that were well received and became popular in niche LGBT music circles.
[346] In 2023, many commercially successful K-pop songs began using elements of the Jersey Club drum pattern such as "Ditto" and "Super Shy" by NewJeans, and "Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard's wife" by Le Sserafim.
[370] Japanese pop — anime song artists that lead the genres during the decade include Creepy Nuts, Ado, Fujii Kaze, LiSA, and King Gnu.
in 2023, DJ Calvin Harris and electropop singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding released their third collaboration, "Miracle", a trance song inspired by Eurodance and techno, which received widespread critical acclaim,[376] as well as commercial success, topping the UK Singles Charts for eight non-consecutive weeks[377] and earning a Grammy Award nomination.
U.S.[384][385][386] The late 2010s saw a major cultural resurgence in Latin dance music with hip hop influences which carried throughout the 2020s, especially throughout 2022 and 2023, when the interest in Spanish-language songs in North America grew rapidly.
