How has music changed over the last decade and what does this mean for music trends in the decades to come?

At the beginning of the decade, pop dominated the charts with artists such as Katy Perry, Ke$ha, and Maroon 5 taking several spots in the top 10.

This trend continued throughout the decade until around 2013 when the rap genre started to break into the top 10 with songs like: “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis which took spots one and five.

Pop then rose again and pushed rap back down in the charts until 2016 when artists such as Drake, Twenty Øne Pilots, and Desiigner came into the charts with their songs “One Dance”, “Stressed Out”, and “Panda.” These songs took spots three, five, and six.

However, 2017 was the year when the rise of rap that we know now came to be, with songs such as “Humble” by Kendrick Lamar, “Bad and Boujee” by Migos, and “Congratulations” by Post Malone taking spots four, six, and ten in the charts.

The Rap genre finally started to dominate the charts in 2018 with half of the slots in the top 10 being filled with songs by Drake, Post Malone, and Cardi B. For example, Drake’s “God’s Plan” took number one.

Finally, in 2019 “Old Town Road” took number one. The songs “Wow.” and “Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee also made it in the top ten as well as “Sicko Mode” by Travis Scott.

Music has drastically changed over the last decade from pop to rap. If this trend continues, in the years to come, rap will most likely dominate the charts once again, however; pop and country are also expected to work their way back into the top ten later in the decade.