2020s in music

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This article describes trends in popular music in the 2020s.

The beginning of the decade was a difficult time for the music industry, with the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in widespread concert cancellations due to risks of mass infection.^[1] The early part of the decade carried on the cross-genre trap music influence which started in the late 2010s.^[2] Thanks to the rise of social media platforms such as TikTok, music genres old and new had a moment in the spotlight. Genres such as synth-pop, house, nu skool breaks, nu-disco, pop-punk, emo-pop, indie rock,^[3][4] reggae fusion, hard rock and heavy metal garnered mainstream attention from the media.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

Musical trends[]

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the cancellation or postponement of numerous music-related events scheduled to take place in the early 2020s, including major tours, festivals, and television appearances. Due to the restrictions, many artists conducted virtual experiences as an alternative to live events (e.g. Dua Lipa's Studio 2054 and Taylor Swift's Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions).^[10] The largest live concert of 2021 took place at Wellington's "Cake Tin" Stadium on 14 February, with Six60 performing and over 32,000 fans attending, without masks or social distancing needed because of New Zealand's coronavirus response.^[11] The COVID-19 pandemic has also resorted to postponements or the rescheduling of major tours to at least a year or two from its initially scheduled tour dates, most notably including The Stadium Tour (co-headlined by Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard), Ozzy Osbourne's headlining tour No More Tours II and Rage Against the Machine's reunion tour.^[12][13][14]

Rock[]

Indie[]

Indie music had a major revival in the latter half of the 2010s thanks to bedroom pop slowly entering the mainstream music scene. Popular industry veterans such as Tame Impala, Phoebe Bridgers, Glass Animals and Fiona Apple released records in the early half of the decade while remaining immensely successful, in particular Tame Impala's album The Slow Rush was a massive commercial and critical success, leading to five of Kevin Parker's songs' reaching the Billboard top ten in 2020.^[3] Up-and-coming acts such as Clairo and Girl in Red also started achieving radio success with their songs "Sofia" and "Serotonin" respectively.^[4][15] Glass Animals' hit song "Heat Waves" stayed number one on the Billboard Alternative Charts for a solid seven weeks in 2021 making it one of the biggest hits of the year.^[16] English singer and songwriter PinkPantheress released her debut mixtape To Hell with It, which received widespread acclaim in reviews from music critics upon release. To Hell with It was named the third best album of 2021 by Time and the fifth best album of the year by The New York Times's Jon Caramanica and Gigwise.^[17][18][19] The mixtape also appeared on several other year-end lists by Slant,^[20] Billboard,^[21] Rolling Stone,^[22] NPR,^[23] Complex,^[24] and The Ringer.^[25] American rock band the Strokes released The New Abnormal on April 10, 2020, produced by legendary music producer Rick Rubin and recorded at his Shangri-La studio in Malibu, California. The New Abnormal garnered mostly positive reviews from critics, who saw it as a return to form. The maturity of singer Julian Casablancas's lyrics, as well as the band's enhanced sense of musical coherence, were singled out for praise. In addition to Scotland, the album charted in the top ten in six other countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. It was also nominated for and won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021, marking the band's first nomination and triumph.^[26][27][28]

Pop punk[]

Pop punk, fueled by 2000s nostalgia,^[29] had a revival in the early 2020s with artists such as Machine Gun Kelly, Willow Smith, Maggie Lindemann, Meet Me @ the Altar,^[30] Kenny Hoopla and Travis Barker releasing tracks that achieved general praise from the public. Tickets to My Downfall by Machine Gun Kelly reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart in 2020. Willow Smith collaborated with Travis Barker from Blink-182 on the song "Transparent Soul" which reached the top 10 on the rock charts. Avril Lavigne also returned to the genre in collaborations with Barker and Mod Sun. Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Halsey, and other pop/alternative singers, also brought influences from pop punk and power pop to their respective albums.^[31]

Hard rock and heavy metal[]

The genres hard rock and heavy metal have both remained significantly popular as of 2021. Popular veteran acts, including Testament and Dream Theater, debuted on the Top 100 on the Billboard 200 chart with their respective albums Titans of Creation and A View from the Top of the World,^[32][33] while Iron Maiden earned their first Top 5 album on the same chart, Senjutsu, for the first time in its 41-year recording career.^[34]

References[]