This article outlines trends in popular music during the 2020s. The early years of the decade were particularly challenging for the music industry, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced widespread concert cancellations and disrupted traditional live performances. In response, video platforms like TikTok quickly rose to prominence, becoming key tastemakers and driving musical trends by launching viral hits. By mid-2023, the industry recorded its highest annual revenue to date ($8.4 billion), partly due to the growth of streaming subscriptions.
Overview
Impact of COVID-19 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). The COVID-19 pandemic had also forced artists to postpone or reschedule major tours to at least a year or two from their initially scheduled tour dates, examples including The Stadium Tour (co-headlined by Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard) and Rage Against the Machine's reunion tour. The 2020s also marked the massive rise of genreless music and fragmentation of music thanks to COVID-19 lockdowns for isolation and loneliness, and the use of internet, streaming media, TikTok with its algorithm, playlists and unlimited access. Katy Perry's concert residency, Play happened during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Impact of social media TikTok emerged as a key musical tastemaker for Generation Z during their adolescence and Generation Alpha in their early childhood, shaping their music tastes through viral songs and trends. Similar to short-form video platforms of the 2010s like Vine, TikTok's interactive content—such as comedy skits, fan edits, memes, dance routines, and makeup tutorials—helped songs gain popularity as users incorporated them into their videos. While viral success on TikTok didn't always translate to lasting success on the Billboard Hot 100, it had a unique ability to pull relatively unknown artists out of obscurity. These artists built impressive fanbases and often attracted attention from major labels, leading to opportunities to sign record deals. TikTok's focus on music, niche communities and pop culture fandoms allowed these artists to thrive within specific subcultures and subgenres.
Strategic collaborations with popular TikTok creators, sponsored hashtag challenges, and the use of licensed music in viral videos became integral components of contemporary music marketing strategies. The TikTok Billboard chart was created in September 2023 to meet the demand for viral audios from the platform.
Trends and statistics
In 2020, LP records surpassed compact disc (CD) sales for the first time since 1986, LP records 28.7% ($619.6 million) with the rapid decline in CD sales by 23% ($483 million), with 62% ($1.1 billion) of revenue derived from physical music sales across the United States according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) 2020 Year-End Music Industry Revenue Report.
The 2020s saw the continued impact of streaming on the record industry, a trend that began in the 2010s. Platforms like Spotify played a central role in shaping music trends, driving the success of both mainstream and emerging genres. Social media, particularly TikTok, further amplified music with viral trends, while popular genres like pop, hip-hop, R&B, rock music including pop punk and shoegaze, country, K-pop and indie music dominated the Billboard Hot 100 charts. At the same time, underground genres like hyperpop, plugg, jersey club, phonk and rage thrived in niche communities.
British rock magazine Kerrang! wrote that Olivia Rodrigo's "Good 4 U" (2021) led the commercial comeback of rock music in 2020–2021, noting how it is the first rock song since Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life" (2003) to spend four or more weeks atop the UK Singles chart, alongside chart success of other rock-adjacent artists, such as Willow Smith, Machine Gun Kelly, Måneskin, and Miley Cyrus. Slate proclaimed that Rodrigo "might be the dying genre's best hope", pinpointing that "Good 4 U" is the "most up-the-middle rock song to top the [U.S.] Hot 100 in a decade or more".
Media outlets and fans online observed a music trend called "Sad Girl Autumn" or "Sad Girl Fall" in the early 2020s, which refers to the release of melancholic and introspective music by female artists during autumn, such as Swift's Red (Taylor's Version), Adele's 30, Clairo's Sling, Phoebe Bridgers' Punisher, and Mitski's Laurel Hell; it is a counterpart to "Hot Girl Summer", a catchphrase coined by American rapper Megan Thee Stallion with her 2019 song of the same name.Sources on "Sad Girl Autumn"
Legacy media in music The drive for nostalgia and the desire to return to pre-pandemic life significantly influenced the shift toward older music, particularly in 2022. Data from 2021 and 2022 showed that 70% of music demand was for songs from the past, a trend that continued to grow each year. The top 200 most popular songs accounted for only 5% of total streams, with that percentage halving over the previous three years. 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. While these people had long enjoyed popularity, research indicated that the vast majority of new downloads in 2022 were songs at least two years old. Established artists from the previous decade, such as Taylor Swift, Drake, the Weeknd, Ariana Grande, Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny, Harry Styles, and Justin Bieber, continued to dominate the charts, benefiting from their strong fanbases and major label support. During the early half of the decade, mainstream artists such as Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Doja Cat, and Lil Nas X remained popular, thanks to their major label backing. In 2022, fans of indie and alternative music embraced a critical reappraisal of shoegaze. This revival, driven by online music communities, also spurred a renewed interest in music from the 1980s and 1990s. The trend reflects a broader cultural shift during the pandemic era, where listeners turned to older music.
In the 2020s, Christmas music not only dominated the Billboard charts every December, but it also consistently took over the Top 10, year after year, thanks to streaming. These chart-topping entries were mostly "legacy songs"—holiday tracks that had been around for decades. This included Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You", which repeatedly reached No. 1 and remained in the Top 10 throughout the decade. Streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music helped these songs surge in popularity every holiday season, with algorithms favoring nostalgic tracks. The rise of streaming changed how people consumed music, allowing Christmas classics like Carey's hit, Bing Crosby's "White Christmas", and Wham!'s "Last Christmas" to not only chart but dominate the Billboard Top 10 for several years in a row. This shift solidified the presence of Christmas music at the forefront of the holiday season in the 2020s.
In 2023, the music industry recorded its highest revenue of all time, with over $8.4 billion in the first half of 2023. The RIAA reported that the number of people with streaming subscriptions had more than doubled since 2019. The Eras Tour, Swift's sixth headlining concert tour, became a cultural and economic phenomenon as well. Around 2024, AI-generated music created with tools like Udio or Suno became sophisticated and popularized.
North America
Pop Swift released her tenth studio album, Midnights, to instant acclaim, with the album as well as the lead single "Anti-Hero" spending multiple weeks at number one on their respective Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 charts. Swift became the first artist ever to occupy the Hot 100's entire top 10 simultaneously with "Anti-Hero" at number-one. Midnights went on to win both Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards. Swift's re-recording of her fifth studio album, 1989 (Taylor's Version), was released in 2023. The original album was inspired heavily by 1980s synth pop, and the re-record scored the highest first-week sales of 2023. Swift released her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, in 2024, with the album debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. The lead single, "Fortnight", spent multiple weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Swift released her twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, in 2025. The album had the highest first-week sales of any album in history, selling over four million copies in its first week. The lead single, "The Fate of Ophelia" spent multiple weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The decade saw the rise of various new artists in pop music. Olivia Rodrigo became the first new pop act to be successful at the advent of the 2020s. She is noted for a revival of pop-punk, along with her diaristic songwriting that is especially relatable to younger generations. Released to instant critical and commercial acclaim in 2021, her debut album, Sour spent multiple weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart in 2021. Rodrigo's singles "Drivers License" and "Good 4 U" became commercially successful, with both topping the Billboard Hot 100 in their debut weeks. Rodrigo went on to win Best Pop Solo Performance for "Drivers License", and Best Pop Vocal Album for Sour at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. The momentum she received the year prior also awarded her with Best New Artist at the ceremony. She released the subsequent rock-influenced albums Guts (2023) and You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love (2026) to success.
Sabrina Carpenter had a breakthrough in pop music in 2024 after opening for Swift's Eras Tour. 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". In 2024, Carpenter released her sixth studio album, Short n' Sweet to critical and commercial acclaim, with the album debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. The album contained hits "Espresso", "Please Please Please", and "Taste", with all three songs peaking in the top three of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Carpenter went on to win Best Pop Solo Performance for "Espresso", and Best Pop Vocal Album for Short n' Sweet at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards. In 2025, Carpenter released her seventh studio album, Man's Best Friend, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart.
Chappell Roan reached newfound success in 2024 following the success of her single "Good Luck, Babe!". Her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess was met with critical and commercial acclaim along with many of its tracks, including "Pink Pony Club", "Red Wine Supernova", and "Hot to Go!". Roan was awarded Best New Artist at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards. In 2025, Roan released singles "The Giver" and "The Subway", with both songs debuting in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. "The Subway" was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance and Song of the Year at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards.