Pop is still king

New research reveals that pop ended last year as the world’s favorite music genre, just ahead of rock. In contrast, rap/hip-hop has seen global sales fall faster than any other genre during the last 10 years, slipping from third place in 2000 to seventh in 2009. According to the study, retail sales of pop music stood at $7.4 billion in 2009. This compared with $6.5 billion for rock. In terms of revenue share, pop had 29.2 percent of global music retail sales last year, with rock taking a 25.7 percent share. Retail sales declined in every genre between 2000 and 2009, with an industry-wide decline of 31 percent. Sales figures are in billions of dollars.

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Genre 2000 sales 2009 sales %age change 00/09 Pop 10.3 7.4 -27.7 Rock 8.4 6.5 -22.1 R&B 2.3 1.6 -30.8 Country 2.3 1.5 -33.9 Classical 2.4 1.4 -42.1 Dance 1.7 1.3 -21.1 Rap/Hip-Hop 2.5 1.3 -48.3 Jazz 1.1 0.6 .40.6 Other 5.9 3.7 -37.5 Total 36.9 25.4 -31.0

Source: Music & Copyright (www.musicandcopyright.com)