Dance-pop

Dance-pop is a popular form of Pop music that emerged in the early 1980s, evolving from Disco and post-disco trends. Alongside New Wave and Synthpop it quickly grew to become a massively popular pop strand that dominated the 1980s' pop market. Dance-pop is characterized by driving, typically 4/4 beats (often four-on-the-floor), moderate tempos, catchy and straightforward songwriting, and lyrics, and upbeat, danceable melodies with bright, joyful vocals. Even after new wave’s and synthpop’s decline, dance-pop remained popular and spawned numerous derivatives over the following decades. Initially a simple, more uptempo and structured, less-freeform derivative of dance music, dance-pop quickly achieved mainstream prominence, best marked by Madonna's success. The then-developing Contemporary R&B was a key influence (and would remain that way), with artists such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Janet Jackson merging dance-pop's template with Soul, especially Pop Soul, vocal mannerisms and melisma. This fusion, with additional early Hip Hop influences, evolved into New Jack Swing, which dominated parts of the pop market till the early 1990s.