@Cassidy West

Rediscover the chart-toppers, classics and lost favourites from the '80s. Our editors regularly update this playlist—if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

Rediscover the chart-toppers, classics and lost favourites of the '90s. Our editors regularly update this playlist—if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

As the calendar flipped to Y2K, teen pop ruled music’s roost, with megastars like Britney Spears and *NSYNC dominating the charts. But over the course of the 2000s, a varied pop landscape would emerge, with streetwise hip-hop, emotionally fraught rock, swooning R&B, hook-studded emo and big-tent pop all getting their moments in the sun—and even coming together in DJ-crafted mash-ups and high-profile collaborations. Pop in the 21st century’s first decade reflected the emergent digital-music era, with the “on shuffle” ideal resulting in radio playlists where Kanye rubbed elbows with The Killers and Kelly Clarkson, or where a hard-hitting Eminem track was bracketed by offerings from Beyoncé and Mariah Carey. That mix of genres and outsize personalities made for an exciting decade that put the party back in pop.

The only rule for pop in the ‘10s? Trusting your instincts can do wonders for your star power. Take Lady Gaga, who shape-shifted from hard-edged diva to big-voiced balladeer multiple times during the decade, or Ariana Grande, who kept fans guessing with surprise drops and coded lyrics. The 2010s were a wild time on the charts, with pop divas, hip-hop stars and guitar-strumming crooners all making their own way to the top. Adele belted her way through heartbreak and triumph; Drake got in his feelings over street-sourced beats; Taylor Swift shared her innermost thoughts with millions; and Shawn Mendes made the leap from viral-video star to world-conquering pop icon. Groups hit it big, too, whether they were singing in sweet harmony like the boy banders of One Direction or revamping themselves alongside the times like the soul-poppers in Maroon 5.

Rediscover the decade’s chart-toppers, classics and lost favourites. Our editors regularly update this playlist—if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

A musical revolution happened during the ‘60s. Distinctions between musical styles stopped mattering as fans began to get behind any song they liked, regardless of genre. The radio could have played an R&B song right after a surfer tune, as long as they were both popular. This was the birth of pop as we know it, and it saw the rise of acts like The Monkees, Dusty Springfield and Neil Diamond.

A hand-picked mix of iconic hits by the stars that shaped '90s R&B. Our editors regularly update this playlist—if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

In the ‘10s, country hit an intriguing divide. On one side of the fence, there was the full flowering of hip-hop and R&B influences; on the other were the mavericks stirring things up by combining old-school roots and a kind of neo-outlaw stance. If Luke Bryan's stomping "That's My Kind of Night" and Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" represent the club bangers, then Kacey Musgraves' gently subversive "Follow Your Arrow" and Chris Stapleton's burly "Tennessee Whiskey" exemplify the other side. And with such 20-somethings as Kelsea Ballerini and octogenarian Willie Nelson alike earning attention in the era, ’10s country had something for everybody.

Hip-hop in the ’90s went from the voice of the streets to the sound of the nation, taking over the charts, film, fashion and more. Dr. Dre’s 1992 solo debut <I>The Chronic</I> changed rap’s pulse: blaring drum loops were exchanged for lush low-rider funk; gangsta rap was now indistinguishable from pop. Though the spotlight moved to Los Angeles, New York rappers like Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep and Nas made a grimy strain of “boom bap” that was gritty, vividly bleak and lyrically intricate. Regional sounds slowly infiltrated the airwaves, including E-40’s slick “mobb music” (the Bay Area), the rapid-fire “chop” of Bone Thugs (the Midwest), the boom of 8Ball & MJG (Memphis), the crawl of UGK (Houston) and, most notably, the left-field rap of Atlanta’s Outkast. By decade’s end, Puff Daddy’s Bad Boy empire monopolised the charts and New Orleans labels No Limit and Cash Money turned DIY hustle into uncompromising sensations.

For the rockers who swaggered and strutted through the ’70s, bigger nearly always meant better. Songs that were built to have maximum impact in stadiums and arenas somehow sounded even larger on home hi-fis thanks to multitrack recording technology and other studio advances that made the drums of Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham and The Who’s Keith Moon sound like cannon fire. Even the mellower, headphone-ready sounds of Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd and the Eagles boasted unprecedented breadth and richness. Yet the decade’s sound was defined just as much by leaner, meaner takes on rock fundamentals, courtesy of artists such as AC/DC and Alice Cooper.