This animated pie chart shows the breakdown of music by genre throughout the years. The most popular genre
has changed greatly throughout the decades to reflect the music taste of the time. In the late 1960's, rock
was around 15 percent of the top genre - the highest it's ever been. This is most likely due to the
prevalence of the Beatles and Elvis.
Starting from the 1980's the R&B became incredibly popular,
dominating
around half the billboard 100 for a decade. This genre had a lasting impact as it continued to be around
20-30 percent of the top 100 until the 2010's. As R&B diminished in popularity, another genre which had
never had much recognition came into the space. Rap music has been growing in prevalence since 2005 and has
now reached around 18 percent of the top 100. Throughout the years, the one constant was that pop music was,
and still is the most widespread genre.
To read more about this graph in the larger context of the entire project, read the essay.
By: Tanvi Bhave