Europop refers to a style of pop music that developed in Europe throughout the 1970s which emphasized catchy beats, slick songs and frothy lyrics. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and 90s. Some Europop stars came from France, Germany, Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands; a large majority were Swedish in origin. In the 1970s, such groups were primarily popular in continental countries, with the exception of the biggest Europop outfit ever, Swedish 4-piece ABBA, who achieved massive success in the UK, where they scored a phenomenal 19 top 10 singles and 9 chart-topping albums, and in North America and Australia. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Roxette and Ace of Base led Europop in American and British mainstream audiences. By the 1990s, pop groups like the Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys were strongly influenced by Europop. One of the main differences between American and European pop is that Europop is generally more dance and trance oriented. In central Europe Italo disco (a.k.a. (80s)Eurodisco) and Euro House (a.k.a. 90s Eurodance) (later) are the predominant attempts by young musicians to have a hit record in and beyond the borders of their own country. For popular forms of music in general, see Popular music. ... For the band, see 1990s (band). ... // Bold text “Abba” redirects here. ... Roxette is a Swedish pop double act, sometimes rock influenced, that consists of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle. ... Ace of Base is a dance-pop band from Gothenburg, Sweden. ... The Spice Girls were a BRIT Awards-winning English all-female pop/r&b group. ... The Backstreet Boys are a Grammy-nominated male vocal pop group that enjoyed enormous success in the mid-late 1990s and 2000s. ... Dance as a musical form is a smaller musical composition intended for the presentation of dance. ... Look up Trance in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Cover of the ZYX Music compilation album. ... Eurodance is style of dance music, popular in Europe during 1990s. ... House music is a style of electronic dance music, the earliest forms of which originated in the United States in the early- to mid-1980s. ... Eurodance is a colloquial and marketing term for a type of European synthesizer-driven dance music which became popular worldwide in the early- to mid-1990s. ...

The Eurovision Song Contest has been heavily criticised in the past for the fact that many of its entries have been based on Europop, with only the occasional "serious" song. However, recently, this trend seems to be changing; the winner of the Contest in 2004, "Wild Dances", was an upbeat track incorporating drums and pyrotechnics, whilst in 2006, Lordi's heavy metal winning song was far from the old Europop stereotype. However, it has be argued that it is only due to their bright, loud stage appearance that they won votes, and not due to the actual quality of their songs. The modern logo was introduced for the 2004 Contest to create a consistent visual identity. ... The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the forty-ninth Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey, with the final on 15 May 2004, and the new semi-final three days earlier, on 12 May 2004. ... The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the fifty-first Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece on the 18 May 2006 (for the semi-final) and 20 May 2006 (for the final). ...

How the term "Europop" is used worldwide

The use of the term Europop differs between the United States, United Kingdom and the rest of Europe.

- In the US, British and even Australian acts such as Kylie Minogue can be termed Europop, while in the UK it is used exclusively to refer to acts from Continental Europe. The British acts Girls Aloud and Take That, who both appear in the list below, would never be referred to as "Europop" in their home country. Kylie Ann Minogue (born 28 May 1968) is an Australian dance-pop singer-songwriter and occasional actress. ... Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands and, at times, peninsulas. ... Girls Aloud are a Smash Hits Poll Winners, TMF award-winning and BRIT Award-nominated English girl group created on ITV1 talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002. ... Take That are an English pop boy band formed by Nigel Martin Smith in Manchester in 1990. ...

- In Continental Europe, the term "europop" used retrospective for years in a total different way, to describe all the non English hits of the late 50s, 60s and early 70s, mostly from France & Italy, before the 70s Euro Disco era. The Scopitone jukeboxes in France and the Cinebox/Coilorama in Italy seems to be the main reason for this. By the late 90s and so on, the term is mostly used by the media to describe the mainstream pop hits with a dance maner. That includes mainstream hits from all around Europe (influenced by 90s Eurodance, a.k.a. Euro-House), boybands and girlbands (especially from UK, Germany and Sweden) and pop low-tempo ballads. Retrospective (from Latin retrospectare, look back) generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. ... The term Euro-Disco first used during the 70s, to describe the non UK based disco productions and artists. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

See also: Eurodance, Euro House, Eurodisco, Italo Disco and Eurobeat Eurodance is a colloquial and marketing term for a type of European synthesizer-driven dance music which became popular worldwide in the early- to mid-1990s. ... House music is a style of electronic dance music, the earliest forms of which originated in the United States in the early- to mid-1980s. ... Eurodance is style of dance music, popular in Europe during 1990s. ... Cover of the ZYX Music compilation album. ... SUPER EUROBEAT Vol. ...

See also

• Euro disco
• Eurodance
• UK's Eurobeat
• Italo Disco
• Vocal Trance