It’s been a good decade—or longer—since rock has really had much of a place on the music charts. Instead, the music industry has been dominated by rap with a bit of trap, pop, and hip hop here and there. But it seems like the times are a-changin’ yet again—and we’re here to tell you about it.
In recent years, rock has slowly started creeping back into pop culture in the form of alt-rock-rap, trap-pop, and indie-rock. Think the most recent releases by Post Malone, Juice Wrld, Trippie Redd, Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, Machine Gun Kelly, Miley Cyrus, and even Taylor Swift’s recent two albums folklore and evermore.
And in recent weeks, rock music in the mainstream has seen two more huge steps. Eurovision Song Contest 2021 saw not one but two rock band entries – which is a lot for the notoriously pop-focused contest – and one of them, Italy’s Maneskin, even won. And this week’s Billboard Hot 100 is topped by Olivia Rodrigo’s newest single “good 4 u,” a 2000s Paramore or Avril Lavigne-style pop-punk rock throwback.
And with just how huge the song is, as well as the other signs that rock is starting to gain momentum in pop culture, don’t be surprised if more and more artists start experimenting with pop-rock.
