Includes bibliographical references and index.

Pop music, by definition, is commercial music: motivated by profit more than artistry, changing to fit the needs of audiences and industry, not codes of genre, seeking a mainstream appeal that forbids too much fussiness about aesthetic absolutes. This resistance to firm definition beyond ledger sheets has left no precise field of pop studies to glean from. Nevertheless, academics and writers continue to pursue this shifting field of study, approaching pop music with a rigorous and critical eye. Famously, these studies have yielded the phrase 'poptimism,' a disposition to correct for the anti-mainstream biases of what, by contrast, is deemed 'rockism.' This handbook uncovers pop music studies within popular music studies. Featuring an international roster of authors it tracks the origin points, formal staples, identity intersections, and 21st century matriculation of Top 40 music and all its kindred forms as a global and self-aware enterprise.

Specialized.

Description based on online resource and publisher information; title from PDF title page (viewed on April 16, 2026).