My wife and I often discuss music in the car while listening to stuff she enjoys, which is mostly top-40.
I've had a problem with top-40 for most of my life, as it's just throwaway crap which, truthfully, is not meant to have a lasting effect.
To the average listener, top-40 and pop are synonymous. However, upon discussing this with my wife, we determined that they are not.
We defined the two as such:
Pop = a genre of music whose songs have sing-along-able hooks, yet tends to not sound dated years later (which is why there can be such thing as pop-punk).
Top-40 = a genre of music that uses all the latest conventions and technologies that burns out rather quickly. Top-40 songs are used in retrospective VH-1 shows, like "I love the 80s."
Let's illustrate:
This is pop:
This is top-40:
Both songs came out in 1999. Which sounds more dated?
I guarantee you that just a few years from now, we'll be talking about Keisha and Lady Gaga nostalgically just like we do with the Backstreet Boys.... or we'll be talking about their comeback albums.
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