Europop



Europop (also Euro pop) refers to a style of pop music that originated in Europe during the late 1960s and developed to today's form throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Many successful Europop artists came from France, West Germany, Poland, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

History
During the 1970s and early 1980s, such groups were primarily popular in continental countries, with the exception of ABBA (1972–1983). The Swedish four-piece band achieved great success in the UK, where they scored nineteen top 10 singles and nine 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. In the 1990s, pop groups like the Spice Girls, Aqua, Backstreet Boys and singer DJ BoBo were strongly influenced by Europop. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Italian dance group Eiffel 65 were highly active in this genre. In the 2000s, one of the most popular representatives of Europop music was Swedish pop group Alcazar.

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. 1980s Euro disco) and Euro house (a.k.a. 1990s Eurodance) were the predominant attempts by young musicians to have a hit record in and beyond the borders of their own country.