popular music

British

noun

music having wide appeal, esp characterized by lightly romantic or sentimental melodies See also pop 2

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"It's a very unique place. There's nowhere else that really you can study popular music to this intensity," said Crown.

From Barron's • Apr. 27, 2026

Many of the world’s most popular music genres have their origins in black traditions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

The creators of some of the most transcendent and popular music ever made have largely fallen off the charts — or simply fallen.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026

Scotland's most popular music festival will bring forward the set time of their headliner so revellers can watch Scotland play in the World Cup.

From BBC • Mar. 3, 2026

The term World Music is often used as a catch-all category referring to almost any music with widespread popularity that clearly does not sound like North American popular music.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023