If you compared music from the mid 2000s to music of today, you might notice this: In the mid 2000s, the electropop/dance genre was mostly dominated by African American artists like Chris Brown, Beyonce, T-Pain, Akon, Pretty Ricky, Yung Joc, Black Eyed Peas, Ciara, Kanye West, Rihanna, and NeYo.

These artists seem to have vacated this space for the urban market (rap/r&b), paving the way for the likes of Bieber, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, and Taylor Swift.

Why is it that in 2005-2007, black artists dominated pop and dance, but these days you hardly hear some of them (e.g., Kanye) on radio stations that play such music?

Why did this shift occur?

I know that Drake and a few others occasionally put out a dance/pop song, but it's not as common.

Did pop/dance music become popular in the African American market because of ringtones?

Was pop/dance simply more popular and mainstream than rap/r&b at that time?

If you compared music from the mid 2000s to music of today, you might notice this: In the mid 2000s, the electropop/dance genre was mostly dominated by African American artists like Chris Brown, Beyonce, T-Pain, Akon, Pretty Ricky, Yung Joc, Black Eyed Peas, Ciara, Kanye West, Rihanna, and NeYo.

These artists seem to have vacated this space for the urban market (rap/r&b), paving the way for the likes of Bieber, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, and Taylor Swift.

Why is it that in 2005-2007, black artists dominated pop and dance, but these days you hardly hear some of them (e.g., Kanye) on radio stations that play such music?

Why did this shift occur?

I know that Drake and a few others occasionally put out a dance/pop song, but it's not as common.

Did pop/dance music become popular in the African American market because of ringtones?

Was pop/dance simply more popular and mainstream than rap/r&b at that time?


One thing I remember is that there was a period in the late '00s and early '10s where white electropop/dance artists would throw in a token hip-hop verse, typically by a well-known black artist (or Pitbull, who was urban in the mid '00s).  I personally think the '00s was a much bigger decade for hip-hop than the '10s.  Today, hip-hop and pop are a lot more distinct.  In 2005, pop WAS hip-hop.

In 2005, pop WAS hip-hop.

This. In 2005, you heard nothing but Usher, Ciara, Beyoncé, Akon, Kanye West, Common and G-Unit on the mainstream radio. HipHop nowadays is kind of dead and EDM has taken over everything, so no surprise black artists have lost ground on the mainstream just as they did on television too.