I have noticed Pop-Country slowly becoming really popular lately with artists like Lady Antellbum, Taylor Swift, and Carrie Underwood. Even the Zac Brown Band won Best New Artist this year at the Grammy's. The question is how long will this popularity of pop-country last? We have seen this popularity of pop-country before in the early 80's with Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, in the early 90's with "Restless Heart" ,"Marc Cohn", even Garth Brooks I think, and especially in the late 90's/early 00's with LeAnn Rimes, Shania Twain,  Faith Hill, LoneStar, and LeAnn Womack. I remember in 2003-2005 when Pop-Country was totally dead before Carrie Underwood became popular in 2006. So willl long will ithis current pop-country trend last? Will it become a major player  to the music scene in this decade or just fade out in a few years?

I think country-pop, along with many other genres, is a thing that comes and goes in Country music. I tend to like the country-pop of the 90's and early 2000's, since I was a kid for all those years. Country-pop seemed to really fade by 2003-04. So I'm guessing that this current country-pop will become unpopular by the time we reach the mid-2010's or probably a little later. One thing about the current country-pop is (besides Lady Antebellum) most of the songs have charted higher on the Billboard Hot 100 or Billboard Pop charts instead of the Adult Contemporary charts, while the country-pop back in the late 90's and early 2000s charted higher on Adult Contemporary charts than on the Hot 100.

Not that I'm a fan, but I do hope it lasts and phases out (c)rap music

I think Pop-Country will be popular until 2012 or so.  Probably won't be a major player on the 2010s music scene beyond that.  Pop-Country, along with the current Dance-Pop and Autotune trends, seems like one of the those "transition" trends: something that that is popular in the later part of one decade and the early part of another.  Some examples from the late 90s/early 00s era would be Teen Pop and Nu Metal.  Late 80s/early 90s would be New Jack Swing, Hair Metal (though it had mainstream penetration in the mid-80s, the late 80s is when it really exploded), and "Old School Rap" (roughly spanning from Run DMC in '86 to ending with Dr. Dre in '92). 

So, it could be a major player in the early 2010s music scene, but probably not too much beyond that.  It may last longer than the Dance-Pop and autotune trends though since it doesn't become dated as easily.

Country has always been popular and a big seller in this country which you must keep in mind. Look at some of the highest selling albums of all time, you'll find a lot of country music. And country radio is one of the biggest formats in the United States along with Urban and Top 40. Many people don't seem to realize how big country is (I've been guilty of this in the past myself), because many non country fans tend to ignore the format like it doesn't exist. Now that being said yes there has been a revival of country music being heard on top 40 radio again in the late 2000s/early 2010s, though country artists on top 40 radio remains pretty rare and is very under represented on that format. But an artist like Lady Antebellum having a pop radio hit is nonetheless very cool.

I agree with Brian, in that lots of people ignore just how big country music is (at least in the U.S.) One of the best examples of this is Garth Brooks and Shania Twain. Garth has become the best selling solo album artist in the U.S. of all time.  And Shania has the best selling album of all time by a female musician with Come On Over.

I think the majority of what's out right now won't be popular or relevant in about 4 years, but I have noticed the huge pop country trend, it seems like after one genre dominates for a while, something completely opposite takes it's place. An example of that is Hip-Hop being incredibly mainstream until about 2008, then pop-country and this electro stuff starting from 2009.

It'll probably last till Taylor Swift gets married.


Or comes out the closet as a lover of Rosie O'Donnel!  ;D  <--would make for better tabloid fodder.

I know exactly how long it will last.  It will last until the next current Pop-Country trend starts!
::)

I agree with tv. I live in the UK but I know how much of a force Country Music is in the USA. Pop Country has been around for years in various forms but I believe it has become more mainstream in the last 10 years (especially since the arrival of Shania Twain). Personally, I like the Pop Country trend though I am not too sure which singers fit into what category. I like Carrie Underwood, Brooks and Dunn, Dixie Chicks, Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill, Rascal Flatts...Even a little Lonestar.

I agree with tv. I live in the UK but I know how much of a force Country Music is in the USA. Pop Country has been around for years in various forms but I believe it has become more mainstream in the last 10 years (especially since the arrival of Shania Twain). Personally, I like the Pop Country trend though I am not too sure which singers fit into what category. I like Carrie Underwood, Brooks and Dunn, Dixie Chicks, Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill, Rascal Flatts...Even a little Lonestar.
I would fit Carrie Underwood, Dixie Chicks, Rascal Flatts, Lonestar, and Faith Hill in the pop-country genre.

It'll probably last till Taylor Swift gets married.


Or comes out the closet as a lover of Rosie O'Donnel!  ;D  <--would make for better tabloid fodder.
Interestingly enough I think the last pop-country trend kind of died when Shania Twain got married I mean Shania has not put out an album out in a long time I don't think.

Didn't she get married in '94? I think it started dying in 2002 or at least the woman singers in country began to lose popularity around that time.

Didn't she get married in '94? I think it started dying in 2002 or at least the woman singers in country began to lose popularity around that time.
Yeah she got married in 93 it says in Wikipedia but she had a kid in August of 2001. She has put a few songs since 2002 I see on wikipedia but they were just on a greatest hits album.

Yeah I remember she released her Up! album in 2002, which had a couple of hits. But yeah, you can really see a decline of female artists being popular in those years (at least with radio.) Anyone else noticing that there has been a new resurgence of trios or groups in country music?

Frankly, I see it as already being pretty much dead. Taylor Swift doesn't seem quite as popular anymore, and the charts are totally urban again.

I could be wrong, but hasn't country-pop existed in some form, since maybe the 70's?

Didn't it start in the 80's with Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton?  ???

Didn't it start in the 80's with Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton?  ???


They did have that big hit "Islands In The Stream", I thinke it was in 83. On most sites it says country-pop really started in the 70's and went to the early 80s (although I guess there's the countrypolitan sound which was really popular in the 50s or 60s). Then there was a tradionalist movement in country that started during the mid 80s which made country-pop unpopular until the mid-90s or so.

I think this new trend of country-pop could last for a couple more years. I've noticed some country-rock styles in some recent songs, especially Miranda Lambert's "Only Prettier".