Pop music is a type of popular music that many people like to listen to. The term 'pop music' can be used for all kinds of music that was written to be popular. The term 'pop music' was used from about 1880 onwards, when new kinds of music became popular. Styles of pop music in the 2020s (today) include rock music, electronic dance music and hip hop. Different kinds of music are popular at different times, which changes the description. There are also many more people working on pop music who are not seen on the stage or in the video. These people include the studio staff (people who help the musicians to record CDs and music videos in music studios), production staff (people who help make the music recordings sound good), distribution staff (people who help sell the music to stores) and retail staff (people that sell the music to people at CD stores). Tour staff help the band to travel around the country (or around the world) for their concert tours. Some tour staff help by carrying heavy musical instruments onto the stage. Other tour staff drive buses or cars, so that the band can get to the concert. Some tour staff operate sound equipment, such as the large amplifiers and loudspeakers that are used to amplify (make louder) the band's music for the audience. Promotional staff help to market or promote the band's music, so that more people will know about the band, and buy the band's CDs. Some promotional staff travel to radio stations and give the band's CD to radio station managers or DJs (disk jockeys: the people who announce songs on the radio). Other promotional staff write press releases (short articles) about the band which are sent to the newspapers. Architecture began as rural, oral vernacular architecture that developed from trial and error to successful replication. Ancient urban architecture was preoccupied with building religious structures and buildings symbolizing the political power of rulers until Greek and Roman architecture shifted focus to civic virtues. Indian and Chinese architecture influenced forms all over Asia and Buddhist architecture in particular took diverse local flavors. During the Middle Ages, pan-European styles of Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals and abbeys emerged while the Renaissance favored Classical forms implemented by architects known by name. Later, the roles of architects and engineers became separated. Modern architecture began after World War I as an avant-garde movement that sought to develop a completely new style appropriate for a new post-war social and economic order focused on meeting the needs of the middle and working classes. Emphasis was put on modern techniques, materials, and simplified geometric forms, paving the way for high-rise superstructures. Many architects became disillusioned with modernism which they perceived as ahistorical and anti-aesthetic, and postmodern and contemporary architecture developed. Over the years, the field of architectural construction has branched out to include everything from ship design to interior decorating. The notable 19th-century architect of skyscrapers, Louis Sullivan, promoted an overriding precept to architectural design: 'Form follows function'. While the notion that structural and aesthetic considerations should be entirely subject to functionality was met with both popularity and skepticism, it had the effect of introducing the concept of 'function' in place of Vitruvius' 'utility'. 'Function' came to be seen as encompassing all criteria of the use, perception and enjoyment of a building, not only practical but also aesthetic, psychological and cultural.

Nunzia Rondanini stated, 'Through its aesthetic dimension architecture goes beyond the functional aspects that it has in common with other human sciences. Through its own particular way of expressing values, architecture can stimulate and influence social life without presuming that, in and of itself, it will promote social development.... To restrict the meaning of (architectural) formalism to art for art's sake is not only reactionary; it can also be a purposeless quest for perfection or originality which degrades form into a mere instrumentality'. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a type of nightclub dance music called Disco turned into a popular type of pop music. Record companies took an experimental, strange-sounding type of music called New Wave music from the 1980s and turned it into pop music bands such as The Cars. In the 1990s record companies took an underground type of hard rock called Grunge (for example the band Nirvana). Michael Jackson was also a very influential artist for pop music. His album, Thriller, is the best-selling album of all time. He also wrote some other very influential songs, such as 'Bad', 'Give In to Me', 'Will You Be There', 'Heal the World', 'We Are the World', 'Black or White', and 'Billie Jean', just to name a few. By the 21st century (after the demise of disco in the 1980s) Contemporary R&B became pop music. Examples of Contemporary R&B artists that have a wide pop appeal are Usher, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Chris Brown and more. Pop rappers Flo Rida and Kesha were mainstream in the late 2000s and the early 2010s. Modern pop singers include Ariana Grande, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. Nicki Minaj blended pop and hip hop in the early 2010s.