Dance-pop is a style of electronic dance music and a subgenre of pop music that evolved from disco, circa 1981, that combines dance beats with a pop/R&B song structure. Because there is such an emphasis on fully-formed songs in dance-pop, it is often viewed as a separate classification unto itself apart from pure dance music . Dance-pop is also closely related to the teen pop and Eurodance movements in the mid- 80s and late 1990s, the rise of boy bands and girl groups, and the reintroduction of the vocoder and similar such innovations.

Like its disco forebear, dance-pop is often viewed by musical historians as a producer's medium, as a great many musicians and songwriting teams arose from the genre. Musicians like André Cymone and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (all of whom had been musically connected with Prince) and Patrick Leonard (who'd been a member of the band Trillion), as well as DJs like Jellybean Benitez and Shep Pettibone, became stars in their own right due to the sleek productions they lavished on artists like Madonna, Jody Watley and Janet Jackson. Another dance-pop production team of note is Stock Aitken and Waterman, who sculpted polished production for the likes of Kylie Minogue, Rick Astley and Bananarama. Indeed, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, (both of whom had been stars in the disco era as part of the group Chic), were able to flourish as producers of material for newer artists in Dance-pop's rise.

Artists

• Paula Abdul
• Mariah Carey
• Duran Duran
• Whitney Houston
• The Human League
• Janet Jackson
• Michael Jackson
• Madonna
• George Michael
• Pet Shop Boys
• Prince
• Spice Girls
• TLC
• ABC
• Ace of Base
• All Saints
• Backstreet Boys
• Bananarama
• NSYNC
• Billy Ocean
• Stacey Q
• Nu Shooz
• Gloria Estefan
• Bobby Brown

See also

• Post-disco
• Disco
• Freestyle
• House music
• Synthpop
• Teen pop