Electropop is a music style that mixes elements of electronic music and pop music. It is a type of synth-pop that focuses on strong electronic beats. This genre was created in the 1980s and became popular again in the late 2000s. Electropop is sometimes confused with electro, which is also called electro-pop. However, electro is a different genre that includes sounds from funk and early hip hop.

History

Martin Gore, a composer for Depeche Mode, said that Kraftwerk were like the most important influences for people in electronic music during their time.

In the early 1980s, Japanese artists like Yellow Magic Orchestra and Ryuichi Sakamoto and British artists such as Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, the Human League, Soft Cell, John Foxx, and Visage helped create a new style of music called synth-pop. This style used more electronic sounds and focused heavily on using synthesizers.

— Anglomania: The Second British Invasion, by Parke Puterbaugh for Rolling Stone, November 1983.

Britney Spears' fifth album, Blackout (2007), helped make electropop more popular with a wider audience. In 2009, the media reported that many new electropop artists were gaining attention. A poll by the BBC asked 130 music experts to name the top artists, and ten of the top fifteen were electropop musicians. Lady Gaga had great success with her first album, The Fame, starting in 2008. A music writer named Simon Reynolds said that Lady Gaga’s style came from a movement called electroclash, but her music was not clearly from the 1980s. A singer named Michael Angelakos from Passion Pit said in 2009 that he did not plan to make electropop music, but the limited equipment in dorm rooms made it easier to create.

In 2009, The Guardian quoted James Oldham, who worked at A&M Records, saying that music companies were not interested in signing new bands because they did not think the bands would sell records. Instead, they focused on music that used electronic sounds.

During the 2010s, electropop became more popular in the music industry. This was because of the success of artists like Avicii, Lady Gaga, Calvin Harris, Kesha, Rihanna, Zedd, and Ellie Goulding. This time is sometimes called "recession pop."

Zedd’s first album, Clarity, helped bring electronic pop music into the mainstream. It combined strong electronic beats with catchy songs performed by pop artists, which made Zedd and the genre more popular during the 2010s. This album also helped Zedd develop his own style as a pop musician.

Electropop artists who had success during the 2010s include: Sofi Tukker, Lykke Li, Mura Masa, Empire of the Sun, CHVRCHES, AlunaGeorge, Icona Pop, Tove Lo, BROODS, Troye Sivan, Charli xcx, MØ, Florrie, BANKS, Bright Light Bright Light, Foxes, AURORA, Allie X, and Marina.

The Korean pop music scene also became influenced by electropop, especially with boy bands and girl groups like Super Junior, SHINee, f(x), and Girls’ Generation.

Some artists who have been noted for their work in electropop during the new decade include Slayyyter, Ayesha Erotica, Sigrid, and Billie Eilish. Billie Eilish gained both critical praise and commercial success near the end of the last decade. A writer named Kenneth Womack for Salon said that Eilish became known as the leading artist in electropop with her successful album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?.