Taking the Christmas singles out of the equation, you have to go back to June 2019 to when Little Mix last had a UK Top 40 single, and a couple of months further back for Westlife. There haven’t really been any other pop groups since then to have emerged or reunited to produce chartworthy material.

 

Is it the end for pop groups to take centre stage in the UK anymore? Are there any signs that pop groups will have the sort of impact they may have enjoyed 10 years ago with the likes of JLS, The Saturdays, Sugababes, The Wanted and McFly storming charts most weeks.

 

So many groups have split this last decade in favour of pursuing solo projects, and the trend will only just continue for whatever remaining pop groups are left. It’s a sad end to a chart tradition, but it has gradually been coming to an end for a long time now I feel, it is just disappointing that it leaves the charts with less pop culture that it has been accustomed to for many decades now. Those few pop groups that remain don’t get anywhere near the Top 40 like in years gone by, maybe that’s what puts singers off the idea of joining forces with other singers but going it alone in the hope of a better chance of being picked up my major record labels.

 

What are your thoughts on this?

Taking the Christmas singles out of the equation, you have to go back to June 2019 to when Little Mix last had a UK Top 40 single, and a couple of months further back for Westlife. There haven’t really been any other pop groups since then to have emerged or reunited to produce chartworthy material.

 

Is it the end for pop groups to take centre stage in the UK anymore? Are there any signs that pop groups will have the sort of impact they may have enjoyed 10 years ago with the likes of JLS, The Saturdays, Sugababes, The Wanted and McFly storming charts most weeks.

 

So many groups have split this last decade in favour of pursuing solo projects, and the trend will only just continue for whatever remaining pop groups are left. It’s a sad end to a chart tradition, but it has gradually been coming to an end for a long time now I feel, it is just disappointing that it leaves the charts with less pop culture that it has been accustomed to for many decades now. Those few pop groups that remain don’t get anywhere near the Top 40 like in years gone by, maybe that’s what puts singers off the idea of joining forces with other singers but going it alone in the hope of a better chance of being picked up my major record labels.

 

What are your thoughts on this?

 

Yes, it's a shame. There don't seem to be that many new solo proper pop artists making it either. Dua Lipa and Mabel are the only recent ones I can think of.

 

But you only need to look at the descriptions of the "Sound of" artists to see where the music industry is going wrong:

 

Soulful poet unpicking the anxieties of a generation

Genre-bending indie-funk quintet

Multi-tentacled art-rock polymaths

Hypersonic emo-pop for the underrated youth

 

Not everyone wants this nonsense. Some of us just want good, timeless pop songs. Not everything has to have an edge.

 

I don't get why they don't find some pretty blonde and give her a Steve Mac/Ina Wroldsen pop banger, job done.

I don't get why they don't find some pretty blonde and give her a Steve Mac/Ina Wroldsen pop banger, job done.

EXACTLY THIS tbh.

 

It is a shame there's less out and out pop groups (or even just pop music in general for that matter) these days. Music trends are cyclical though so maybe in a few years pop will make a comeback?

It’s not just UK pop either, US groups struggle over here too, I think only Jonas Brothers and 5 Seconds Of Summer were able to score a couple of Top 40 hits in early 2019. I wouldn’t put Maroon 5 in that category though as they’re chameleons when it comes to changing their sound.

 

Could someone name the last US girl group to get a UK Top 40 single? I genuinely don’t know the answer but my guess would be Fifth Harmony and that’s going back to 2016.

maybe we need XF back in order to create a new group :) I think there's great pop songs out there all the time, maybe not by groups, by solo pop is always there

 

who's the biggest hit of the last 6 months? Tones & I, which is pure pop

 

I agree there are not many pop groups, but pop solo singers, there's plenty with. Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran etc

who's the biggest hit of the last 6 months? Tones & I, which is pure pop

Tones & I is very much the exception rather than the rule though

What about the girl band that won the X Factor: The Band last month some of their tracks were really good, mind you they have to crack the market first. The band name is hardly memorable, they might have to reconsider a name change. :lol:

 

There is another girl band floating around called 4 of Diamonds (I think) if I remember rightly, but they seem to be struggling to break out, there was a topic on them in the Pop forum.

 

But overall Pop bands are literally thin on the ground these days, they seem to struggle when they reform.

maybe we need XF back in order to create a new group :) I think there's great pop songs out there all the time, maybe not by groups, by solo pop is always there

 

who's the biggest hit of the last 6 months? Tones & I, which is pure pop

 

I agree there are not many pop groups, but pop solo singers, there's plenty with. Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran etc

 

I think the success of Tones & I just proves the point though. The public want pop and the industry is not giving us enough of it. Though she of course is not a manufactured popstar. There's probably not that many singer-songwriters out there like her, but plenty of wannabe singers they can give to Steve Mac or Naughty Boy or whoever.

What about the girl band that won the X Factor: The Band last month some of their tracks were really good, mind you they have to crack the market first. The band name is hardly memorable, they might have to reconsider a name change. :lol:

 

There is another girl band floating around called 4 of Diamonds (I think) if I remember rightly, but they seem to be struggling to break out, there was a topic on them in the Pop forum

 

Yes, really they prove how easy it is to manufacture a group. Now all they need is some good songs. Not every act will succeed of course, but they're more likely to than most of the acts that the music critics tell us to like.

but don't think Tones & I is the exception

there's pop everywhere, Dua Lipa, Taylor, Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, Camila, Serena, Harry Styles

but don't think Tones & I is the exception

there's pop everywhere, Dua Lipa, Taylor, Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, Camila, Serena, Harry Styles

I still believe these ones could have the same chart success they are enjoying now if they remained in their groups, perhaps even better.

 

Nothing wrong with venturing out to new projects, it jus leaves a big gap in the marketplace for pop groups.

 

Yes there may be pop everywhere, but it’s all solo. Some of us want to see more groups do well again.

All of these things go in cycles though, in 10 years from now, there may be a new One Direction - there was a big gap before JLS before where people were tiring of McFly and there wasn't a great deal of boyband success.

Most pop groups are label, management (telent spotters) or X Factor style inventions. The latter is on its last legs and one of the former - record labels - perhaps see no need these days to throw money at a project that might not work in a music world that favours solo acts and collaborations. Similarly talent spotters, who were responsible for putting together and marketing the likes of Take That, Boyzone, the Spice Girls and Steps just don't seem to get as involved these days in creating acts.

 

I do miss the days of the likes of The Sugababes and Girls Aloud charting on a regular basis. Plus that was the era of the guitar / indie revival of the mid 00s which to me was the last great period for the charts. Plus there was lots of great dance music around then too.

Edited January 10, 20205 yr by Robbie

I remember the days when chart was saturated with Pop bands, Let Loose, Blue, Another Level, Boyzone, Take That, Westlife, Sugababes, All Saints, Liberty X, Spice Girls, Steps, Made In London, Thunderbugs etc etc I could go on, but unfortunately everything has its sell by date (pardon the expression) and when some of them start reforming they are hardly setting the charts alight. The group market has suffered.

 

Currently there is only Little Mix, Take That, Westlife, can't think of anything else at the moment, but that's virtually a tiny market for groups.

but wait we still have Maroon 5 :D

but wait we still have Maroon 5 :D

Umm no.

I wouldn’t put Maroon 5 in that category though as they’re chameleons when it comes to changing their sound.

Despite sounding like pop, it’s just Adam Levine and his band who don’t sing. :rolleyes:

I really hoped and maybe naively believed that the huge success of Sweet But Psycho would lead to more of the major songwriters, producers and labels taking a chance on pure pop, of the straight down the line variety that was doing so well in the RedOne era, or in the late 90s.

 

Dance Monkey is a slightly different beast as it's not as sugary sweet I guess, but as Acerben mentions, it's still a big pop song that again proves that the public are open to big pop songs and huge choruses still. It's odd that it takes these unknown acts to do it, with the odd one breaking through, and that none of the big superstars are really releasing such songs.

 

I guess Ariana did with No Tears Left To Cry, but all of her output since has been more rhythmic and R&B influenced than pop melodic.

Another casing point, bands from the 80s are still releasing music today, Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, Soft Cell, Simply Red, Human League, Erasure, The Beat, Madness, but these acts hardly getting into the singles chart no more, take Pet Shop Boys for example hit after hit in the singles chart, but now they are hardly in the singles chart they are more leaning towards the album market.

 

I know they are not Pop, but it shows other different genres in the mix of things.

 

Anyway, I grab my anorak now :ph34r: :lol:

Rak Su really should have been huge. They had an EP full of original songs when they won X-Factor and yet Syco waited a year to launch them with generic trash.

 

Into It was a pop masterpiece.

Umm no.

Despite sounding like pop, it’s just Adam Levine and his band who don’t sing. :rolleyes:

That's because Adam is the...

 

 

lead singer in Maroon 5 :o