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&amp;b became pop music. examples of contemporary r&amp;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.