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Post by SharksFan99 on Jul 26, 2018 0:20:02 GMT 10
I'm interested to hear other people's opinions on this topic. I think you could potentially make a case for 2018 as being the year that rock returned to mainstream. Whilst rock music may not currently have the same influence/presence as it did prior to the 2010s, the genre does appear to be making significant inroads into the mainstream.
Shawn Mendes' "In My Blood" and Imagine Dragon's "Whatever It Takes" were Top-20 hits in the United States just a couple of months ago and both songs stayed within the Top-20 for several weeks. As of the 25th July 2018, "In My Blood" is currently the 10th most played song on Top-40 radio in the U.S and it is still within the Top-40 on the Hot 100. Bad Wolves' cover of "Zombie" was also an international success in the first-half of 2018, peaking at #7 in France, #26 here in Australia, as well as #54 in the United States. It was also hugely successful on the iTunes Charts.
It appears that America's taste in music is gradually beginning to change. Twenty One Pilot's brand new single, "Jumpsuit", debuted at #10 on the U.S iTunes Chart and it was within the Top-20 highest trending videos on YouTube in the days immediately after it's release. It is now currently at #50 on the Billboard Hot 100, which is an impressive peak for an alternative-rock song. It is also currently at #50 in the UK and #76 in Australia.
Also of note is a song called "Broken", a song by the American indie-rock band, lovelytheband. It debuted at #84 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. Interestingly enough, it is also currently at #47 on the Radio Airplay Chart, just two spots behind "Youngblood" (which is at #32 on the Hot 100). It appears to be gaining momentum and it will be interesting to see where it charts in the next few weeks.
The "Hot Rock Songs" Chart is in a healthier state than it was just 6-12 months ago. I remember back in Late 2017, most of the songs on the "Hot Rock Songs" Chart were several years old. At the present time, the Top-10 is mostly comprised of new releases, such as Weezer's "Africa", Twenty One Pilot's "Jumpsuit", Foster The People's "Sit Next To Me" and "Broken" by lovelytheband. Also, a heavy metal band has just debuted at #2 on the "Emerging Artists" chart.
I know those statistics may seem somewhat insignificant, but I think it's evidence to suggest that rock has returned to the mainstream in a small, yet significant way. It's a stark contrast to just twelve months ago, when the Billboard Hot 100 was essentially comprised of just EDM, Trap and Country songs.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2018 0:47:28 GMT 10
This is good news.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2018 4:38:34 GMT 10
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Post by SharksFan99 on Jul 26, 2018 7:43:10 GMT 10
I agree. Speaking of new rock music, have you heard of Greta Van Fleet? They're a blues/hard-rock band and their overall sound is similar to Led Zeppelin. "Highway Tune" is one of their most popular songs. It's definitely worth listening to. 
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Post by rainbow on Jul 26, 2018 7:49:22 GMT 10
I would personally wait until 2019 to confirm if rock music is actually returning to the mainstream. Some years tend to go through a little music phase when a music genre is popular only that year and the next year nobody is listening to it. A good example of this is that little disco phase that 2013 had. I do notice that there are a little more rock songs this year though.
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Post by longaotian on Jul 26, 2018 8:22:25 GMT 10
I would personally wait until 2019 to confirm if rock music is actually returning to the mainstream. Some years tend to go through a little music phase when a music genre is popular only that year and the next year nobody is listening to it. A good example of this is that little disco phase that 2013 had. I do notice that there are a little more rock songs this year though. Yup. There was also the dancehall trend in 2016 & 2017 with songs like "Cheap Thrills", "One Dance" and "Shape of You" being really successful.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2018 8:56:09 GMT 10
I would personally wait until 2019 to confirm if rock music is actually returning to the mainstream. Some years tend to go through a little music phase when a music genre is popular only that year and the next year nobody is listening to it. A good example of this is that little disco phase that 2013 had. I do notice that there are a little more rock songs this year though. I agree with this. Twentyone Pilots' new album is more guitar heavy than their previous stuff which could be a good sign for those wanting guitar-based music to return to the mainstream. With that said, alternative rock has been hovering just outside the mainstream all decade but hasn't had much luck breaking in. This is kind of one of those "I'll believe it when I see it" things.
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Post by rainbow on Jul 26, 2018 9:19:34 GMT 10
I would personally wait until 2019 to confirm if rock music is actually returning to the mainstream. Some years tend to go through a little music phase when a music genre is popular only that year and the next year nobody is listening to it. A good example of this is that little disco phase that 2013 had. I do notice that there are a little more rock songs this year though. I agree with this. Twentyone Pilots' new album is more guitar heavy than their previous stuff which could be a good sign for those wanting guitar-based music to return to the mainstream. With that said, alternative rock has been hovering just outside the mainstream all decade but hasn't had much luck breaking in. This is kind of one of those "I'll believe it when I see it" things. By the way, welcome to Popedia! I'm so happy you joined! We hope you enjoy this website. 
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Post by SharksFan99 on Jul 26, 2018 9:57:30 GMT 10
I would personally wait until 2019 to confirm if rock music is actually returning to the mainstream. Some years tend to go through a little music phase when a music genre is popular only that year and the next year nobody is listening to it. A good example of this is that little disco phase that 2013 had. I do notice that there are a little more rock songs this year though. I do agree with what your saying. We won't truly know if rock has returned to the mainstream for at least another couple of years. However, with that said, I think there are a few promising signs and I actually think rock has been slowly creeping back into the mainstream since last year. * The increased presence of guitars in many pop-releases last year. * "Emo-rap", as popularised by Lil Uzi Vert and XXXTentacion. * A new sub-genre of Trap, known as "Trap-Metal", has emerged and it is gaining momentum in the underground. Scarlxrd's most popular song has over 30 million views and he is set to perform at the Reading festival next month, which is one of the biggest festivals in the UK. I think the key difference between the recent trends with rock music and the disco phase of 2013, is that rock appears to not only be gaining momentum in the mainstream, but also in the underground as well.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2018 12:24:39 GMT 10
Alternative Rock has been pretty popular throughout this decade though, especially in 2012-2015, around the same time hipster/indie culture peaked. There's actually been less popular Alternative Rock songs in 2016-now than 2010-2015, probably since hipster culture has been dying out. The only popular band now that's producing Alternative Rock songs is Imagine Dragons. And I wouldn't really consider #50 on the Billboard charts to be an impressive peak for Alternative Rock since Imagine Dragons had two Alternative Rock songs in the top 10 in 2013 (Radioactive at #3 and Demons at #6) and one in 2017 (Believer at #4). I do think Bad Wolves' Zombie's popularity, and the fact that Jumpsuit became the fastest-rising Alternative songs #1 since Green Day's Know Your Enemy in 2009, is REALLY interesting though, and could really mean something.
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Post by SharksFan99 on Jul 26, 2018 19:43:09 GMT 10
Alternative Rock has been pretty popular throughout this decade though, especially in 2012-2015, around the same time hipster/indie culture peaked.
There's actually been less popular Alternative Rock songs in 2016-now than 2010-2015, probably since hipster culture has been dying out. The only popular band now that's producing Alternative Rock songs is Imagine Dragons. And I wouldn't really consider #50 on the Billboard charts to be an impressive peak for Alternative Rock since Imagine Dragons had two Alternative Rock songs in the top 10 in 2013 (Radioactive at #3 and Demons at #6) and one in 2017 (Believer at #4). I do think Bad Wolves' Zombie's popularity, and the fact that Jumpsuit became the fastest-rising Alternative songs #1 since Green Day's Know Your Enemy in 2009, is REALLY interesting though, and could really mean something. I'm not sure if I would really consider those songs to be alternative-rock, to be honest. I guess they are alt-rock songs, in the broadest sense, however I would be more inclined to label them as indie-rock or just generic pop-rock. "Jumpsuit" is stylistically different from Imagine Dragons releases. For instance, "Radioactive" contains distorted synths and elements of Dubstep, while "Jumpsuit" alternates between progressive-rock and hard-rock, even featuring screaming at the end of the song.
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Post by SharksFan99 on Jul 27, 2018 10:28:32 GMT 10
Interestingly enough, "Highway Tune" by Greta Van Fleet is currently at #56 on the New Zealand iTunes Chart. Here in Australia, it is also receiving regular airplay on Sydney commercial rock station, Triple M. They're starting to gain momentum!  Edit: Their most recent single has just debuted at #98 on the US iTunes Chart.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2018 1:31:08 GMT 10
I agree. Speaking of new rock music, have you heard of Greta Van Fleet? They're a blues/hard-rock band and their overall sound is similar to Led Zeppelin. "Highway Tune" is one of their most popular songs. It's definitely worth listening to. I've heard SeaCaptainMan97 talk about it, but I never listened to them. I'll probably check them out soon.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2018 3:46:09 GMT 10
I know a lot of people really want a shift back to guitar-oriented music in Top 40 but I'm just not seeing it. Country is actually performing better right now in the Billboard Hot 100 than rock is. Let's get a significant rock song into the Top 10 and then we can really start debating if a new rock era is upon us. At the moment, it's kind of wishful thinking in my opinion.
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Post by SharksFan99 on Aug 5, 2018 23:06:39 GMT 10
I know a lot of people really want a shift back to guitar-oriented music in Top 40 but I'm just not seeing it. Country is actually performing better right now in the Billboard Hot 100 than rock is. Let's get a significant rock song into the Top 10 and then we can really start debating if a new rock era is upon us. At the moment, it's kind of wishful thinking in my opinion. I see your point, although I think you could make the case for the examples discussed earlier in this thread potentially signifying a full-fledged return of rock in the not too distant future. It arguably has returned to the mainstream this year. I know it's all hypothetical at this stage and there are a lot of ifs and buts, however rock is undeniably in a much healthier state than it was just 18 months ago. At the start of 2017, rock was represented in the Top-40 purely through the success of Twenty One Pilot's "Stressed Out". Since then, you've had "Sign of the Times" reach the Top-5 on the Billboard Hot-100, "Zombie" and "In My Blood" become massive hits and bands such as Greta Van Fleet gaining serious momentum in the mainstream. Like @ofkx pointed out, "Jumpsuit" has become the fasted-rising song to reach #1 on the Alternative-Chart since Green Day's "Know Your Enemy" back in 2009. To me, that suggests that rock is making inroads back into the mainstream.
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