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Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to art music,...

Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to art music, and traditional music which was disseminated orally. Although popular music sometimes is known as "pop music", the term pop music usually refers to a specific musical genre. Form in popular music is most often sectional, the most common sections being verse, chorus or refrain, and bridge. Popular music dates at least as far back as the mid 19th century, and is commonly subdivided into genres. Different genres often appeal to different age groups. These often, but not always, are the people who were young when the music was new. Thus, for instance, Big band music continues to have a following, but it is probably a rather older group, on average, than the audience for rap. For some genres, such as ragtime music, the original target generation may have died out almost entirely. With the increasing social and economic independence of young people, this "generation gap" has grown wider and wider since the second World War. Music hall and other forms before the 1940s were not so clearly marked by generation. From the Depression through the end of the war, Bing Crosby was the highest-selling