newsroom.spotify.com/2026-02-11/classic-pop-albums-streaming-era

Do you agree? :)

Here's a bit more about their criteria / process pulled from their site:

This is our flagship program dedicated to celebrating the catalog music that continues to shape culture long after its release. Focused on the streaming era—defined here as 2015 to today—the program highlights albums and songs whose influence extends beyond charts, trends, and momentary success.

Pop music has been fundamentally transformed by streaming. Once an amorphous catch-all for whatever was currently popular, pop in the streaming era has solidified as a genre with its own language, discourse, and cultural signifiers. Pop artists of all sizes can craft their sound and find their audience %hey mitch% without the constant pressures of chasing commercial success. The result is a genre broader and bolder than ever before, drawing on influences from across the musical spectrum while remaining unmistakably grounded in pop. In this era, pop is defined as much by timeless, genre-defining albums as by ephemeral hits.

LetS TAlK aBoUT It

was ready to hate but Ten Love Songs made it thats super cool

wtf did they mean by this

Pop music really is doing just as bad as hip-hop rn quality-wise, but unlike us they have a whole poptimist media ecosystem to shower them with praise and pretend nothing bad is happening

a pop classic

Like?

Glad The Weeknd made it. I think it should have been After Hours but Starboy is a great pick too

It should have been Dawn FM, that's his true pop classic imo

carly rae jepsen emotion

jessie ware

kacey musgraves

planet her

Funk Wav Vol. 1

Radio
Playlist curators
Stan twitter
Print and broadcast media (think the art/culture section of major newspapers, we are completely outside their target audience but they rate EVERY pop album highly)
Even actual serious music publications like Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, the staff writers for pop music specifically will usually be young white women or gay men who are all poptimists

yep

No I mean who are some pop artists that you think are putting the genre in a bad place? I think pop music has been really great throughout this decade.

SAWAYAMA they know ball

SOPHIE

this is a great list ngl

Chappel roan?

One of the best albums on the entire list

and no after hours?

A shame! I’d have put that over Starboy

A legit AOTY Grammy type album that s*** abel been touring of that s*** for 6 years

Charli XCX
Taylor Swift
Harry Styles
Sabrina Carpenter
Dua Lipa
Olivia Rodrigo
Madison Beer
Tate McRae
Gracie Abrams
plus the various faceless Swedish and British men who write and produce their songs for them

I only really respect Chappell Roan and at least half of her success is down to Dan Nigro