Indian pop music, also known as Indi-pop or I-pop, refers to pop music produced in India that is independent from film soundtracks for Indian cinema. Indian pop is closely linked to Indian cinema (Bollywood, Tollywood, Pollywood and Kollywood), Pakistani pop music, and the Asian Underground scene of the United Kingdom. The variety of South Asian music from different countries are generally known as Desi music.
History
Pop music originated in Pakistan with the playback singer Ahmed Rushdi's song "" in 1966 and has since then been adopted in India, Bangladesh, and lately Sri Lanka, and Nepal as a pioneering influence in their respective pop cultures. Following Rushdi's success, Christian bands specialising in jazz started performing at various night clubs and hotel lobbies in various Southeast Asian cities. They would usually sing either famous American jazz hits or cover Rushdi's songs.
Pop music began gaining popularity across the Indian subcontinent in the early 1980s, with Pakistani singers Nazia and Zoheb Hassan forming a sibling duo whose records, produced by Biddu, sold as many as 60 million copies. Biddu himself previously had success in the Western world, where he was one of the first successful disco producers in the early 1970s, with hits such as the hugely popular "Kung Fu Fighting" (1974).
The term Indipop was first used by the British-Indian fusion band Monsoon in their 1981 EP release on Steve Coe's Indipop Records.Ladyslipper Music - Monsoon Featuring Sheila Chandra Charanjit Singh's Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat (1982) anticipated the sound of acid house music, years before the genre arose in the Chicago house scene of the late 1980s, using the Roland TR-808 drum machine, TB-303 bass synthesizer, and Jupiter-8 synthesizer.
In the late 2000s, Indi-pop music faced increasing competition from film music. Major pop singers stopped releasing albums and started singing for movies. Recently, Indian pop has taken an interesting turn with the "remixing" of songs from past Indian movie songs, new beats being added to them.
In 2022, Jaimin Rajani, an Indian singer-songwriter, fused the sitar's Indian classical sound with Western rock sensibilities in "Something Here to Stay," a track from his debut album Cutting Loose.
I-pop is a new and emerging music genre in India, blending Indian sounds with global pop influences. It features a mix of Hindi and regional languages, with themes ranging from romance to social issues. Gaining popularity among youth, I-pop reflects a shift from traditional Bollywood music, driven by independent artists and digital platforms.
Lists
Best-selling albums Rank Year Album Artist(s) Sales (millions) 1 1995 Bolo Ta Ra Ra.. Daler Mehndi 20 2 1995 Abrar-ul-Haq 16 3 1981 Nazia and Zoheb Hassan 14 4 1998 "" Panjabi MC 10 2002 Abrar-ul-Haq 10 6 1999 Bay Ja Cycle Tay Abrar-ul-Haq 6.5 7 1997 Abrar-ul-Haq 6 Only One Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mahmood Khan 6 9 1992 Thanda Thanda Pani Baba Sehgal 5 1995 Made in India Alisha Chinai 5 11 1997 Tum To Thehre Pardesi Altaf Raja 4 12 1993 Tootak Tootak Toothian Malkit Singh 2.5 13 1996 Lucky Ali 2 1997 Vande Mataram A. R. Rahman 2 1998 Sifar Lucky Ali 2 2004 Me Against Myself Jay Sean 2 17 2004 Abrar-ul-Haq 1.8 18 1999 Deewana Sonu Nigam 1.2 Oye Hoye Harbhajan Mann 1.2 20 1996 Naujawan Shaan 1 1997 Duniya Raageshwari 1 2000 Tanha Dil... Shaan 1
Music video streams Year Song Artist(s)Language YouTube streams 2020""Thaman S, Armaan MalikTelugu820 ""AP Dhillon, Gurinder Gill, Shinda KahlonPunjabi6052019"Rowdy Baby"Yuvan Shankar Raja, DhanushTamil14002017""Abhay JainHindi29 "Lahore" Guru RandhawaPunjabi 750 "Bom Diggy" Zack Knight and Jasmin WaliaPunjabi "High Rated Gabru" Guru RandhawaPunjabi 1168 2014 "" Rahat Fateh Ali KhanHindi 1427 2015 "" Yo Yo Honey SinghHindi 625 2011""Dhanush and Anirudh RavichanderTamil227
References