Alternative Pop
Alternative pop is pop music with wide appeal made by artists outside the mainstream mold, usually darker, moodier or less conventional than standard chart pop.
It keeps hooks and choruses but is often darker or more downbeat in mood, with lyrics about insecurity, regret and anxiety. The term has been used since the 1980s and became common in the 2010s for a wave of young singers such as Lana Del Rey, Lorde and, later, Billie Eilish. It is seen as more original or eclectic than mainstream pop, which is brighter and more polished.
Artists it is known for: Lorde, Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish.
- Family
- Pop
- On Spotify
- A current genre
- What it is
- A genre
- From
- United Kingdom, 1980s; widely used from the 2010s
- Also called
- alt-pop, alt pop
- Trackify listeners who play it
- 18%
About 15,000 of 83,000 Trackify listeners with public profiles have alternative pop among their top artists of the last four weeks. Rounded; updated 13 November 2026.
Alternative Pop artists
Malcolm Todd
SIENNA SPIRO
Audrey Hobert
Artemas
The Sundays
Sophia Stel
NEFFEX
Seb Lowe
SOFIA ISELLA
Dinosaur Jr.
The alternative pop artists most Trackify listeners have in their top fifty. Each opens on Spotify.
Sources
The definition is written for this site from open sources, and was checked against them on 13 November 2026.