Experimental Pop

Experimental pop is pop music that keeps recognizable songs and melodies but tries out unusual sounds, structures and recording techniques.

Artists might use tape and found sounds, electronic effects, chance methods or song forms that ignore the usual verse and chorus, while still working within pop. The approach goes back to the late 1950s and 1960s, when producers and musicians began to experiment freely in the recording studio. It overlaps with art pop; the difference is that experimental pop is defined by how the music is made and sounds, not by links to visual art or concept.

Artists it is known for: Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson, Björk, Animal Collective.

Family: Pop
On Spotify: No longer returned by Spotify’s API
What it is: A genre
From: United States and United Kingdom, 1950s and 1960s
Trackify listeners who play it: 3%

About 2,600 of 83,000 Trackify listeners with public profiles have experimental pop among their top artists of the last four weeks. Rounded; updated 13 November 2026.

Experimental Pop artists

The experimental 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.