Indie Pop
Indie pop is melodic, guitar-based pop made outside the mainstream industry, pairing catchy tunes with a modest, do-it-yourself approach.
It grew out of British post-punk in the late 1970s and early 1980s, around small labels such as Postcard and Sarah and the NME's C86 cassette. Songs tend to be short and tuneful, with jangly or clean guitars, simple drums and unshowy singing. It is softer and sweeter than indie rock, which leans on louder, rougher guitars. Since the 2000s the term also covers synth-led and home-recorded pop by independent artists.
Artists it is known for: Belle and Sebastian, The Pastels, Camera Obscura.
- Family
- Alternative & Indie
- On Spotify
- A current genre
- What it is
- A genre
- From
- United Kingdom, late 1970s to 1980s
- Also called
- indiepop
- Trackify listeners who play it
- 43%
About 36,000 of 83,000 Trackify listeners with public profiles have indie pop among their top artists of the last four weeks. Rounded; updated 13 November 2026.
Indie Pop artists
TV Girl
Malcolm Todd
Clairo
The Marías
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Chappell Roan
Phoebe Bridgers
Alex G
Lizzy McAlpineThe indie 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.