The Globalization of Popular Music, 1960-2010: A Multilevel Analysis of Music Flows

Abstract

This study offers a cross-national multilayered analysis of music flows between 1960 and 2010. Advancing on previous empirical studies of cultural globalization, it attends to the global and country level, while adding the individual level of music flows. Concretely, the authors analyze the international composition of pop charts in nine countries by (a) mapping trends, (b) comparing countries, and (c) conducting multivariate analyses. The results show that pop charts increasingly contain foreign music, with the exception of the United States. Explanatory analyses of foreign success confirm that limited cultural distance results in greater flow as found in film and television studies, while revealing additional positive impacts of centrality of production (e.g., artists from more "central" countries in music production are more likely to chart abroad) and the "star power" of artists. Both the innovative methodological approach and findings of this article offer promising research avenues for globalization, media industry, and celebrity studies.

Enter Culture, Exit Arts?

“…The main finding was that, after steady growth and years of hegemony, the popularity of global (mostly American) pop music decreased slightly during the late 1980s and 1990s in many countries, while domestic popular music increased in popularity. On the other hand, in their study covering the period from 1960 to 2010, Verboord and Brandellero (2018) found that pop charts have clearly become increasingly globalized in Western countries (except in the United States), and that songs from centrally located countries in terms of music production are more likely to become popular abroad. Another way to capture the temporal process of cultural globalization is to focus on longitudinal media data.…”

“…One such stream of research has been the study of music charts (e.g. Achterberg et al, 2011;Bekhuis, Meuleman and Lubbers, 2013;Bekhuis, Lubbers and Ultee, 2014;Verboord and Brandellero, 2018). For instance, Bekhuis et al (2014) studied the top-100 pop lists in nine Western countries from the early 1970s to contemporary times, focusing on the geographic origin of the artist and the language used.…”

Peace Up, A-town Down: Exploring the Evolution of Popular Music

“…Furthermore, music has the ability to be a large part of any particular culture (Verboord & Brandellero, 2016). Therefore, understanding how popular music has changed over the course of time can help illuminate how members of society have changed, or not changed, over time.…”

Cultural globalization on the printed page: Stability and change in the proportion of foreign cultural products in European quality newspapers, 1960–2010

“…One remarkable approach to investigating cultural flows from a longitudinal perspective has been the study of music charts (e.g., Achterberg et al, 2011;Bekhuis et al, 2013Bekhuis et al, , 2014Verboord and Brandellero, 2016). For instance, Bekhuis et al (2014) studied top-100 pop-song lists in nine Western countries from the early 1970s to contemporary times, focusing on the geographic origin of the artist and the language used.…”

“…The differences among geographical origins mentioned above very likely depend on the cultural area, at least on some level. Studies on pop charts show that pop music is a very global cultural area, and the US has dominated this genre (e.g., Achterberg et al, 2011;Bekhuis et al, 2013Bekhuis et al, , 2014Verboord and Brandellero, 2016). According to Janssen et al (2008), several factors could be affecting the globalization level of a certain cultural area, varying from the format and distribution channels of the product to language dependency and the hegemony of certain countries.…”