| French pop | |
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| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | 1950s,France |
| Other topics | |
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| Music of France | ||||||
| General topics | ||||||
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| Genres | ||||||
| Media and performance | ||||||
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| Nationalistic and patriotic songs | ||||||
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| Regional music | ||||||
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French pop music ispop music sung in the French language. It is usually performed by singers from France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, or any of the otherfrancophone areas of the world. The target audience is thefrancophone market (primarily France), which is considerably smaller than and largely independent from the mainstreamanglophone market.
The first distinct French pop music styles that emerged were theFrench rock and theyé-yé, which originated in France during the 1960s. They were influenced by the Americanrock & roll of the 1950s. In the early days, this style of French pop music was easily distinguishable from the earlier category of French music calledchanson in English. Eventually the early French pop music and the chanson styles crossed over and combined.
French pop music can be heard on radio stations in France, such asNRJ,RTL 2,Virgin Radio (formerlyEurope 2),Radio Nova,Chérie FM, and others. (There are francophone radio stations outside France, but the ones in France are the most influential with respect to French pop music.) Besides French pop music, these radio stations typically play mainstream pop music (in English) as well asLatin pop,Italian pop, andAfrican pop depending on the station.
Radio stations in France are required to play at least 40% of their songs in French, during prime hours. France'sPelchat amendment to the1994 Broadcasting Reform Act is the law which requires this.[1]
A list of Francophone pop music artists and the decades when they rose to prominence.