Euro Pop

This is a broad genre that encompasses the range of artists playing rock and pop music throughout Europe. Easygoing pop artists including Greece's Nana Mouskouri and Spain's Julio Iglesias blazed a trail for border-crossing pop in the 1960s and '70s, routinely recording songs in several languages and scoring hits across Europe. Their success paved the way for more dancefloor-friendly acts like Sweden's Abba, who attained worldwide success during the '70s and early '80s with their hook-laden songs and gleaming studio production. In the '90s, Ace of Base's ultra-catchy dance pop picked up where Abba left off. Some Euro pop artists, like Italy's Eros Ramazzotti and Laura Pausini and Spain's Alejandro Sanz, have found love on this side of the Atlantic in the Latin pop charts. Others, like Italy's Tiziano Ferro and Turkey's Tarkan, carry the genre forward primarily in Europe. Many of these European hitmakers would like nothing better than to break into the American market, but few make the leap successfully.