dingostew.com

Rock's days as the biggest genre in music are over. That's according to figures released today, which officially reveal that pop is now a dominant force and the one most of us are turning to when it comes to buying singles.

This impressive renaissance has been driven by the spectacular success in 2009 of the likes of Lady Gaga, Cheryl Cole, La Roux and Black Eyed Peas in the UK, all of whom feature in the run-down of the biggest tracks last year.

Pop's share of sales has dramatically risen from 28% in 2008 to 33.5% in 2009, according to the Official Charts Company (OCC). Meanwhile, the rock genre has seen its popularity slump from 31% to 24.5%, a demise captured below in the official top ten best-selling singles over this 12-month period.

01 Lady Gaga ‘Poker Face' (Pop)
02 Black Eyed Peas ‘I Gotta Feeling' (Hip-hop)
03 Lady Gaga ‘Just Dance' (Pop)
04 Cheryl Cole ‘Fight For This Love' (Pop)
05 Joe McElderry ‘The Climb' (Pop)
06 La Roux ‘In For The Kill' (Pop)
07 Black Eyed Peas ‘Boom Boom Pow' (Hip-hop)
08 Rage Against The Machine ‘Killing In The Name' (Rock)
09 Alexandra Burke ft Flo Rida ‘Bad Boys' (Pop)
10 Black Eyed Peas ‘Meet Me Halfway' (Hip-hop)

With just one song here, rock's plight is further demonstrated by the fact that Rage Against The Machine only feature after a one-off campaign to see their protest anthem triumph in the Christmas number one battle against the annual ‘X Factor' festive tune.

So are we living in a world where one genre is calling the shots? Geoff Taylor, chief executive of record label body the BPI, certainly believes so, commenting: "There's no doubting that 2009 was a vintage year for pop - some fantastic records led to a strong performance by the genre in both albums and singles."

There was better news for the rock genre in the albums market, where they took the biggest share on 31%. But that's 4% down on 2008, with pop gaining ground from 25% to 29%. Unless some of our favourite axe-wielding icons get their game together in 2010, it seems possible this demise could be permanent.

jaysus, scary stuff!!

was wondering why RATM were in there til i read the other part!

when did that come about?

must get me band back together and become rich and famous with some classic new rock anthems...

Do you not remember the big fuss before Christmas so X-factor wouldn't be number 1?! oh ye you're in Oz tut tut

I remember seeing some "RATM for no.1" facebook groups. didnt pay much attention tho.

who won in the end anyway? x-factor or RATM?

RATM!! and they sung the profane version on the one of the BBC conservative radio stations

well holy god, miley! A profane version?

So i take it RATM were actively tryin to get number one then, and it wasnt just an internet laugh?

sickener for them!