Music has a funny way of rising from the ashes when everyone least expects it. Every few years, critics and industry insiders declare another genre obsolete, finished, or simply irrelevant. Yet time and again, these supposedly dead genres find new life, often returning with more vitality than before. Here’s the thing: declaring music dead is premature at best, downright foolish at worst.
Let’s be honest, the cycle of declaring genres dead has become predictable. What’s fascinating is watching how these genres reinvent themselves, finding fresh audiences and new expressions that speak to contemporary listeners while honoring their roots.
Rock Music’s Unexpected Renaissance in 2025
Rock is among the fastest-growing genres in the country according to Luminate’s midyear report for 2025, outpacing both Latin and country music in growth rates. Sweden’s Ghost and British band Sleep Token both managed to top the Billboard 200 album chart within two weeks of each other in May 2025, with Sleep Token’s Even in Arcadia breaking the record for most-streamed hard rock album in one week. Rock grew 6.4% in the United States in 2025, and according to Luminate, rock is the largest growth genre this year, meaning it grew its share of the streaming pie the most. Honestly, watching bands like Turnstile and Alex G redefine what rock can sound like has been thrilling.
Hip Hop’s Dramatic 2024 Comeback After Near-Death Rumors
Last year, some fans declared that hip-hop is dead, while its revival in 2024 was massive. At the beginning of 2023, there was an all-time low in hip hop’s monthly market share on the USA Spotify Top 50 Chart, however, just one year later, an obvious resurgence emerged, bringing hip hop’s current average market share for 2024 to 34%. The Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle alone brought unprecedented attention back to the genre. According to Luminate’s 2024 Midyear Music Industry Report, hip-hop saw more than double the number of weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and continued success as the United States’ overall most popular genre.
Disco’s Surprising Revival Through Gen Z
Disco saw a broad resurgence at the turn of the new decade, arguably its largest since its initial resurgence in the late 90s and early 00s. In recent years, Italo Disco has experienced a remarkable resurgence, captivating a new generation of music lovers, with the revival being particularly pronounced in Germany. It’s hard to say for sure, but the pandemic seems to have played a role. The disco hype has mostly subsided, but the disco revival has been solidified as the sound associated with the pandemic era, with the fist-pumping, groovy nature of disco enabling people to feel transported back to clubs during forced reclusivity. Artists like Dua Lipa and Doja Cat made disco cool again for audiences who weren’t even born when Studio 54 closed.
Jazz Finds Its Voice With Younger Artists
Jazz is connected to rebellion and is easily adapted into other genres, driving this generation’s jazz revival. Samara Joy, a TikTok superstar, took home the GRAMMY for Best New Artist in 2023. Icelandic singer Laufey, a classically trained cellist and Berklee College graduate, released her full-length debut which charted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative New Artist Album chart, while her sophomore LP Bewitched won a Grammy award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album in 2024. What’s remarkable is how these artists are making the genre accessible without dumbing it down. Laufey found and built her audience on TikTok and Instagram, weaving a nostalgic sound with modern-day sentiment, saying she writes with the casual language of her day.
Country Music’s Total Mainstream Takeover
In the first half of 2025, country music officially surpassed both pop and hip-hop to become the most represented genre in the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10. The genre is the fastest growing in America, and 2023 was its best year ever according to entertainment data firm Luminate. Country streams increased by nearly 24% in 2023 according to music industry database Luminate. The transformation has been staggering. In 1975, 6% of Billboard-charting songs were categorized as country; by 2023, this figure had increased to 34%. Even major pop artists like Post Malone and Beyoncé have released full country albums, signaling the genre’s undeniable cultural moment.
Hardcore Punk’s Post-Pandemic Resurgence
In the wake of the pandemic, hardcore has made a global comeback, still becoming more diverse and striking a chord with younger listeners. The raw energy and unpolished authenticity of hardcore seems to resonate with audiences tired of overproduced pop. There’s something refreshing about watching young people gravitate toward music that values intensity and honesty over polish. Rock has always been more than just sound, it’s a cultural movement, and the genre’s rebellious spirit, focus on authenticity, and willingness to address controversial topics resonate in today’s world.
Christian and Gospel Music’s Streaming Explosion
In 2025, Christian/gospel music continued to grow stateside, up 18.5% in on-demand audio volume change compared to 2024. This is remarkable growth for a genre that rarely makes headlines in mainstream music discussions. The increase speaks to audiences seeking music with deeper meaning or spiritual connection. The introduction of high-profile artificial intelligence artists became a leading music story in 2025, including Xania Monet, who became the first AI act to debut on a Billboard radio chart, reaching No. 3 on the Hot Gospel Songs and No. 20 on the Hot R&B Songs.
Italo Disco’s European Club Domination
Italo Disco, which originated in Italy in the late 1970s, is experiencing a remarkable resurgence, with a new wave of enthusiasm sweeping over the music scene, particularly in Germany. The hype around Italo Disco in Berlin continues to grow week-on-week, with venues like the Palermo Club and Panorama Bar attracting a new wave of party-goers, and Italo Disco parties and events popping up in cities across the globe, from Paris to Milan, London to Amsterdam. The genre’s quirky charm and infectious melodies have found a devoted audience among younger European clubgoers who weren’t around for its original heyday.
Latin Music’s Continued Expansion Beyond Borders
Latin music continues to rise every year and now accounts for 8.2% of all music streams. Latin grew 5.2% in 2025, with Bad Bunny responsible for much of this growth, as his on-demand audio streams totaled 5.3 billion, representing 4.38% of all Latin on-demand audio streams. The genre has moved far beyond its traditional markets. Global interest in country has been surging, with listenership rocketing in Germany and the UK, and festivals from Sydney to Stockholm attracting both homegrown and American talent. What started as a niche market has become a global phenomenon reshaping how we think about language barriers in music.
Genre-Blending and the Death of Musical Categories
Genre boundaries are not just being blurred, they’re being redrawn, with artists increasingly refusing to be pigeonholed, and fusion genres blending elements of folk, EDM, and hip hop emerging as the new norm, reshaping what we consider popular music. This surge in popularity isn’t driven by traditional country music alone, but by a genre-fluid evolution that blends country’s storytelling roots with pop’s polished production and hip-hop’s stylistic influence, redefining how modern audiences engage with country music in a mainstream context. Maybe genres as we know them are becoming obsolete. The most exciting music happening right now exists in the spaces between traditional classifications.
The supposed death of any music genre says more about critics’ limited imagination than the music itself. Jazz in the 21st century is directly connected to culture, with influences of hip-hop, punk, metal, rock, disco, and dub all blending into the interpretations of jazz by new artists. Every genre that’s been declared dead in recent memory has found new life by adapting, evolving, and speaking to new generations in fresh ways. The lesson? Never underestimate music’s ability to reinvent itself. So what do you think? Have you rediscovered any of these genres recently?
