I, too, grew up in non-urban regions of the South. If you think provincial is too loaded of a word, we can say "anti-cosmopolitan" instead.

All pop music is built around conventions, but country has always taken elements from the other genres AFTER their creation. Most recent example is trap drums

Why is it "condescending" to say that country music is more conventional? Do you think the historical record shows that country music has been the primary fount of musical invention?There are plenty of important and beloved conventional art forms in this world.

As Chayka writes, large follower counts are becoming ambiguous signals for "games the algorithm" (a low status act) and not just objective proof of high status popularity

Get Hallpike:

www.newenglishreview.org/articles/a-r...

BOSTON / CAMBRIDGE LAUNCH for BLANK SPACE: Harvard Book Store on Wednesday, November 19

www.harvard.com/event/w-davi...

Not sure, but I guess it's imported from the us somewhere

I think the 20th century lists tend to cluster around the point where the paradigm was formed: '67 for rock, early-70s for R&B

What explains the resurgent 2013 winner's list? It doesn't have a clear narrative (although interested in your ideas): Lorde, Drake, Kacey Musgraves, Haim, DJ Snake feat. Lil Jon, Paramore, Arctic Monkeys, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Sky Ferreira, Jason Isbell, Alvvays

There will always be some anti-recency bias in canon-building, because new things have yet to prove their long-term value, but there's also a clear bias here towards "long '90s" songs like "B.O.B." and "Get Ur Freak On" and lingering respect for the post-9/11 rock revival

Then I weighted the entries (so that a #1 was worth much more than a #250), and it tells a similar story, although 2013 shows a resurgence before things collapse again

I tallied the number of entries per year, and there's a steady and linear decline, with a very clear dip in the last half of the Aughts: