Pop is always a messy definition for me. There are a bunch of names in here that I associate more with rock than pop like Springsteen, Young, Springfield, Elvis (rock 'n roll), and then other genres like Cash and country. Pop is tough to define to me but I just know what it is to me when I hear it. Bowie is pop to me, McCartney is pop. Maybe it's like less reliance on strings and more synths or electronic undertones in a lot more of their songs, I'm not sure.
And then you get to someone like Thom Yorke who is really heavy on synths, and I'd define his solo work as more alternative or experimental than pop. I think there's an element of catchiness that matters to me.
A lot of indie rock music could get categorized into pop as well but I don't do that. And then something like Motown, I categorize in its own genre in a way, even though that would technically be pop.
Anyways, here are some artists lol:
David Bowie - He's the king of pop to me. I don't know anyone else that has as vast of a collection of infectious music as he does. Just so many amazing hits. A lot of the time pop is more about individual songs for me, but he made me care about albums as a whole as well.
Peter Gabriel - I like some of Collins stuff, but his voice has always put me off for whatever reason. Gabriel has quite a few songs that I'll just routinely throw on like Sledgehammer, Solsbury Hill, Games without Frontiers, etc.
Damon Albarn - He's tough to pin down to a genre (it can alternate between rock and hip-hop depending on what he's working on), but his versatility is what I like so much about him. He's a musical genius IMO and has such a knack for finding different people to work with, often times not making himself the focal point, but pulling the strings out of sight.
Charli XCX - I really like how her sound has evolved over the years. She has a lot of stuff from years ago that would reach the top of the charts and was really enjoyable, but has changed her sound to be much more glitchy and experimental, and also has a lot of stuff that is more retro-sounding. Another artist that I can enjoy albums as a whole rather than just songs.
Kim Petras - Kind of an offshoot from Charli XCX for me as I found her on one of her features. Heavily inspired by 80s synthpop, which has always been my favorite brand of pop. There's nothing groundbreaking but her music is incredibly consistent, catchy and easily digestible (in a good way).
