<P> According to the website of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , called Grove Music Online , the term `` pop music '' `` originated in Britain in the mid-1950s as a description for rock and roll and the new youth music styles that it influenced '' . The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pop 's `` earlier meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience ... since the late 1950s , however , pop has had the special meaning of non-classical mus ( ic ) , usually in the form of songs , performed by such artists as the Beatles , the Rolling Stones , ABBA , etc '' . Grove Music Online also states that `` ... in the early 1960s , ( the term ) ' pop music ' competed terminologically with beat music ( in England ) , while in the USA its coverage overlapped ( as it still does ) with that of ' rock and roll ' '' . </P>
where does the term pop music come from
`` originated in Britain in the mid-1950s as a description for rock and roll