Backlash after Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" removed from Billboard Hot Country chart

teenagers absolutely were listening to diane warren ballads in the 90s

did adult contemporary just kinda disappear?

as a distinctive style, yes it is basically endangered. the vast majority of songs on the ac airplay chart are songs that were on the pop airplay chart months before -- so the chart is basically the more milquetoast subset of the pop chart, which is itself boring/stagnant. this past year the exceptions were from artists like p!nk, nsync and lewis capaldi but none were particularly big in general or even at the ac format. there are also a few new christmas songs that come along every year, but during that time the audience reach of new songs at the format declines precipitously bc the playlists lean even more heavily on old songs than usual during that time -- new christmas songs take years to properly break. (there was one by david foster this year!)

anyway the way pop music operates (specifically in america!) absolutely is different now than it used to be, yes i am getting old but the differences are measurable and consistent at least if we're talking abt radio. and yes, shame on me for still paying attention to that hoary old distribution method but i do see it as unfortunate as there are aspects to the radio-listening experience that i do think are unique compared to just clicking thru social media or playlists. i legitimately enjoyed mainstream radio for at least a decade of my life and am sad that most stations in this country seem to think that those aspects simply can no longer be replicated (even tho other radio in other countries still manages it)