Cantopop

Cantopop is a colloquial abbreviation for "Cantonese pop music", a form of popular music that is a subgenre of C-pop. It is also known as HK-pop, short for "Hong Kong pop". Cantopop draws influence not only from other forms of Chinese music, but from a variety of international styles, including jazz, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, electronic music, Western pop music and others. By definition, Cantopop songs are almost invariably performed in Cantonese. Although Cantopop boasts a multinational fanbase, Hong Kong is the most significant hub of the genre. In Hong Kong and around the world, the Cantopop music industry is dominated largely by record labels owned by record industry giants such as Sony, EMI, Polydor, Emperor Entertainment Group, and Philips.

Cantopop stars

Usually talent is secondary to the success of a Cantopop singer in Hong Kong. Most of the time, it is the image that sells the music, especially with the emergence of many new groups. Publicity is central to an idol's career, as one piece of news could make or break one's future. Almost all modern Cantopop stars go into the movie business regardless of their ability to act. They immediately expand to the Mandarin market once their fame is established; hence pure Cantopop stars are almost nonexistent. Their successes can be gauged by their income from various sources. For example, according to some reports, Sammi Cheng earned HK$46M (around US$6M) from advertisement and merchandise endorsements in the month of January 2003 alone.

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Some Cantopop superstars from the 1980s and early 2000s:

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Male artistes

Female artistes

Groups