What is popular music?

To understand what popular music is it's essential to know what popular means. A dictionary definition may include, well-liked, sought-after or even commercial which means goods, often refined, produced and distributed in large quantities for use by industry. This idea suggests that popular music is unrefined and created in large quantities, popular music is music that has a mass and wide appeal. Middleton observes that the question 'What is popular culture?' is 'so riddled with complexities'. If we concentrate on the commercial aspect of popular music this places a greater concentration on the charts, however this may eliminate certain genres of music that do not appear in the charts, but they may still be popular in certain subcultures. Shuker suggests all popular music consists of a hybrid of musical traditions, styles, and influences, and is also an economic product which is invested with ideological significance by many of its consumers.