popular music vs. pop music

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It seems like "pop music" originated as a shortened form of "popular music", however the two are no longer interchangeable. "pop music" refers to a specific genre, whereas "popular music" refers to music that is popular.

Indeed it is. Up until the early 80s it was common to see the MSM refer to ALL popular music as "pop", even stuff like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. However, the distinction did exist for a while prior in the industry- T. Rex, for example, were considered too "pop" to appear on the Old Grey Whistle Test in the early 70s.

Pop music is just short for "popular" music, whether it be rock, dance, electronic, R&B or whatever. Usually it's characterized by catchy tunes, verse-chorus-verse structures, and song lengths around 3-4 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avvh5H-EPWU

Pop. Pop. Pop music. Pop. Pop. Pop music.