Modern Japanese music encompasses a great amount of different styles, sounds, and tastes. Ranging from single artists, to boy and girl groups, to rock bands, to idols, Japanese music is something eclectic and unique, a thing not to be missed.

Popular music, called "JPOP", includes virtually all the artists and groups who hit the charts. There are trends in music as there are in American music: currently, an explosion of girl groups have come onto the scene, each competing with each other for the youngest members (12-14 years old being the current standard), the cutest songs, and the oddest outfits. Boy bands are also popular; groups like V6 and KinKi Kids and Tokio not only compete with each other for hits, but together have yet another group called J-Friends! Noticeable too, are the "idols," the beautiful women rocketed to a singing career by personality and looks, with secondary importance placed on singing ability. There are other influences – 17 year old Utada Hikaru, who exploded into debut last year, offers a unique combination of R&B and pop, writing and composing all of her songs herself. Dragon Ash turned heads with their serious rapping and concentration on hip-hop, with the end-result of a CD selling millions.

JROCK is another rough category of music in which groups, mostly all male, have songs that are – as one can guess – rock, with heavy drum beats and irresistible singing, as well as outrageous costumes to set themselves apart from each other. It does not correlate exactly with the rock category in America; the JROCK groups sing of love and heartache more often than not, and though the songs can range to ones Pearl Jam would envy, they can also become positively mild, or songs in which drums, guitars, bass, and vocals all equally share importance. Consider GLAY, considered to be one of the most popular and successful groups now. Though they are often recognized as being a JROCK group, they're also associated with JPOP songs. People who are staunch "Girl group" followers will stand in line for hours for tickets to their concerts, and millions of teenage girls swap stats and swoon of love for the members.

The extent to which American culture has embedded itself into Japan can be seen from the extent English plays in music. It's become a lasting fad to insert English words into songs, even if the phrases or sentences – or even entire songs themselves – make no sense. English words form the titles of songs, and even groups. One would imagine that this is just a parroting of English and of wanting to be America, but it is far from it: this use of English words has evolved to become something tinted distinctively Japanese, as they interpret the English language to suit their own culture. It is yet another aspect of modern music that makes it unique and unforgettable.