I — V — vi — IV
The most used pop progression
Genre
Pop chord progressions
Mainstream popular music with catchy melodies and simple progressions
What makes it sound like this
Harmonic fingerprints.
- Four-chord progressions
- Diatonic harmony
- Repetitive structures
- Hook-based
Where it lives
Common keys.
The tonal centres pop keeps coming back to — usually because they sit well on the instruments the style was built on. Each key page carries its full diatonic chord set, and links its relative minor for the darker corners of the genre.
5 progressions
The changes pop runs on.
Written in roman numerals, then spelled out in the key of C. Every chord links to its own page; where the pattern has a full progression page of its own, that link is on the card.
vi — IV — I — V
Alternative starting on vi
I-vi-IV-V
Full page: I-vi-IV-V (the Doo-Wop) →I — vi — IV — V
50s progression / Doo-wop
I — IV — V
Basic three-chord progression
ii — V — I
Jazz-influenced pop progression
Go deeper
Progression pages filed under pop.
Each one is realized in all fifteen keys of its mode, with audio and the songs that use it.
Vocabulary
The chords that define the sound.
Not just which qualities pop reaches for, but those qualities built on the roots the genre actually plays in. Every chord links to its shapes, audio, and voice-leading notes.