Dancehall pop is a sub-genre of the Jamaican genre dancehall that originated in the early 2000s. Developing from the sounds of reggae, dancehall pop is characteristically different in its fusion with western pop music and digital music production. Dancehall pop is also different from dancehall in that most songs use lesser Jamaican Patois in lyrics––allowing it to be globally understood and consumed. It also incorporates the key pop music elements of having melodies, hooks, and the verse-chorus format. Additionally, the genre moves away from the reggae and roots reggae music origins in social and political protest, now lyrically centering on partying, dancing, and sexuality. By the early 2000s, dancehall pop had its entrance into the global music industry.

As the sub-genre of its fathering music style dancehall, dancehall pop combines instrumental reggae and drum patterns of Jamaican sounds with the vocal melodies and catchy lyrics of pop music. The name of the genre itself is also credited to Jamaican music lifestyle, where artists and producers would play music from sound systems in local dancehalls. The socio-political changes after the 1970s government change in Jamaica affected dancehall styles, where lyrics moved away from political protest and more towards partying lifestyle. The dancehall genre trend of reusing beats, also known as “reworking”, is also still evident in dancehall pop as well, with many artists sampling old school dancehall track instrumentals––colloquially known as "riddims".

While dancehall music has its cultural origins in Jamaican sound and music, the dancehall pop genre combines rhythm and sounds from across in the Caribbean including that of soca, calypso and reggaeton. The fusion between dancehall and pop is attributed to the early digitisation of musical production in Jamaica, where the format of pop music––such as the melodic verse-chorus structure and repeated choruses––could be combined with the fast-paced instrumental rhythms of dancehall. Dancehall pop music did not make its mainstream arrival into the music industry until the early 2000s. Dancehall and soca songs such as Kevin Lyttle's "Turn Me On" and Rupee's "Tempted to Touch", both released in 2002 and 2003 respectively, are examples of the early combinations of the digital pop style and Caribbean rhythms into the western music scene. It was dancehall pop artist Sean Paul, who released his second studio album Dutty Rock in 2002, including the hit singles "Get Busy" and "Gimme the Light" that put the genre on highly rated chart positions, with the album reaching a peak position of number 4 on the US Billboard 200. Sean Paul's collaboration on the album with at-the-time rising pop star Beyoncé, titled "Baby Boy", reached number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. This marked the beginning of the mainstream dancehall and pop fusion. Barbadian singer-songwriter Rihanna then released her debut dancehall pop single in 2005, "Pon de Replay", which reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart.

The genre had a small absence from the pop charts and then reemerged again in the 2010s with numerous Caribbean artists such as Kranium, Konshens, and Popcaan entering the dance-pop music charts. As these artists curated their names in the music industry, chart-topping pop artists like Drake, Rihanna, and Major Lazer incorporated the dancehall pop sounds into their respective hit singles "One Dance", "Work", and "Boom" which each gained top 20 spots on the US Billboard Hot 100. Drake's dancehall pop and rap inspired track "One Dance" became a best-selling and chart-topping single, giving credit to the genre within the mainstream music scene. Named as the "song of the summer", the song which features Nigerian afrobeats artist Wizkid and British singer Kyla received 757 million streams on music-streaming service Spotify and spent over two months as number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, largely contributing to the mass-audience recognition of dancehall pop.

The presence of the dancehall pop sound in mainstream pop music steadily continued into the 2010s, with the emergence of Caribbean artists featuring in Western pop hit songs such as Jamaican singer Kranium's "Can't Believe" featuring American singer Ty Dolla $ign, and British-Jamaican rapper Stefflon Don's "Hurtin' Me" with American rapper French Montana, which both earned top 10 spots on the US Billboard Hot 100.

The dancehall pop style of music began to gain attention in the early 2000s. This new fusion style of dancehall and pop was characterized by the adoption of pop song formatting, including choruses and melodies, and a larger fusion of English and Patois in lyrics. Its early contributing artists include Sean Paul, Rihanna, Beyonce, and Kevin Lyttle. It was Sean Paul's sophomore album, Dutty Rock (2002), that started the trend of the dancehall and pop fusion. Sean Paul's second single off the album, "Get Busy" (2003), became the first dancehall-pop inspired song to reach No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song received high acclaim and mainstream success, selling over 2 million copies in the United States, and went on to win Best Reggae Album at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards in 2003. Fellow Caribbean singer Rihanna also incorporated dancehall pop music into her debut album Music of the Sun (2005), with her debut single "Pon de Replay" (2005) being compared to Beyonce and Sean Paul's No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 single "Baby Boy" (2003) because of their combined "dancehall-pop mixture". While the majority of the song's lyrics are in English, the title is written in Rihanna's native Bajan Patois, as well as the vocal tone of the song being dubbed to have a "reggae vocal cadence". This was a nod to the Caribbean roots of dancehall pop existing both within musical style and language. Other Caribbean artists such as Kevin Lyttle, Notch, Rupee, as well as American artists such as Lumidee and Nina Sky, released songs that incorporated dancehall pop rhythms in the 2000s decade.

Dancehall pop gained more mainstream attention throughout the 2010s, with a larger number of western artists releasing and featuring on songs influenced by the genre. Jamaican dancehall and reggae artist Kranium entered the US music charts with his single "Nobody Has to Know" (2013), which featured American singer Ty Dolla $ign, reaching a peak position of #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Fusions of dancehall pop and electronic dance music begun with Jamie xx's 2015 song, "I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)" which featured American rapper Young Thug and Jamaican dancehall artist Popcaan, landing a #35 position on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2015, Jamaican singer OMI's No. 1 single "Cheerleader" was named "song of the summer" by Billboard, remaining on the Billboard Hot 100 for 35 weeks. The crossover of dancehall pop and electronic dance music, alternatively classified as tropical house, continued with British pop-duo AlunaGeorge releasing "I'm in Control" (2016) with featured dancehall artist Popcaan. The track reached a peak position of #18 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #39 on the UK charts.

In 2016, Canadian rapper Drake released his fourth studio album Views, with dancehall pop inspired tracks "One Dance", "Controlla", and "Too Good" which featured Rihanna. Drake's single off the album, "One Dance", remained at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks and was named the "song of the summer" in 2016, while the fourth single from the album, "Controlla", was infused with Jamaican Patois lyrics and also featured Jamaican dancehall artist Popcaan. Drake has also stated his musical aspirations of adopting the Jamaican dancehall trend of reworking riddims into the R&B and hip-hop genre, where numerous artists may record their own lyrics over the same beat. This trend saw some success in the western music industry, with fellow Canadian rapper Tory Lanez releasing his own rework of Drake's "Controlla", as well as Popcaan, who featured on Drake's original version of the song, reworked another one of Drake's dancehall pop-tropical house inspired tracks, titled "Come Closer".