Abstrakt:
Smash hit, evergreen, hit are terms that were used for popular songs in practice, while music theory employed the term nonartificial music and its subgenres. In German-speaking countries the terms U – Musik (Unterhaltungsmusik) Gebrauchsmusik, Alltagsmusik and popular music, Trivialmusik, Umgangsmusik with Darbietungsmusik were used. Our analysis of hits is focused on the period 1955 – 1977 in the Slovak pop music. Hits are determined by external and internal factors. We are trying to detect these factors and determine what causes the transformation of songs into hits by analyzing the following factors: marketing, rotation number of a track in the media, prime time positioning, artist image, the quality of music, catching chorus, up-to-date style and so on. We are investigating the influence of record labels on promotion and advertising of a hit and the way a song is spread through the media. The historical overview of popular music in Slovakia is used to analyze and compare evergreens in the Slovak pop music which have endured in the various cover versions. The overview is enriched by sheet music examples.