Is popular music nowadays worse than it was before?

I answer yes, but only because of one factor: The way that popular music has become limited due to marketing and algorithms to generate specific sounds, the way that it's over-produced. We undoubtedly have more talented people producing records. The 21st century saw Americans listening to a Korean dance number. While I don't know if we have a band like The Beatles that are extremely popular while also exploring deep issues, those kinds of bands are inherently rare. There are tons of talented performers out there. I just lament more organic, creative, diverse music choices.