Pop punk (also known as punk pop and other names) is a fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees.

It is not clear when the term pop punk was first used, but pop-influenced punk rock had been around since the 1970s; performed by bands such as the Ramones, Buzzcocks, The Jam, The Undertones, and Generation X. Bad Religion, who started in 1980, were another early band to play the genre, and some consider them godfathers of pop punk. In the mid-1990s, Southern California-based pop punk bands achieved worldwide commercial success, and the genre's association with that area has led some to the term SoCal sound.

Examples of breakthrough pop punk records are the 1994 multi-platinum albums Dookie by Green Day and Smash by The Offspring and most prominently the 1999 multi-platinum album Enema of the State by Blink-182.

From the mid-1990s onwards, some bands associated with the genre have been described as faux-punk, mall punk, pseudo-punk, bubblegum punk or surf punk.