Cantopop (AKA: HK-pop, Hong Kong Pop, Cantonese Pop, 粵語流行音樂, Yueyu liuxing yinyue, Jyutyu lauhang jamngok, 廣東歌, Gwongdung go) refers to contemporary Pop music sung in the Cantonese language. It is primarily produced and performed by musicians and artists hailing from, or based in, Hong Kong, but is produced and performed in neighboring Macau, the Cantonese-speaking regions of Guangdong and Guangxi in southern China, or in other countries by artists of Cantonese descent.

Like other forms of C-Pop, Cantopop has its origins in Shanghai's Shidaiqu. Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, numerous shidaiqu artists emigrated to Hong Kong. While shidaiqu soon established itself in Hong Kong, it remained inaccessible to the vast majority of Hong Kong residents, as the Cantonese-speaking Hong Kongese did not understand Mandarin, the language of shidaiqu. Thus, shidaiqu songwriters began writing songs in Cantonese, incorporating stylistic cues from Cantonese Opera; this novel style became known as "Cantonese shidaiqu" (粵語時代曲), and is considered the precursor to Cantopop.

仙杜拉 's 1974 single 啼笑姻緣, which became the first Cantonese-language hit song in Hong Kong, is generally seen as the starting point of Cantopop. The song, written by 顧嘉煇 , who became known as the godfather of Cantopop, incorporated Cantonese opera sensibilities into the western pop song format, while the lyrics were written in a literary form of Cantonese which is akin to Mandarin in diction and syntax, and vastly different from daily speech. Until this day, most Cantopop songs are sung in this literary variant of Cantonese. Soon, 許冠傑 came to dominate the Cantopop scene and is generally considered the most important figure in early Cantopop. Hui combined western Pop Rock with satirical, political lyrics in colloquial Cantonese, as opposed to the literary form which is predominant.

The 1980s were generally considered the heyday of Cantopop, with sales growing quickly and a plethora of pop stars, such as 譚詠麟 , 張國榮 and 梅艷芳 , rising to fame. Cantopop also became popular in Taiwan and the recently opened-up mainland China despite the language barrier. Musically speaking, Cantopop in this period was dominated by pop ballads, often direct covers of contemporaneous Japanese Kayōkyoku.

In the 1990s, Cantopop continued to be popular, but stagnated stylistically. The "Four Heavenly Kings" (四大天王), i.e. 張學友 , 劉德華 , 黎明 and 郭富城 , dominated Cantopop. Meanwhile, the Beijing-born 王菲 made a name with her soft balladry, but subsequently embraced various Alternative Rock styles, bringing new sounds into Cantopop.

In the 2000s, Cantopop gradually declined, in part because of its stylistic stagnation, but also because of the growing success of Mandopop. 陳慧琳 released a few upbeat Dance-Pop albums in the early 2000s, which resulted in a brief revival of interest in Cantopop, but nevertheless Cantopop gradually lost ground to Mandopop, even in its native Hong Kong. Today, Cantopop is generally considered a symbol of a bygone era, and its scope of influence is largely restricted to Hong Kong, but a few artists, such as 陳奕迅 and G.E.M., still enjoy widespread popularity in all of China.