Johnjohnjohn, I agree with everything you have written.

I would add that the songs on my list were selected to showcase a variety of styles of modern mainstream pop but what they all have in common is decent chord changes. In that sense, they are recognisable pop songs, with hooky chords and melodies, like the good songs from previous eras.

That is not the case for all modern pop songs and it is certainly not the case for MOST (in my opinion) backing tracks sold for toplining. The limitations of the fixed format leads their creators to 'play safe' by often having minimal chord changes (sometimes only two chords in the whole song). They think this will make them more usable to more purchasers but, to me, it makes them unusable because the dull chords are concreted in. As I've said before, BIAB is potentially the antidote to this.

The structures of modern pop songs are generally very conservative and they often have real instruments central to the arrangement. This is not EDM. The beats, percussion and transitions have a contemporary feel that I have not yet found in any BIAB style but I am excluding rap, techno and other formats. In principle, chord-based mainstream pop songs, like those in my list, should provide excellent inspiration for new BIAB pop (multi)styles.