Maybe it's the quality of the popularized music that isn't on par?

A billboard top ten from the 90s or 70s is going to have legendary music on it.

A recent top ten is going to be ...well Rick will tell you it's pretty bad, maybe something passable once in a while.

But I think it's possible that there is a lot more quality music than there ever has been. It's just not rising up past the mumble rap, auto tune pop, or Taylor Swift copycats. Even Rick gets very excited about new music once in a while. Symptom Of Life by WILLOW comes to mind.