Final answer:
The popular music that emerged from a fusion of Cuban, Puerto Rican and Latin American styles is salsa, characterized by its energetic rhythm and danceability.
Step-by-step explanation:
The popular dance-oriented music that was developed out of a fusion of Cuban, Puerto Rican and Latin American musical styles is known as salsa. This genre is characterized by its vibrant and energetic rhythm, which incorporates a strong percussion component, brass sections, and sometimes guitar. Influenced by African and Spanish cultures, salsa has its roots in the Caribbean, particularly in Cuba and Puerto Rico.
In comparison, other dance music genres like merengue originate from the Dominican Republic, samba from Brazil, and cha-cha-chá is also Cuban but with a more steady, less syncopated beat than salsa. Rumba is another Cuban musical style, but it tends to be slower and more rhythmically complex than salsa. Caribbean islands like Trinidad and Jamaica also contributed to the musical scene with genres such as calypso and mento, which evolved to influence other styles like reggae.