Modulation / key changes have been used in music for ages but the style I’m talking about is the distinctive last verse (or chorus) sudden key change up to power through to the end. Seems to have come about sometime in the 60s/70s and was everywhere in the 80s onwards.
Examples:
Heaven is a place on earth - Belinda Carlisle
I will always love you - Whitney Houston
But who popularised it? What was the first big song to do it and set the style for the genre?
Modulation fluctuates in popularity. About a quarter of number one hits from the 60s through the 90s utilized it, whereas in the 2010s only one number one hit did.
Why the key change has disappeared from top-charting tune - NPR - All Things Considered
Edit: I realize this doesn’t answer your question, but I’m not sure there really is an answer. It’s such an old technique, musically speaking.
it sort of does answer it in that it wasn’t reallllly popularized in the 80s it was just rehashed by pop chart hits.