Dashing Through the Show at Jingle Ball

Pop radio is a strange place, a gathering of disparate sounds and intentions mingling on the airwaves in ways both lighthearted and unnatural.

By the nature of that setting, anything lucky enough to reach the top of the pops soon flares out, filed almost immediately into the nostalgia drawer.

That once again made this year’s massive Jingle Ball concert, hosted Wednesday at Staples Center by Top 40 mainstay KIIS-FM (102.7), a survey in contrasting styles and abilities. The four-hour concert ended as a showcase for fast-rising Colombian singer Shakira, with room enough for both an important new artist (Alicia Keys) and completely disposable heartthrob pop (LFO).

There was also the requisite weird moment during a brief “special appearance” by Michael Jackson, that beloved mystery man and so-called King of Pop, who was handed an expensive-looking glass trophy. The reasons weren’t exactly clear other than to promote Jackson’s new album and (according to a press release) to vaguely celebrate “his contribution to the music industry.”

Far livelier was Shakira, now enjoying uncommon crossover success for a singer still best known for Spanish-language material. In a set that was barely 20 minutes long, she shared the stage with a vast team of musicians and backup singers, opening with the sultry “Objection (Tango),” from her new album, “Laundry Service.”

All those players couldn’t make Shakira’s “Underneath Your Clothes” more than a simple ballad, but the singer was dependably energetic and clearly eager to please.

Freed from its usual joke-filled set, Sugar Ray sounded like a rock band again, although still crafting modern rock even easier to digest than Blink-182’s. But while on one level a song such as “When It’s Over” is romantic drivel, it was wrapped around a pop hook that was impossible to ignore, like most of the band’s hits.

The band’s strengths include the ease with which singer Mark McGrath leads the band, mixing wise-guy attitude and genuine warmth. He dedicated the breakthrough hit “Fly” to ailing Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn and told the mostly young crowd, “We started in a garage and now here we are in the Staples Center.” The words seemed designed as encouragement, not boasting.

Sugar Ray came off like Motorhead compared with the prefab pop of LFO, a Boston boy band that put extra-light shades of rock and rap and the occasional hook into an energetic and forgettable mix. LFO was like an unimaginative hip-hop glee club with electric guitars, working too hard to get the crowd to “sing along as loud as you can!”

English arrival Craig David brought a stripped-down version of his precise, sophisticated soul, joined by only an acoustic guitarist. His wounded love songs included a few moments of human beat box, but his vocals were so loud that the songs were robbed of any subtlety.

And as she had been just a few days earlier for another station’s holiday concert, Keys was a standout, performing the best-known songs from her debut album, “Songs in A Minor.” But she pumped things up noticeably to fill the much bigger room, stepping away from her keyboard and igniting a big soulful voice for the hit “Girlfriend.”

Earlier, the pop of Michelle Branch came off as somehow organic in a short set that had her singing to an acoustic guitar, as ads for soft drinks and cellular services flashed endlessly behind her. Light and sugary but somehow nice.