The other hard part with trying to learn piano from pop is that most of the available arrangements of current hits are trying to transcribe the hit recording rather than to put something on paper that is comfortably readable and playable.

If you want comfortable arrangements that a beginner will stand a chance of being able to make it through, you have go to back to hits from before 1965 or so. That's what I've been doing myself, but to a lot of people that's not too different than asking them to play something from 1765.