1950s in music

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This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1950s.

In North America and Europe, the 1950s were revolutionary in regards to popular music, as it started a dramatic shift from traditional pop music to modern pop music, largely in part due to the rise of Rock and roll.

Rock & Roll began to dominate popular music starting in the mid-1950s with origins in a variety of genres including blues, rhythm & blues, country, and pop. Major rock artists of the 1950s include Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins, Bill Haley, and Larry Williams. Rock & Roll helped the electric guitar become the dominating instrument in popular music starting in the 1950s, and the decade saw the release of the Fender Stratocaster^[1] and Gibson Les Paul.^[2] In the ensuing decades rock & roll would branch out to a variety of genres and sub-genres all under the umbrella of rock music, with rock becoming the dominant musical genre throughout the 20th century.^[3]

Doo-Wop, a genre of rhythm & blues music that originated in the 1940s, rose in prominence along with the rise of rock & roll. Popular doo-wop artists of the 1950s include The Platters, Dion and the Belmonts, Frankie Lymon, The Five Satins, The Flamingos, and The Del-Vikings. While the popularity of the genre wained after the early 1960s, it would go on to influence many styles of pop and rock music^[4]

Traditional pop music experienced a decline in popularity starting in the mid-1950s, however, artists such as Perry Como and Patti Page dominated the pop charts during the first half of the decade, and artists such as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin remained popular throughout the 1950s and the ensuing decades.^[5]

The 1950s were one of country music's most influential decades, with artists such as Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, and Patsy Cline being some of the decade's most notable. The honky-tonk style of country music remained heavily popular during the decade, and the late 1950s gave rise to the Nashville sound.^[6]

Blues music was highly influential to popular music in the 1950s, having directly influenced rock & roll, and many blues and rhythm & blues artists found commercial success throughout the 1950s, such as Ray Charles.^[7]

The birth of soul music occurred during the 1950s, and the genre would come to dominate the US R&B charts by the early 1960s. Soul artists of the 1950s include Sam Cooke and James Brown.^[8]

Jazz music was revolutionized during the 1950s with the rise of bebop, hard bop, modal jazz, and cool jazz. Notable jazz artists of the time include Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, and Chet Baker.^[9]

In Europe, the European Broadcasting Union started the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. In France, the Chanson Française genre dominated the music scene.

Popular Latin styles of the 1950s include the mambo, salsa, and merengue.

The bossa nova genre came to prominence in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil during the 1950s and would grow to become a genre popular worldwide.