Maple Leaf Rag

Maple Leaf Rag
by Scott Joplin
First-edition cover
Genre	Ragtime
Form	Rag
Published	1899 (1899)
Publisher	John Stark & Son
"Maple Leaf Rag" "Maple Leaf Rag" performed on a piano

The "Maple Leaf Rag" (copyright registered on September 18, 1899)^[1] is an early ragtime musical composition for piano composed by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, becoming the model for ragtime compositions by subsequent composers. It is one of the most famous of all ragtime pieces.^[2] Its success led to Joplin being dubbed the "King of Ragtime" by his contemporaries. The piece gave Joplin a steady if unspectacular income for the rest of his life.

Despite ragtime's decline after Joplin's death in 1917, the "Maple Leaf Rag" continued to be recorded by many well-known artists. The ragtime revival of the 1970s brought it back to mainstream public notice once again.