List of music genres and styles

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List of popular music genres
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This is a list of music genres and styles. Music can be described in terms of many genres and styles. Classifications are often arbitrary, and may be disputed and closely related forms often overlap. Larger genres and styles comprise more specific sub-categories.

Classical

• Andalusian classical music
• Indian classical music
• Korean court music
• Persian classical music
• Western classical music
  • Early music
    • Medieval music (500–1400)
      • Ars antiqua (1170–1310)
      • Ars nova (1310–1377)
      • Ars subtilior (1360–1420)
    • Renaissance music (1400–1600)
    • Baroque music (1600–1750)
    • Galant music (1720–1770)
    • Classical period (1750–1820)
    • Romantic music (1780–1910)
  • 20th and 21st-centuries classical music (1901–present):
    • Modernism (1890–1930)
    • Impressionism (1875 or 1890–1925)
    • Neoclassicism (1920–1950)
    • High modernism (1930–present)
    • Postmodern music (1930–present)
    • Experimental music (1950–present)
    • Contemporary classical music (1945 or 1975–present)
    • Minimal music

Popular

Avant-garde & Experimental

• Crossover music
• Danger music
• Drone music
• Electroacoustic
• Industrial music
• Instrumental
• Lo-fi
• Musical improvisation
• Musique concrète
• Noise
• Outsider music
• PC Music
• Progressive music
• Psychedelic music
• Underground music

Blues

Country

Easy Listening

Electronic

Folk

Hip Hop

Jazz

Pop

R&B & Soul

Rock

• Active rock
• Adult album alternative
• Adult-oriented rock
• Afro rock
• Album oriented rock

Metal

Punk

Regional

African

Antarctica

• Nunatak (band)

Asian

Australasia & Oceania

• Australian folk music
• Indigenous music of Australia
• Music of Hawaii
• Music of New Zealand
  • Māori music
    • Kapa haka
• Music of Polynesia
• Music of Samoa

European

• Eurovision Song Contest

Balkan States

• Balkan music
  • Balkan brass
  • Balkan folk music
  • Music of Albania
  • Music of Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Music of Bulgaria
  • Music of Cyprus
  • Music of Greece
    • Olympic Hymn
  • Music of Kosovo
  • Music of Montenegro
  • Music of North Macedonia
  • Music of Romania
    • Romani music
      • Gypsy music

Baltic States

• Lithuanian folk music
• Music of Estonia
• Music of Latvia

Caucasus

• Music of Armenia
• Music of Azerbaijan
• Music of Georgia (country)

Central European States

• Music of Austria
  • Viennese waltz
  • Yodeling
• Music of Croatia
• Music of the Czech Republic
  • Polka
• Music of Germany
• Music of Hungary
• Music of Liechtenstein
• Music of Poland
  • Polka
• Music of Serbia
• Music of Slovakia
• Music of Slovenia
• Music of Switzerland
  • Yodeling

Nordic/Scandinavian States

• Nordic folk music
  • Music of Denmark
    • Danish traditional music
  • Music of Finland
    • Ålänningens sång
    • Rautalanka (Finnish surf-rock)
  • Music of Iceland
  • Music of Norway
  • Music of Sweden
  • Music of the Faroe Islands
  • Viking metal

Slavic States

• Klezmer
• Music of Belarus
• Music of Moldova
• Music of Russia
  • Music of Buryatia
  • Otyken
  • Russian folk music
• Music of Ukraine
• Music of Yugoslavia

Western European

• Music of Andorra
• Music of Belgium
• Music of France
• Music of Ireland
  • Celtic music
• Music of Italy
• Music of Luxembourg
• Music of Malta
• Music of Monaco
• Music of the Netherlands
• Music of Portugal
• Music of Spain
• Music of the United Kingdom
  • Britpop
  • Music of Scotland
  • Music of Wales

Latin & South American

North American

Religious

• Sikh music
• Buddhist music
• Christian music
  • Contemporary Christian music
  • Contemporary worship music
  • Christian Rock
  • Easy Listening
  • Country Gospel
  • Church music
    • Gospel
    • Worship
    • Hymns
    • Jesus Music
  • Liturgical music
  • Spirituals
  • Gregorian chant
• Islamic music
• Modern pagan music
• Music of ancient Greece
• New-age music
• Shamanic music

Traditional Folk

• • American patriotic music
  • Christmas music
  • Fado
  • Fingerstyle guitar
  • Huayno
  • Pastorale
  • Polka
  • Son mexicano
  • Música criolla

Other

• Ballroom dance music: pasodoble, cha cha cha and others
  • Vogue (dance)
• Children's music
• Dance music
  • Slow dance
• Drug use in music
• Incidental music or music for stage and screen: music written for the score of a film, play, musicals, or other spheres, such as filmi, video game music, music hall songs and showtunes and others
• Bedroom production
  • Multi-instrumentalist
    • A cappella
    • Bassist
    • Drummer
      • Percussion
        • Found object (music)
    • Guitarist
    • Pianist
      • Keyboardist
  • One-man band
• Patriotic music: military music, marches, national anthems, War songs and related compositions
  • Martial industrial
  • List of war metal bands
• PC Music
  • Hyperpop
  • Internet meme
• Regional and national music with no significant commercial impact abroad, except when it is a version of an international genre, such as: traditional music, oral traditions, sea shanties, work songs, nursery rhymes, Arabesque and indigenous music. In North America and Western Europe, regional and national genres that are not from the Western world are sometimes classified as world music.
• Theatre music
• Virtuoso
• Yodeling

These categories are not exhaustive. A music platform, Gracenote, listed more than 2000 music genres (included by those created by ordinary music lovers, who are not involved within the music industry, these being said to be part of a 'folksonomy', i.e. a taxonomy created by non-experts). Most of these genres were created by music labels to target new audiences, however classification is useful to find music and distribute it.

See also

• Genealogy of musical genres

This list is split into four separate pages:

• List of styles of music: A–F
• List of styles of music: G–M
• List of styles of music: N–R
• List of styles of music: S–Z
• List of country genres
• List of electronic music genres
• Styles of house music
• List of industrial music genres
• List of trance genres
• List of hip hop genres
• List of jazz genres
• Reggae genres
• List of rock genres
• Heavy metal genres
• Punk rock subgenres
• List of hardcore punk subgenres
• List of microgenres
• List of music styles that incorporate the accordion
• Styles of pop music

Bibliography

• Borthwick, Stuart, & Moy, Ron (2004) Popular Music Genres: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Fabbri, Franco (1982) A Theory of Popular Music Genres: Two Applications. In Popular Music Perspectives, edited by David Horn and Philip Tagg, 52–81. Göteborg and Exeter: A. Wheaton & Co., Ltd.
• Frith, Simon (1996) Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
• Holt, Fabian (2007) Genre in Popular Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Negus, Keith (1999) Music Genres and Corporate Cultures. London and New York: Routledge.

External links

• Genres of popular music - Interactive relationships diagram