This page indexes the individual year in music pages. 2000s - 1990s - 1980s - 1970s - 1960s - 1950s - 1940s - 1930s - 1920s - 1910s - 1900s - 1890s - 1880s - 1870s - 1860s - 1850s - 1840s - 1830s - 1820s - 1810s - 1800s - 1790s - 1780s - 1770s - 1760s - 1750s - 1740s - 1730s - 1720s - 1710s - 1700s - 1690s - 1680s - 1670s - 1660s - 1650s - 1640s - 1630s - 1620s - 1610s - 1600s - 1590s - 1580s - 1570s - 1560s - 1550s - 1540s - 1530s - 1520s - 1510s - 1500s - Early history
2000s
Main article: Music in the 2000s
Live 8 concerts took place in 9 countries worldwide during 2005.
- 2008 in music, 2008 in British music - Deaths of Artie Traum, LeRoi Moore, Eric Darling, Isaac Hayes, Richard Wright, Nick Reynolds
- 2007 in music, 2007 in British music - Deaths of Beverly Sills, Max Roach, Oscar Peterson, Izumi Sakai, Luciano Pavarotti and Don Arden; Live Earth, Led Zeppelin reunion; said to be the "largest demand for one show in history" due to overwhelming response at ticketing website; Radiohead splits from EMI and independently releases the highly anticipated In Rainbows as an online download with a method of payment that allows the buyer to choose their price, sparking a fair amount of controversy and praise. ^ The mars volta Release one of the firsts USB Flash Drive album, as part of their The Bedlam in Goliath
- 2006 in music, 2006 in British music, 2006 in Swiss music - Deaths of James Brown and Syd Barrett.
- 2005 in music, 2005 in British music, 2005 in Swiss music - Death of Luther Vandross, Live 8 benefit concert
- 2004 in music, 2004 in British music - Death of Ray Charles; The Grey Album-sparks day of electronic disobedience by internet filesharers against EMI.
- 2003 in music, 2003 in British music - Death of Johnny Cash;
- 2002 in music, 2002 in British music - Death of Waylon Jennings, Dave Van Ronk, Layne Staley, Lisa Left-Eye Lopes and Joe Strummer;
- 2001 in music, 2001 in British music - Napster's popularity peaks; Deaths of Aaliyah, George Harrison, John Lee Hooker, John Phillips;
- 2000 in music, 2000 in British music -
List of 10 most sold albums of the 2000s:
- The Beatles 1'' - 31 million - 2000
- Britney Spears Oops I Did It Again - 25 million - 2000
- Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP - 22.8 million - 2000
- Norah Jones Come Away With Me - 22.5 million - 2002
- Eminem The Eminem Show - 20.5 million - 2002
- Linkin Park Hybrid Theory - 16.5 million - 2000
- 'N Sync No Strings Attached - 16 million - 2000
- Avril Lavigne Let Go - 15.7 million - 2002
- Usher Confessions - 15.5 million - 2004
- Evanescence Fallen - 15 million - 2003
It should be noted that for various reasons, including music downloading and possibly a decline in quality of pop few albums made after 2004 have sold in amounts top albums traditionally sell, which is why all the Top 10 of the 2000s are from the first half of the decade.
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1990s
Main article: Music in the 1990s
- 1999 in music, 1999 in British music - Arrival of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez; Death of Rick Danko; Blur (band) - 13 (Blur album)
- 1998 in music, 1998 in British music - Arrival of Eminem; Death of Frank Sinatra and Hide; Lauryn Hill - the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill; Offspring - Americana; "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith becomes the first song by a rock band to debut at #1; Manu Chao releases Clandestino.
- 1997 in music, 1997 in British music - Death of John Denver, Jeff Buckley, The Notorious B.I.G., Michael Hutchence ,and Velvet, Radiohead's OK Computer U2 release album Pop (album)
- 1996 in music, 1996 in British music - Death of Ella Fitzgerald, Arrival of The Spice Girls death of Tupac Shakur, and Brad Nowell, Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar, Beck's Odelay
- 1995 in music, 1995 in British music - Death of Jerry Garcia, Phyllis Hyman, Selena, Burl Ives, Eazy-E, The Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Oasis's (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, Living Colour disbands, The Battle of Britpop
- 1994 in music, 1994 in British music - Death of Kurt Cobain, arrival of Oasis(band), arrival of Weezer, Blur (band)'s Parklife
- 1993 in music, 1993 in British music - Death of Marian Anderson, Frank Zappa, Dizzy Gillespie; Aerosmith release Get a Grip which becomes their bestselling studio album worldwide with over 15 million copies sold
- 1992 in music, 1992 in British music - Death of John Cage, Yutaka Ozaki, Dr. Dre, The Chronic'U2 start the Biggest Concert of The World: Zoo TV Tour
- 1991 in music, 1991 in British music - U2 release Achtung Baby. Nirvana's Nevermind, Death of Miles Davis, Death of Freddie Mercury, Metallica's Black Album, Pearl Jam's Ten, Red Hot Chili Peppers's Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Guns N' Roses's Use Your Illusion I and II
- 1990 in music, 1990 in British music - Death of Sarah Vaughan, Leonard Bernstein, Arrival of Mariah Carey; Milli Vanilli exposed as a music fraud.
List of 10 most sold albums of the 90s:
- Whitney Houston / Various artists The Bodyguard - 42 million - 1992
- Shania Twain Come on Over - 36 million - 1997
- Celine Dion Falling into You - 32 million - 1996
- Mariah Carey Music Box - 32 million - 1993
- Celine Dion Let's Talk About Love - 31 million - 1997
- Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill - 30 million - 1995
- Backstreet Boys Millennium - 30 million - 1999
- Celine Dion / James Horner / Various artists Titanic - 30 million - 1997
- Britney Spears Baby One More Time - 29 million - 1999
- Michael Jackson Dangerous - 27 million - 1991
1980s
- 1989 in music, 1989 in British music - Madonna releases the hit Like a Prayer album.
- 1988 in music - Living Colour releases first studio album Vivid; Bon Jovi releases New Jersey, which charts five consecutive Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the most ever for a hard rock album; Formation of the Traveling Wilburys, Death of Roy Orbison.
- 1987 in music - Michael Jackson releases the album Bad (album), which is the first and only album to have 5 consecutive #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.Guns N' Roses releases Appetite for Destruction, Def Leppard releases Hysteria, U2 release the mult-platined album The Joshua Tree with the hits: With Or Without You, I Still Haven´t Found... and Where The Streets Have No Name.
- 1986 in music - Aerosmith re-records "Walk This Way" with rap group Run-DMC which blends rock and rap music, introduces rap music to a mainstream audience for the first time, and marks the beginning of the resurrection of Aerosmith's career, one of rock's most remarkable comebacks; Bon Jovi releases Slippery When Wet which stays at #1 on the Billboard 200 for 15 weeks, the longest ever for a hard rock album; Death of Benny Goodman, Richard Manuel, Cliff Burton Madonna releases the hit album True Blue; Pixies form in Boston.
- 1985 in music - Death of Rick Nelson, Live Aid and Farm Aid benefit concerts
- 1984 in music - Death of Marvin Gaye, Jackie Wilson, release of Bob Marley & The Wailers collection Legend, the best-selling reggae album of all time; Akhnaten by Philip Glass premieres in Stuttgart, Prince releases the album and film Purple Rain, Van Halen release the Diamond-certified 1984, which contains the #1 single "Jump" and becomes their last studio album to feature David Lee Roth on vocals
- 1983 in music - Death of Muddy Waters, New Order release "Blue Monday"; Def Leppard releases Pyromania, The Police's Synchronicity tour starts
- 1982 in music - Death of Thelonious Monk, Lightnin' Hopkins, Glenn Gould, The compact disc is introduced; Michael Jackson releases Thriller, the best-selling album of all time
- 1981 in music - MTV first airs; Death of Bob Marley
- 1980 in music - Joy Division singer Ian Curtis commits suicide,Bon Scott dies, John Lennon is murdered outside the Dakota Building in New York City, accidental death of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, Death of Tim Hardin, U2 release first album: Boy.
1970s
- 1979 in music - Death of Richard Rodgers, Charles Mingus; Sony Walkman goes on sale; The Clash - London Calling, Pink Floyd's The Wall Death of Sid Vicious. Official birth of Rap music with rap group Sugarhill Gang's release of Rapper's Delight.
- 1978 in music - The Who release Who Are You, Death of Keith Moon, Arrival of Prince, Arrival of Dire Straits
- 1977 in music - The Sex Pistols release Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols; Death of Elvis Presley; Fleetwood Mac releases Rumours
- 1976 in music - Death of Paul Robeson, Phil Ochs
- 1975 in music - Death of Dmitri Shostakovich, Soviet composer and pianist, Tim Buckley; Bob Dylan begins Rolling Thunder Revue; Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run; Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks; Led Zeppelin - Physical Grafitti; Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic; Patti Smith – Horses.
- 1974 in music - Death of Duke Ellington, Nick Drake
- 1973 in music - Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon , Birth of Ferry Corsten, The Who's Quadrophenia Released
- 1972 in music - Birth of The Notorious B.I.G.The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.
- 1971 in music - Birth of Tupac Shakur,Snoop Dogg,Death of Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer, Death of Louis Armstrong, Death of Jim Morrison; Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV Marvin Gaye - What's Going On , The Who's Who's Next Released
- 1970 in music - The Beatles disband; Death of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin; John Lennon - John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
1960s
- 1969 in music - Death of Brian Jones, The Beatles - Let It Be, Woodstock music festival held in Bethel, New York, Birth of Tiësto. Gavin Bryars, The Sinking of the Titanic; Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline, The Who's Tommy (Album) Released
- 1968 in music - Van Morrison - Astral Weeks, Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet, The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland, Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin, The Beatles - The Beatles (The White Album), Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison, The Band - Music from Big Pink
- 1967 in music - Birth of Kurt Cobain, Death of Woody Guthrie, John Coltrane, Otis Redding, The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band; The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico; The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced & Axis: Bold as Love; The Doors - The Doors (with the hit single, Light My Fire); Monterey Pop Festival; Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding
- 1966 in music - The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds; The Beatles - Revolver; Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
- 1965 in music - The Beatles - Rubber Soul, Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited, - Like A Rolling Stone; The Rolling Stones - Out of Our Heads, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Herman's Hermits, Introducing Herman's Hermits; Death of Edgard Varèse
- 1964 in music - Death of Sam Cooke, Milton Babbitt, Ensembles For Synthesizer; Bill Lear invents 8-track tape cartridge; Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A Changin', British Invasion begins
- 1963 in music - First cassette tapes made by Philips , Birth of Paul Oakenfold, Death of Edith Piaf, Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
- 1962 in music - Love Me Do released as a single by the Beatles, Birth of Anthony Kiedis, Birth of Flea,
- 1961 in music - Death of Cisco Houston, Moss Hart
- 1960 in music - Birth of Bono, Death of Oscar Hammerstein II
1950s
- 1959 in music - Death of Billie Holiday, Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and Big Bopper, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer and guitarist, Motown Records created; Motown's first hit (Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)"); Miles Davis - Kind of Blue, .
- 1958 in music Cannonball Adderley, Somethin' Else, Bruce Dickinson, Prince, Madonna and Michael Jackson are born.
- 1957 in music - John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet in Liverpool, That'll Be the Day by Buddy Holly and The Crickets becomes a US #1 hit
- 1956 in music - The first Eurovision Song Contest is held on 24 May, Elvis Presley appears on the Ed Sullivan Show
- 1955 in music - Death of Charlie Parker, Rock Around The Clock becomes first worldwide #1 Rock and Roll record; Birth of Yo-Yo Ma, Harry James signs with Capital releasing Harry James in Hi-Fi
- 1954 in music - Elvis Presley releases That's Alright Mama on Sun Records; First Fender Stratocaster produced
- 1953 in music - Death of Hank Williams, Death of Sergey Prokofiev, Soviet composer and pianist
- 1952 in music, 1952 in music (UK) - Birth of Joe Strummer, The official UK singles chart is launched; Recording Industry Association of America (or RIAA) established
- 1951 in music - Rocket 88 is recorded by Ike Turner and hailed as the first rock 'n' roll song; The Rake's Progress by Igor Stravinsky premieres in Venice
- 1950 in music - Death of Kurt Weill, Al Jolson
1940s
- 1949 in music - Death of Lead Belly, Richard Strauss, German composer and last great champion of European Romantic classical music, Birth of Bruce Springsteen, Mark Knopfler, RCA Victor introduces 45 RPM records
- 1948 in music - Columbia Records introduces 331/3 RPM (LP) records. Birth of James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Robert Plant, John Bonham (both of Led Zeppelin).
- 1947 in music - Birth of Elton John, Bob Weir, Carlos Santana, Emmylou Harris, Arlo Guthrie, Tracy Nelson, Paul Brady
- 1946 in music - Birth of John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin bassist), Donovan, Linda Ronstadt, Marianne Faithfull, Cher, Debbie Harry, Freddie Mercury, Patti Smith.
- 1945 in music - Birth of Bob Marley, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Carly Simon, John Fogerty, Itzhak Perlman; Death of Jerome Kern; Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten premieres in London
- 1944 in music - Birth of Diana Ross, Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin guitarist), Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Marvin Hamlisch; Disappearance of Glenn Miller
- 1943 in music - Birth of George Harrison, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jim Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Robbie Robertson, John Denver, Richard Manuel; Death of Lorenz Hart, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian composer, ultra virtuoso pianist and conductor, Formation of Rodgers and Hammerstein
- 1942 in music - Births of Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, Brian Jones, Jerry Garcia, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Carole King, Rick Danko, Lou Reed, Paul Butterfield, Jerry Jeff Walker, John P. Hammond; Death of George M. Cohan
- 1941 in music - Les Paul builds one of the first solid-body electric guitars; Birth of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Aaron Neville, Charlie Watts, Neil Diamond, Richie Havens, Wilson Pickett
- 1940 in music - Birth of Frank Zappa, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Phil Ochs, Levon Helm, Smokey Robinson, Rick Nelson, Tim Hardin, Dionne Warwick
1930s
- 1939 in music - Birth of Judy Collins, Marvin Gaye, Ray Manzarek
- 1938 in music - Birth of Peter Yarrow, Gordon Lightfoot, Death of Robert Johnson, Benny Goodman presents a jazz concert in Carnegie Hall; Death of Dan W. Quinn
- 1937 in music - Death of George Gershwin, Birth of Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Garth Hudson, Tom Paxton, Phillip Glass
- 1936 in music - Birth of Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Kris Kristofferson, Bill Wyman, Dave Van Ronk, Steve Reich, Billboard Magazine publishes first U.S. music chart
- 1935 in music - Birth of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Phillips, La Monte Young, Terry Riley; Audiovox produce first electric bass guitar; Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin premieres in New York
- 1934 in music - Birth of Leonard Cohen, Jackie Wilson, Deaths of Elgar and Holst
- 1933 in music - Birth of Willie Nelson
- 1932 in music - Birth of Johnny Cash, Death of Sousa; Birth of John Williams; Adolph Rickenbacker produces first electric guitar; Bell Labs creates first stereophonic sound recordings
- 1931 in music - Birth of Sam Cooke
- 1930 in music - Birth of Ray Charles, Odetta
1920s
- 1929 in music -
- 1928 in music - The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht (libretto) premieres in Berlin; Bo Diddley is born.
- 1927 in music - Birth of Harry Belafonte
- 1926 in music - Birth of Chuck Berry; Turandot by Giacomo Puccini premieres in Milan
- 1925 in music - Birth of B. B. King, Big record labels begin using electric microphones for recording; 78 RPM adopted as standard for records; BBC makes first radio broadcast in stereo; Wozzeck by Alban Berg premieres in Berlin
- 1924 in music - Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue premieres in New York, Death of Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini, Italian opera composer
- 1923 in music - Birth of Hank Williams, First recordings by Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, and many other African-American artists
- 1922 in music - Birth of Ali Akbar Khan, The first commercial radio station in the United States begins broadcasting
- 1921 in music
- 1920 in music - Birth of Ravi Shankar, Isaac Stern; Death of Alberto Nepomuceno, Brazilian composer, pianist, organist and conductor; Vladimir Horowitz's first recital
1910s
- 1919 in music - Birth of Pete Seeger, Vladimir Horowitz graduates at the Kiev Conservatory, playing Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto (Rach 3)
- 1918 in music - Phonograph cylinders become obsolete, - Death of Claude Debussy
- 1917 in music - Birth of John Lee Hooker, First hit jazz recordings by Original Dixieland Jass Band
- 1916 in music
- 1915 in music - Birth of Billie Holiday, Tom Brown starts billing his group as a "Jass Band"; Birth of Frank Sinatra
- 1914 in music - St. Louis Blues published; first calypso music recordings
- 1913 in music - Birth of Muddy Waters, Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is premiered in Paris.
- 1912 in music - Birth of Woody Guthrie, Lightnin' Hopkins, John Cage; Vladimir Horowitz, enters the Kiev Conservatory
- 1911 in music - Birth of Robert Johnson, Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss premieres in Dresden, Death of Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor
- 1910 in music
1900s
- 1909 in music - Elektra by Richard Strauss premieres in Dresden, Sergey Rachmaninoff finishes composing his 3rd Piano Concerto in D Minor, one of the greatest Piano Concerti ever composed and a great challenge to ultra virtuosi
- 1908 in music
- 1907 in music
- 1906 in music - Dmitri Shostakowich, soviet composer and pianist, Victor begins selling the Victrola phonograph player for $15.00
- 1905 in music - The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár premieres in Vienna; Salome by Richard Strauss premieres in Dresden
- 1904 in music - Death of Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer, Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini premieres in Milan
- 1903 in music
- 1902 in music - Birth of Richard Rodgers, Pelléas et Mélisande by Claude Debussy premieres in Paris
- 1901 in music - Birth of Louis Armstrong, Death of Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer; Sergey Rachmaninoff plays all movements of his Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor in a public performance
- 1900 in music - Tosca by Giacomo Puccini premieres in Rome, Sergey Rachmaninoff plays the 2nd and 3rd movements of his Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor in a public performance
1890s
1880s
1870s
1860s
- 1869 in music - Death of Hector Berlioz, French composer, Das Rheingold by Richard Wagner premieres in Munich
- 1868 in music - Death of Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner premières in Munich; Ein deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms premières in Bremen; Wiegenlied by Brahms (Brahms' Lullaby)
- 1867 in music
- 1866 in music - Birth of French composer Erik Satie.
- 1865 in music - Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner premieres in Munich, marking the beginning of the end for traditional tonality
- 1864 in music Birth of Richard Strauss, German composer, Alberto Nepomuceno, Brazilian composer, pianist, organist and conductor
- 1863 in music
- 1862 in music - Birth of Claude Debussy
- 1861 in music -
- 1860 in music - Birth of Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor
1850s
- 1859 in music - Faust by Charles Gounod premieres in Paris; Richard Wagner concludes Tristan und Isolde
- 1858 in music - Birth of Medardo Rosso and Giacomo Puccini, Italian opera composer, Orphée aux enfers by Jacques Offenbach, the first operetta, premieres in Paris; Hector Berlioz writes Les Troyens
- 1857 in music - First public performance of Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata in B Minor
- 1856 in music - Death of Robert Schuman, German composer and pianist; Richard Wagner, German composer, concludes Die Walküre
- 1855 in music
- 1854 in music - Richard Wagner, German composer, concludes Das Rheingold
- 1853 in music - Il trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi premieres in Rome; La traviata by Verdi premieres in Venice
- 1852 in music
- 1851 in music - Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi premieres in Venice
- 1850 in music - Lohengrin by Richard Wagner premieres in Weimar; Foster's Plantation Melodies by Stephen Foster, including "Camptown Races"
1840s
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