List of musical events

This page indexes the individual year in music pages. Each year is annotated with a significant event as a reference point.

See also: Timeline of trends in music to 1899, Timeline of trends in music (1900-1949), Timeline of trends in music (1950-1959), Timeline of trends in music (1960-1969), Timeline of trends in music (1970-1979), Timeline of trends in music (1980-1989), Timeline of trends in music (1990-present)

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 - 1640s - 1600s - 1590s

2000s

• 2004 in music - Velvet Revolver releases Controband, which will be released on April 27th
• 2003 in music - Phil Spector arrested
• 2002 in music - Baha Men release the movie hits collection Greatest Movie Hits
• 2001 in music - Napster's popularity peaks
• 2000 in music - The Beatles release the greatest hits collection 1

• 1999 in music - Red Hot Chili Peppers release Californication
• 1998 in music - Offspring release Americana
• 1997 in music - Radiohead release Ok Computer
• 1996 in music - Death of Tupac Shakur
• 1995 in music - Alanis Morissette releases Jagged Little Pill
• 1994 in music - Weezer release The Blue Album
• 1993 in music - Tool release Undertow
• 1992 in music - Dr. Dre releases The Chronic
• 1991 in music - Nirvana release Nevermind
• 1990 in music - Public Enemy releases Fear Of A Black Planet

• 1989 in music - N.W.A release Straight Outta Compton
• 1988 in music - Jane's Addiction release Nothing's Shocking
• 1987 in music - U2 release The Joshua Tree
• 1986 in music - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens
• 1985 in music - Live Aid concert raises money for African famine relief
• 1984 in music - Tina Turner releases Private Dancer
• 1983 in music - Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney record "Say, Say, Say"
• 1982 in music - Michael Jackson releases Thriller
• 1981 in music - MTV first airs
• 1980 in music - John Lennon is murdered

• 1979 in music - The Clash releases London Calling
• 1978 in music - Sony introduce the Walkman
• 1977 in music - Elvis Presley dies
• 1976 in music - The Eagles release Hotel California
• 1975 in music - Bruce Springsteen releases Born to Run
• 1974 in music - Jackson Browne releases Late for the Sky
• 1973 in music - Pink Floyd releases Dark Side of the Moon
• 1972 in music - Deep Purple releases Machine Head
• 1971 in music - Marvin Gaye releases What's Going On
• 1970 in music - Simon & Garfunkel release Bridge Over Troubled Water

• 1969 in music - Woodstock music festival held in Bethel, New York
• 1968 in music - Jimi Hendrix releases Electric Ladyland
• 1967 in music - The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
• 1966 in music - The Beach Boys release Pet Sounds
• 1965 in music - The Beatles play Shea Stadium
• 1964 in music - Roy Orbison releases "Oh, Pretty Woman'", the fastest selling single in history
• 1963 in music - Surfin' U.S.A. released by The Beach Boys
• 1962 in music - Dee Dee Sharp releases Mashed Potato Time
• 1961 in music - Hello Mary Lou released by Ricky Nelson
• 1960 in music - "Cathy's Clown" is a hit for The Everly Brothers

• 1959 in music - Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, The Big Bopper die in plane crash
• 1958 in music - Jerry Lee Lewis's "Great balls of fire"
• 1957 in music - John Coltrane releases Blue Train
• 1956 in music - Elvis Presley has a hit with "Hound dog"
• 1955 in music - Chuck Berry releases "Maybellene"
• 1954 in music - Bill Haley and his Comets release "Rock Around the Clock"
• 1953 in music - Fats Domino has a hit with "Please Don't Leave Me"
• 1952 in music - The Weavers have a hit with "Wimoweh"
• 1951 in music - Patti Page tops the charts with Mockingbird Hill
• 1950 in music - Sun Records opens in Memphis, Tennessee

• 1949 in music - Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats releases "Rocket 88"
• 1948 in music - 331/3 RPM LPs introduced
• 1947 in music -
• 1946 in music - Frank Sinatra releases Voice of Frank Sinatra
• 1945 in music - Glenn Miller's album Glenn Miller is released.
• 1944 in music - Glenn Miller dies
• 1943 in music -
• 1942 in music - Bing Crosby releases "White Christmas"
• 1941 in music - Les Paul builds the first solid-body electric guitar
• 1940 in music -

• 1939 in music - Charlie Christian's musical career begins
• 1938 in music - Pete Seeger's musical career begins
• 1937 in music - Hank Williams' and Sonny Boy Williamson's musical careers begin
• 1936 in music - Tony Bennett's and Nat King Cole's musical careers begin
• 1935 in music - Frank Sinatra's and Ella Fitzgerald's musical career begins
• \1934 in music - Sun Ra's and Django Reinhardt's musical careers begin
• 1933 in music - Billie Holliday's musical career begins
• 1932 in music - Johnny Cash is born
• 1931 in music - Roy Rogers' musical career begins
• 1930 in music - Bukka White begins performing

• 1929 in music - Cab Calloway's, and Gene Autry's musical careers begin
• 1928 in music - Louis Armstrong records "West End Blues"
• 1927 in music - Carter Family make first recordings
• 1926 in music - Jelly Roll Morton & His Red Hot Peppers begin recording
• 1925 in music - Big record labels begin using electric microphones for recording
• 1924 in music - Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue premieres
• 1923 in music - Bessie Smith, King Oliver, many other African American artists begin recording
• 1922 in music - Ravel orchestrates Pictures at an Exhibition
• 1921 in music - Enrico Caruso dies
• 1920 in music - Mamie Smith has Blues recording hit

• 1919 in music - Original Dixieland Jazz Band brings jazz to the UK
• 1918 in music - Ella Fitzgerald, Leonard Bernstein born
• 1917 in music - First Jazz recordings by Original Dixieland Jass Band
• 1916 in music - Charles Ives' 4th Symphony
• 1915 in music - Tom Brown starts billing his group as a "Jass Band"
• 1914 in music - First calypso music recordings
• 1913 in music - near-riot at premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring
• 1912 in music - W.C. Handy publishes "The Memphis Blues"
• 1911 in music - Scott Joplin's ragtime opera, "Treemonisha".
• 1910 in music - Mahler's ''Symphony No. 8

• 1909 in music - Benny Goodman born
• 1908 in music - Mahler's 7th; Take Me Out to the Ball Game
• 1907 in music - Cab Calloway born
• 1906 in music - Little Brother Montgomery born
• 1905 in music - Franz Lehar The Merry Widow premieres
• 1904 in music - Puccini's Madame Butterfly premieres
• 1903 in music - Mississippi John Hurt begins performing
• 1902 in music - Leadbelly begins performing
• 1901 in music - Louis Armstrong born
• 1900 in music - Puccini's Tosca premieres

• 1899 in music - Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag; Elgar's Enigma Variations
• 1898 in music -
• 1897 in music - Ragtime music becomes popular in the USA
• 1896 in music - Puccini's La Bohème premieres
• 1895 in music -
• 1894 in music - Enrico Caruso's musical career begins
• 1893 in music - Falstaff premieres
• 1892 in music - "After The Ball" sells over 1 million sheet music copies
• 1891 in music - Sergei Prokofiev, Cole Porter born
• 1890 in music -

• 1889 in music - first disc records by Emile Berliner
• 1888 in music - wax phonograph cylinders commercially marketed
• 1887 in music - Alexander Borodin dies
• 1886 in music - Ma Rainey born
• 1885 in music - Tin Pan Alley music industry formed
• 1884 in music - Sophie Tucker born
• 1883 in music - Mamie Smith born
• 1882 in music - Leopold Stokowski born
• 1881 in music - Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman premieres
• 1880 in music - Jacques Offenbach dies

• 1879 in music - Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance premieres
• 1878 in music - George M. Cohan born
• 1877 in music - phonograph invented. Buddy Bolden born.
• 1876 in music - Ricard Wagner's Siegfried premieres
• 1875 in music - Georges Bizet's Carmen premieres
• 1874 in music - Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky
• 1873 in music - W.C. Handy, Enrico Caruso born
• 1872 in music -
• 1871 in music - Giuseppe Verdi's Aida premieres
• 1870 in music -

• 1869 in music - Ricard Wagner's Das Rheingold
• 1868 in music - Scott Joplin born
• 1867 in music - "Blue Danube Waltz" by Johann Strauss
• 1866 in music - Bedrich Smetana's The Bartered Bride
• 1865 in music - Jean Sibelius born
• 1864 in music - Stephen Foster dies
• 1863 in music - Ernesto Nazareth born
• 1862 in music - Claude Debussy born
• 1861 in music - Nellie Melba born
• 1860 in music - Gustav Mahler born

• 1859 in music -
• 1858 in music - Giacomo Puccini born
• 1857 in music -
• 1856 in music -
• 1855 in music -
• 1854 in music - Stephen Foster's "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair"
• 1853 in music - Verdi's Il Trovatore premieres
• 1852 in music -
• 1851 in music - Stephen Foster's Old Folks At Home
• 1850 in music - Stephen Foster's Oh, Susana!

• 1849 in music -
• 1848 in music - Gaetano Donizetti dies
• 1847 in music -
• 1846 in music - Adolphe Sax invents the "saxophone"
• 1845 in music - Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser premieres
• 1844 in music - Rimsky-Korsakov born
• 1843 in music - Minstrel show premieres in United States
• 1842 in music - Arthur Sullivan born
• 1841 in music -
• 1840 in music - Paganini dies; Tchaikovsky born

• 1839 in music - Modest Mussorgsky born
• 1838 in music -
• 1837 in music -
• 1836 in music - Donizetti's Belisario premieres
• 1835 in music - Camille Saint-Saens born
• 1834 in music -
• 1833 in music - Alexander Borodin born
• 1832 in music -
• 1831 in music -
• 1830 in music -

• 1829 in music - Anton Rubenstein born
• \'1828 in music' -
• 1827 in music - Beethoven dies
• 1826 in music - Stephen Foster born
• 1825 in music - Antonio Salieri dies
• 1824 in music - Beethoven's 9th Symphony
• 1823 in music -
• 1822 in music -
• 1821 in music - Pauline Garcia-Viardot born
• 1820 in music -

• 1819 in music - Jacques Offenbach born
• 1818 in music - Silent Night premieres
• 1817 in music -
• 1816 in music -
• 1815 in music -
• 1814 in music -
• 1813 in music -
• 1812 in music -
• 1811 in music -
• 1810 in music -

• 1809 in music -
• 1808 in music - Beethoven's 5th Symphony
• 1807 in music -
• 1806 in music -
• 1805 in music - Fidelio
• 1804 in music -
• 1803 in music -
• 1802 in music -
• 1801 in music - Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
• 1800 in music -

• 1799 in music -
• 1798 in music -
• 1797 in music -
• 1796 in music -
• 1795 in music -
• 1794 in music -
• 1793 in music -
• 1792 in music -
• 1791 in music - Mozart's The Magic Flute
• 1790 in music -

• 1789 in music - Mozart's Così fan tutte
• 1788 in music -
• 1787 in music - Mozart's Don Giovanni
• 1786 in music - Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro
• 1785 in music -
• 1784 in music -
• 1783 in music -
• 1782 in music -
• 1781 in music -
• 1780 in music -

• 1759 in music -
• 1758 in music -
• 1757 in music -
• 1756 in music -
• 1755 in music -
• 1754 in music -
• 1753 in music -
• 1752 in music -
• 1751 in music -
• 1750 in music -

• 1748 in music -

• 1649 in music -
• 1642 in music -
• 1641 in music -

• 1608 in music - "Arianna" by Claudio Monteverdi
• 1607 in music - "La Favola D'Orfeo" by Claudio Monteverdi
• 1600 in music -

• 1597 in music -