Doo-wop
* Artister:The Penguins, The Platters, The Five Satins
* Populära låtar:"Earth Angel", "Only You (And You Alone)," In the Still of the Night"
Pop
* Artister:Perry Como, Dean Martin, Doris Day
* Populära låtar:"Catch a Falling Star", "That's Amore", "Que Sera, Sera"
Land
* Artister:Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash
* Populära låtar:"Your Cheatin' Heart", "Crazy", "I Walk the Line"
Jazz
* Artister:Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald
* Populära album:"Kind of Blue", "Giant Steps", "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook"
Rhythm and Blues (R&B)
* Artister:Ray Charles, Little Richard, Chuck Berry
* Populära låtar:"What'd I Say", "Tutti Frutti", "Maybellene"
Rock and Roll
* Artister:Elvis Presley, Bill Haley &His Comets, Chuck Berry
* Populära låtar:"Hound Dog", "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock", "Johnny B. Goode"
Klassisk musik
* Kompositörer:Igor Stravinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Samuel Barber
* Populära kompositioner:"The Rite of Spring", "Symphony No. 10", "Knoxville:Summer of 1915"
Evangelium
* Artister:Golden Gate Quartet, Syster Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson
* Populära låtar:"This Little Light of Mine", "Down by the Riverside", "Move On Up a Little Higher"
I slutet av 1950-talet banade musikalisk innovation och framväxten av nya artister vägen för det transformativa soundet från 1960-talets musikscener.