Doo-wop
* Artists: The Penguins, The Platters, The Five Satins
* Popular Songs: "Earth Angel," "Only You (And You Alone)," In the Still of the Night"
Pop
* Artists: Perry Como, Dean Martin, Doris Day
* Popular Songs: "Catch a Falling Star," "That's Amore," "Que Sera, Sera"
Country
* Artists: Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash
* Popular Songs: "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Crazy," "I Walk the Line"
Jazz
* Artists: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald
* Popular Albums: "Kind of Blue," "Giant Steps," "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook"
Rhythm and Blues (R&B)
* Artists: Ray Charles, Little Richard, Chuck Berry
* Popular Songs: "What'd I Say," "Tutti Frutti," "Maybellene"
Rock and Roll
* Artists: Elvis Presley, Bill Haley & His Comets, Chuck Berry
* Popular Songs: "Hound Dog," "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock," "Johnny B. Goode"
Classical Music
* Composers: Igor Stravinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Samuel Barber
* Popular Compositions: "The Rite of Spring," "Symphony No. 10," "Knoxville: Summer of 1915"
Gospel
* Artists: The Golden Gate Quartet, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson
* Popular Songs: "This Little Light of Mine," "Down by the Riverside," "Move On Up a Little Higher"
By the late 1950s, musical innovation and the rise of new artists paved the way for the transformative sound of the 1960s music scenes.