How many musical genres are there?

Hello! Thanks for asking about the number of existing music genres.The most useful sources I found to answer your question are the websites for Music genre list and Every Noise at Once.

The short version is that Spotify has identified more than 1,300 genres in the world. The website Every Noise at Once has mapped out 1,505 music genres. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.

NUMBER OF MUSIC GENRES

According to the popular music streaming service Spotify, there are over 1,300 music genres in the world. Some of the peculiar ones include Norwegian Hip Hop, Swedish Reggae and Spanish Punk. There's also Black Sludge, Math Rock, Vaporwave and No Wave. Spotify published a list of the 50 most obscure genres in its service. These include catstep, black sludge, drone folk, skweee and vegan straight edge.

Musicgenrelist states that it is the definitive music genre list on the web. It uses crowdsourcing for the construction of an up-to-date list, and this list can be downloaded for free. The list includes the following categories: alternative, anime, blues, children's music, classical, comedy, commercial, country, dance, disney, easy listening, electronic, enka, French pop, German folk, German pop, world, vocal, rock, J-pop, K-pop and more. There is detailed information on each genre.

Every Noise at Once is a website that offers a map of 1,505 music genres. They are organized in clusters according to similarities. The website allows users to convert the map into list form.

THE FUTURE OF MUSIC GENRES

Some music journalists believe that the promiscuity of music killed the music genre. Nothing can be said anymore about a particular genre, says Clara Amfo, a radio presenter in the United Kingdom. Musicians and fans are more free and honest about their influences these days. As genre differences evaporate, the future may be in streaming and the contextual categories in which music is played. These will include Songs to Sing in the Shower, Your Coffee Break, and Feel Good Friday.

CONCLUSION

To wrap it up, Spotify has identified more than 1,300 genres in the world. The website Every Noise at Once has mapped out 1,505 music genres. Thanks for using Wonder! Please let us know if we can help with anything else!

August 5, 2016• 4:26 am• Audiophile

Paul Wilson wonders about the plethora of musical genres in the world…

Music is the uniting force that ties audiophiles together in a cohesive bond. Despite our component preferences, regardless of our proclivity to espouse or dispute competing technologies, music is the end result and the finish line in our pursuit of a hobby. Simple though it may sound, we love music and want it to sound as natural and emotionally involving as possible. Despite how we might arrive, musical nirvana is our ultimate destination. Needless to say, audiophiles typically have more than one musical preference both stylistically and by content.

Somewhere along the way, however, we began to apply differing labels to differing types of music. Wikipedia defines “musical genre” as “conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions.” Having these types of defining categories allegedly makes things more simple. They purportedly allow the listener to easily identify the difference between what good ole’ Mozart and Beethoven were banging out on harpsichords and pianos in the 18th century, as opposed to what a modern band might be creating today. Genres give all music lovers a frame of reference.

Genres, in general, are helpful in describing sets and subsets of something. Take food for instance. In the US alone, we have any number of food types – American, Italian, Mexican, Asian, and so on. Within those main categories there are other, more narrow descriptors that help define which restaurant you should avoid and ones you should visit. Even cars have genres – like the easily recognizable difference between a sports car and a luxury sedan.

Somewhere along the way, however, music genres went a little crazy.

Ask me if I like Jazz and I can tell you that I do – same goes for rock, country, and most recently, classical. There is a certain simplicity in both the question and the answer. However, those characterizations only scratch the very shallow surface of the descriptors of the types of music seemingly available. Some, not surprisingly, might well be called into question.

Consider, for instance, the category “Pop.” Now any audiophile with even a hint of knowledge or romanticism in listening to music knows the style and sonic attributes “Pop” represents. I cannot help but be curious, however, about the salient differences between the subsets in “Pop” described as “Bubblegum Pop,” “Dance Pop,” and “Teen Pop.” Were I to find some type of listing of artists within each of those categories, would be at all possible that some of the same artists would be on each one? And will the music of the artists categorized in any of the the three be so decisively different in sound, texture or content to rate an entirely different subset within the “Pop” genre? How different can “Bubblegum Pop” and “Teen Pop” really be?

Most of the primary sets and subsets might have meaning to certain music lovers but there were those that left me somewhat confused. I can visualize in my head what Jazz sounds like. But I must admit I’m mostly ignorant about categories like “Enka” music, as well as “Kayokyoku.” I haven’t the faintest notion what comprises each one stylistically or the artists found in either genre. I’m also a little in the dark as to the difference between “K-Pop,” “J-Pop,” and just plain “Pop.” Maybe my musical curiosity is a little too narrow in focus or maybe I’ve been sheltered, anything is possible. Maybe, just perhaps, these three different “Pop” genres were formed by someone or some group trying to differentiate themselves from other competing groups? I ask the question but in all honesty, is spending a lot of time looking for an answer really necessary? I suppose that depends on the genre and the listener’s enjoyment of the same.

(Visited 15,248 times, 120 visits today)

How many genres of music exist?

What are the 7 different popular music?

What is the biggest musical genre?

Why are there so many music genres?