This article includes an overview of the events and trends in popular music in the 1960s.
The Miracles pictured in 1962. Known as Motown's "soul supergroup", The Miracles were one of the first commercially successful acts of the 1960s and propelled both Motown and its Tamla label to international fame.
The arrival of the Beatles in the U.S., and subsequent appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, marked the start of the British Invasion in which a large number of rock and roll, beat and pop performers from Britain gained massive popularity in the U.S.
The Rolling Stones
Lulu in 1965 on the set of Fanclub, Dutch TV
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional or "folk" music. Art music was historically disseminated through the performances of written music, although since the beginning of the recording industry, it is also disseminated through recordings. Traditional music forms such as early blues songs or hymns were passed along orally, or to smaller, local audiences.
The 19th century singer Jenny Lind depicted performing La sonnambula
Since the 20th century, several music formats received dominance, from 7-inch vinyl, to 12-inch vinyl, to CDs.
Egyptian pop star Mohamed Mounir
Senegalese rapper Didier Awadi
