Timeline of trends in music (1940-1949)
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1940 in music
- International trends
- Allied servicemen help bring American and European popular music to Asian countries when they are statuibed in Hawaii and the Philippines; this especially includes popularizing the guitar and ukulele in Papua New Guinea
- Disney's Fantasia introduces stereo sound
- Music of Argentina
- Cuarteto becomes popular
- Music of Cuba
- Machito's Afro-Cubans are formed, beginning the development of Latin jazz
- Music of Denmark
- During the German occupation of Denmark, jazz musicians like violinist Svend Asmussen and the pianist Kjeld Bonfils inaguarate a golden age of Danish jazz as an underground phenomenon
- Music of Greece
- The modern form of the lyre appears when a lyraki and vrodolyra are combined by Manolis Stagakis
- Music of Peru
- The Indigenismo movement, which helped to popularize native music, ends
- Music of the United States
- Musicians like Bukka White help invent the Chicago blues
- The Almanac Singers (including the pioneering singer Pete Seeger) form, marking the beginning the of the popularization of folk music
- Béla Bartók moves to the United States from Hungary and begins composing many of his most famous works, which fuse Hungarian folk music and classical music
- ASCAP strike against broadcasters leads to period in which only public-domain music was broadcast. More significantly, it leads to the creation and rise of BMI. BMI's search for non-ASCAP music in turn created channels for the emergence in the U. S. of Latin and black music, setting the stage for the decline of Tin Pan Alley and the rise of R&B and rock-and-roll.
- The Almanac Singers begin playing Appalachian folk music in protest songs
1941 in music
- International trends
- Arsenio Rodriguez begins his reign as the most popular and influential Latin singer
- Jazz music and Afro-Cuban rhythms are united to form Latin jazz, or Cubop
- Music of Ghana
- Music of the United States
- Les Paul builds the first solid-body electric guitar
1942 in music
- Music of the United States
- Bing Crosby releases "White Christmas", one of the most successful recordings in history
- A recording strike begins
- Louis Jordan's "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" is the first jump blues record
- T-Bone Walker adds jazz chords to the blues in "I Got a Break, Baby"
1943 in music
- Music of Canada
- The first hit from a native Newfoundland performer is "Squid Jiggin' Ground" by Art Scammell
- Music of Greece
- Vassilis Tsitsanis writes "Synefiazmeni Kyriaki", which becomes an anthem for Greeks, who are under occupation; the song becomes a major event in the softening of rembétika music
1944 in music
- Music of India
- Filmi qawwali, a secular form of Sufi qawwali, is invented by the film Zeenat
- Music of the United States
- The 1942 recording strike ends
- This is the first year chart positions can be reliably calculated
- Al Dexter's chart success marks the mainstream acceptance of honky tonk country music
- The Andrews Sisters cover of "Rum and Coca Cola" (by Lord Invader) is the first American hit for calypso
1945 in music
- International trends
- The Cuban-derived mambo first appears in the United States
- Music of Indonesia
- The struggle for independence begins; the popular kroncong music becomes associated with the sovereignty movement
- Music of Korea
- Music of Russia
- Gotfrid Hasanov writes the first Dagestani opera, Khochbar
- Music of the United Kingdom
- Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes revitalizes British opera
- Music of the United States
- Bebop emerges with the success of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie
- The jump blues, a fusion of jazz, early rock and roll and the blues, becomes popular, especially Louis Jordan
- Les Paul invents new studio techniques like echo delay and multi tracking
1946 in music
- Music of Finland
- Purppuripelimannit from Kaustinen become the most influential group of an innovative period in pellimanni dance music
- Music of Puerto Rico
- Artists like Cesar Concepción, Mon Rivera, Rafael Cortijo and Daniel Santos popularize plena internationally
- Music of the United States
- The emergence of Hank Williams and his blues country style.
- Artists like B.B. King, T-Bone Walker and Howlin' Wolf plug in, resulting in the electric blues
- Mahalia Jackson's "Move on Up a Little Higher" is the first million-selling gospel recording
1947 in music
- International trends
- Australian jazz musician Graeme Bell and his band travel to perform at the World Youth Festival in Prague, Czechoslovakia, a landmark concert
- Music of the Bahamas
- In the Bahamas, the annual junkanoo parades return after a five year ban (since the Burma Road Riots)
- Music of Ireland
- The first pub session takes place at London's Camden Town in a bar called The Devonshire Arms
- Music of Kenya
- The Entertainment Unit of the King's African Rifles stays together after World War 2 ends, becoming the influential Rhino Band
- Music of Trinidad and Tobago
- The use of steel drums in Carnival music competitions becomes commonplace
- Lord Kitchener and Killer form the renegade Young Brigade calypso tent at Carnival, launching a new wave of Young Brigade calypsonians
- Music of the United States
- Dizzy Gillespie joins forces with several Cuban musicians in New York City; Gillespie's Carnegie Hall performance gives "Latin jazz" instant critical acclaim
- Gabby Pahinui begins recording; this is the beginning of slack-key guitar's peak of popularity
- Billboard magazine writer Jerry Wexler first uses the term rhythm and blues to describe the electric blues
- Tito Puente forms the Picadilly Boys, the biggest group of the mambo craze
1948 in music
- International trends
- 331/3 RPM LPs introduced
- Perez Prado's recordings of popular mambo songs in Mexico, popularizing them across the US and Latin America
- State-supported orchestras playing traditional instruments in folk styles are formed in the Soviet Union, its satellite states like Bulgaria and related like Yugoslavia (KUDs)
- Music of Antigua and Barbuda
- John Thomas has become the most well-known performer of folk benna music
- Music of Israel
- The Israeli government begins encouraging music in the Hebrew language instead of Ladino or Yiddish
- Music of Malawi
- Guitar and banjo duos have become extremely popular across the country
- Music of Turkey
- The Turkish government bans Arabic language music
- Music of the United States
- Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs form the Foggy Mountain Boys and begin the peak of popularity for bluegrass
- Iry LeJeune's "La valse du pont d'amour" sparks a renewal of traditional Cajun music
- Gospel music begins a golden age, and enjoys its peak of mainstream popularity
- Frankie Yankovic's "Just Because" is the first million-selling polka single
- Popular female duos help invent música norteña, the first popular Mexican-American genre
- Pete Seeger forms The Weavers and leads an Appalachian folk roots revival
- Miles Davis begins his Birth of the Cool recordings, launching the cool jazz genre
- The Louisiana Hayride begins, in Shreveport, Louisiana; it will go on to become an important musical venue
1949 in music
- Music of Albania
- Music of Argentina
- The end of the Golden Age of tango
- Music of Cuba
- Enrique Jorrín's "La Engañadora" is the beginning of chachachá
- Music of Japan
- Japan's first superstar and hearthrob, Misora Hibari, begins her singing career
- Music of Nigeria
- Tunde Nightingale emerges as the premier palm-wine performer and innovator of a style he calls s'o wa mbe
- Music of Papua New Guinea
- Blasius To Una is the first Papuan to find an international audience
- Music of Sweden
- Gudmunds Nils Larsson dies, thus ending the chain of oral transmission of säckpipa (bagpipes) music
- Music of Taiwan
- Chinese Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-Shek, come to Taiwan and begin promoting mainland language and culture, including musical forms, over traditional ones
- Music of the United States
- Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats releases "Rocket 88", one of the first rock and roll recordings, alongside Fats Domino's "The Fat Man"
- Musicians like Professor Longhair popularize New Orleans-style rhythm & blues