timeline.music
Find the culture and sound
of any place.
How music shaped cities, scenes, and cultures, from the origins to what's playing right now.
Featured Timelines
Argentina
From Gardel to Bizarrap. 140 years of musical reinvention
Australia
Seventy years of Australian music: pub rock, pop exports, and First Nations song
Austria
From Mozart to the Dancefloor — 250 years of reinvention
Brazil
From choro to funk carioca, 150 years of rhythm
Canada
From Yorkville folk and prairie rock to the 6 sound and powwow-step
Cape Verde
Ten islands, one aching song, and the voice that carried it worldwide.
China
From Cantopop ballads to Beijing yaogun and the Rap of China generation
Colombia
From coastal cumbia to global reggaetón, the rhythm never stops
Congo DRC
The heartbeat of African popular music
Costa Rica
From Limón calypso and Guanacaste marimba to San José rock and global ranchera
Croatia
Klapa harmony, new wave poetry, and pop that owns the Adriatic summer.
Cuba
The island that taught the world how to dance
German Democratic Republic
DDR Rock: East Germany's Underrated Sound
Dominican Republic
Two UNESCO rhythms, one island, and the loudest dance floor in the Caribbean.
Egypt
From Sayed Darwish's founding melodies to Cairo's mahraganat, over a century of Arab sound
Ethiopia
Ethio-jazz, Swinging Addis, and the harp of King David.
France
From Piaf to Daft Punk. 140 years of reinvention
Germany
Von Autobahn bis Deutschrap, 70 Jahre musikalische Neuerfindung
Greece
From rebetiko's soul to Zorba's dance. Millennia of music
Hawaii
Slack-key strings, island reggae, and the voice of Bruddah Iz
Hungary
From Bartók's village recordings to Budapest's stadium rock.
India
From ragas to rap — a billion rhythms, one beat
Indonesia
From Bengawan Solo to 88rising, an archipelago in song
Ireland
From sean-nós ballads to global stadiums, an island that sings far above its weight
Italy
From Monteverdi to Måneskin, the country that taught the world to sing
Jamaica
From ska yards to global dancehalls. Eight decades of revolution
Japan
Eight decades of pop, from Misora Hibari to YOASOBI
Mali
Kora, ngoni, and desert blues, from the empire of Sundiata to the Sahel
Mexico
From mariachi to corridos tumbados. A century of song
New Zealand
Waiata and Wellington dub, from Howard Morrison to Royals
Nigeria
From Fela's afrobeat to the global afrobeats takeover
Norway
From Grieg's fjords to frostbitten black metal and tropical house
Peru
Criollo waltzes, Afro-Peruvian cajón, and the psychedelic cumbia of the Andes.
Philippines
Kundiman serenades, the Manila Sound, and a rock scene that calls itself our music.
Portugal
From fado's saudade to Lisbon's bass. 200 years of soul
Puerto Rico
From bomba drums to Bad Bunny: the island that gave the world salsa and reggaetón.
Senegal
From Cuban orchestras to Wolof trap, the sabar at the centre
Slovenia
From Alpine polka to the Eurovision stage.
South Africa
From Cape Jazz to Amapiano, the beat never stops
South Korea
From trot to K-pop, the relentless reinvention of Korean sound
Spain
From copla and flamenco to Rosalía and Quevedo, seven decades of Spanish sound
Sweden
From troubadour ballads to ABBA, metal, and the global dance machine
Thailand
From luk thung cantinas to Coachella mango sticky rice
Turkey
From aşık poetry to Anatolian rock and global pop
United Kingdom
Sixty years of British music: the engine room of modern pop
Venezuela
Harps on the plains, gaitas in Maracaibo, and the sonero who conquered the world.
Stories
Wake Me Up
Avicii
Wake Me Up arrived in 2013 as something genuinely new: a dance record built on an acoustic guitar and a soulful vocal from Aloe…
Read the storyHeartbeats
Jose Gonzalez
Heartbeats is not a Jose Gonzalez original. It was written and first recorded by the Swedish electronic duo The Knife as a…
Read the storyThe Winner Takes It All
ABBA
The Winner Takes It All is widely considered ABBA's masterpiece, and it is also one of pop's most quietly devastating songs.…
Read the storyFeatured Journeys
From Vienna Waltz to Vienna Techno
How one city reinvented its sound across three centuries
Coming 2026The Lagos-to-London Pipeline
Afrobeats, Grime, and the transatlantic bridge
Explore →How Detroit Invented the Future
Motown, Techno, and the city that changed everything
Coming 2026