The main types of popular music in the 1960s were rock and roll and its developing branches, British beat and pop-rock, soul and rhythm and blues (R&B), folk and protest music, and country. Blues and gospel supplied much of the foundation for these styles. The decade did not run on a single sound, and genres borrowed from one another constantly. No standard source ranks them by sales for the whole decade, so the useful answer is which styles were prominent and how they connected, not which one was number one.
The main genres at a glance
Most histories of the decade point to the same five broad families, with blues and gospel as the roots beneath them. The table below summarizes how each one is usually described, based on institutional sources such as the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
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| Genre family | Core roots or sound | Key connection in the 1960s |
|---|---|---|
| Rock and roll and its branches | Rock and roll carried into the decade and split into several directions | Folk-rock emerged in the early 1960s and helped shape psychedelic rock, blues-rock, and country-rock |
| British beat and pop-rock | British groups building on American rock and roll | Associated with the British Invasion, when British acts became popular in the United States |
| Soul and R&B | African American musical traditions, with roots in jazz, blues, and gospel | The Smithsonian links R&B to the development of rock and roll |
| Folk and protest music | Traditional folk recordings and songs addressing public issues | Civil Rights Movement and peace-song repertoire sat alongside folk as a tradition |
| Country | Nashville-based country music and its musicians | Bob Dylan recorded in Nashville from 1966 to 1969, drawing other non-country artists to work with local musicians |
Rock and roll and its branches
Rock and roll did not stay in one form after the 1950s. The Library of Congress identifies folk-rock as an early-1960s development, and it notes folk-rock’s role in shaping several later branches, including psychedelic rock, blues-rock, and country-rock. For a reader, the practical takeaway is that “1960s rock” covers a range of sounds rather than a single style.
Folk-rock and its offshoots
Folk-rock combined folk songwriting and acoustic textures with the electric instruments and beat of rock. Its importance lies less in a fixed sound than in the way it opened rock to lyrics and approaches from folk. That openness is why later branches could grow from it in different directions.
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Blues-rock, psychedelic rock, and country-rock
These branches are best understood as descendants of the decade’s rock and folk experiments. Blues-rock drew on the blues tradition described in the next section. Psychedelic rock, a later development named by the Library of Congress as a result of folk-rock’s influence, moved rock toward new studio and lyrical ideas. Country-rock brought rock players and songwriters into closer contact with country instrumentation and song forms.
British beat and pop-rock
British beat groups took American rock and roll and rhythm and blues as models and developed them into pop-rock. The British Invasion is the common cultural landmark for explaining how British acts gained popularity in the United States in the mid-1960s. Sources reviewed for this article do not establish a complete chart history of that period, so treat the British Invasion as a useful way to explain the era’s cross-Atlantic exchange rather than as a precise measure of sales.
Soul and rhythm and blues
Soul and R&B were central popular styles, rooted in African American musical traditions. The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage places R&B within the history of African American urban communities and describes its close links with rock and roll. The National Museum of African American History and Culture describes R&B as stylistically diverse, with roots in jazz, blues, and gospel, and as a predecessor to soul. Reading the two together clarifies the relationship: R&B is the broader tradition, and soul is one of its major 1960s expressions.
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So the answer to “Was soul popular in the 1960s?” is yes. It was among the decade’s central popular styles, but the sources here do not rank it against other genres by sales.
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Folk remained visible both as a musical tradition and as a vehicle for songs about public issues. The Smithsonian Folkways 1960s collection points listeners to original folk recordings, Civil Rights Movement repertoire, and peace songs, which makes it a useful entry point for hearing the range of this strand.
Protest was one important part of folk, not the whole of it. Many folk recordings of the period were traditional or personal in focus, so it is inaccurate to equate all 1960s folk with protest songs.
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Country and cross-genre exchange
Country music stayed active and interacted with both folk and rock. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum reports that Bob Dylan recorded in Nashville from 1966 to 1969, and that his sessions drew other non-country acts to the city to work with its musicians. The same source describes rock and folk artists visiting Nashville and acoustic instruments and country-flavored arrangements appearing in North American and British recordings.
The lesson for listeners is that country was not isolated from the rest of the decade. Many of the decade’s rock and folk records borrowed from it, and the Nashville sessions show the exchange running in both directions.
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Blues and gospel as foundations
Blues and gospel are best treated as influential traditions rather than as the decade’s top-selling genres. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame describes the blues and R&B contributions to rock’s history and highlights gospel’s influence on R&B, soul, and rock and roll. The Hall of Fame attributes a well-known line to Muddy Waters: “The blues had a baby, and they called it rock & roll.” The line is an aphorism rather than a technical definition, but it captures why blues appears in almost every 1960s genre discussion.
Rank #4
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How to compare the styles fairly
If you are comparing genres, focus on sound and instrumentation, lyrical focus, cultural or regional roots, and how each style crossed into others. These measures are more defensible than a ranking of decade-wide popularity, which the sources consulted do not supply in a comparable form.
Genre labels also overlap. A British beat act, a soul group, or a folk-rock singer may fit more than one description depending on the period and the recording. When an artist seems to belong to two genres, that is usually a sign of the decade’s exchange rather than an error in classification.
Where to hear these styles
Listening is the quickest way to test these descriptions. Smithsonian Folkways offers its 1960s collection of recordings and resources, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame presents playlists tied to musical traditions. Using these as starting points lets you hear the folk, soul, and blues examples discussed above side by side.
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This article’s scope is primarily U.S. institutional sources, with cross-Atlantic context where those sources support it. It does not offer a complete global account of 1960s music.
In short, the decade’s popular music was a set of overlapping families rooted in blues, gospel, folk, and country, and reshaped by rock and roll and the British Invasion. The best way to understand it is to follow the connections between them.
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