Sa – Sc – Si – So – St – Sy
- Soca music
- Soft rock – an offshoot of pop rock that relies on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions.
- Son-batá (batá rock music)
- Son cubano
- Son montuno – Cuban folk music.
- Sonata
- Songo music – a mixture of changuí and son montuno.
- Songo-salsa – a mixture of songo, hip hop and salsa.
- Sophisti-pop – British pop music made in the 1980s that incorporated elements of jazz and soul music (specifically their usage of the brass section); known for its extensive use of the synthesizer.
- Soukous – various ensemble sizes may be used, with upwards of three guitars sometimes employed simultaneously. Prominent horn and vocal arrangements are occasionally incorporated as well.
- Soul blues – a style of electric blues that incorporates elements of soul music, particularly its tense and raw vocals.
- Soul jazz
- Soul music – a popular African-American music genre that combines gospel music and rhythm and blues (as in the blues style); known for its tense and raw vocals which are backed by a brass section.
- Sound poetry
- Soundtrack
- Southern Gospel
- Southern Gothic music – a style of alternative country lyrically inspired by the Southern Gothic literary genre.
- Southern Harmony
- Southern hip hop – hip hop music originating from the American South (especially Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston, Memphis, and Miami). The most popular form of hip hop as of late.
- Southern metal
- Southern rock – roots rock originating from the American South that usually contains long jam sessions centered on the boogie rhythm.
- Southern soul – soul music originating from the American South that usually has a stronger gospel influence and overall deeper sound than other soul.
- Sovietwave
- Space age pop – a subgenre of pop music and easy listening inspired by and associated with the space age of the 1950s and 1960s.
- Space disco
- Space music – a subgenre of new-age music meant to evoke a feeling of contemplative spaciousness.
- Space rock – an offshoot of psychedelic rock characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound.
- Spectralism
- Speedcore
- Speed metal
- Spirituals – a genre of African-American Christian music linked with the hardships of slavery; serves the basics of both blues and gospel music.
- Spoken word – any audio that features vocals that is neither singing nor rapping.
- Spouge – Barbadian folk music.
- Sprechgesang
- Square dance
- Taarab
- Tai tu – Vietnamese chamber music.
- Taiwanese opera
- Taiwanese pop – early Taiwanese pop music influenced by enka and popular with older listeners.
- Tala – a rhythmic pattern in Indian classical music.
- Talempong – a distinct Minangkabau gamelan music.
- Talking blues
- Tamborito – folk music style from Panama.
- Tambu – music genre and dance form, found in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.
- Tamburitza
- Tamil Christian keerthanai – Christian devotional lyrics in Tamil.
- Táncház – Hungarian dance music.
- Tango music – Argentine and Uruguayan popular music that spread internationally in the 1920s.
- Tanguk – a form of Korean court music that includes elements of Chinese music.
- Tappa
- Taqwacore
- Tarana – style of music from northern India using highly rhythmic nonsense syllables.
- Tarantella
- Tarantas
- Tech house
- Tech trance
- Technical death metal
- Technical metal
- Techno – a style that emerged from Detroit, Michigan known for its repetitive rhythm.
- Technoid
- Techstep
- Techtonik
- Tecno brega
- Teen pop – a subgenre of pop music targeted towards pre-teen and teenage listeners.
- Tejano music or "Tex-Mex" – an American form of Norteño originating among the Mexican-American populations of Central and Southern Texas; considered a part of American folk music.
- Third Stream – jazz and classical music fusion style.
- Tembang sunda – Sundanese sung free verse poetry.
- Texas blues – a form of blues developed in Texas that originally had swing influences, but later became a form of blues rock.
- Theatre music – music made for performance in theatres.
- Theme music
- Thillana – form of vocal music from South India using highly rhythmic nonsense syllables.
- Third wave ska
- Thirty-two-bar form
- Thrashcore
- Thrash metal – a style of extreme metal known for its fast tempos, screaming vocals, extended guitar solos and aggressive lyrics.
- Thumri – a type of popular Hindustani vocal music.
- Tibetan pop – pop music heavily influenced by Chinese forms, emerging in the 1980s.
- Tientos – style of organ music from the 15th century in Spain.
- Timbila – form of folk music in Mozambique.
- Tin Pan Alley – a name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century; one of the major sources for traditional pop.
- Tinku – traditional music and dance from Potosi Bolivia.
- Toeshey – Tibetan dance music.
- Togaku
- Tondero – folk music style from Peru.
- T'ong guitar – acoustic guitar pop music of Korea.
- Traditional bluegrass – modern bluegrass music that emphasizes its original elements.
- Traditional Nordic dance music – upbeat style of Nordic folk.
- Traditional pop – pop music that predates the existence of rock and roll; usually has a swing influence due to that genre's prominence at that time. Later classified as a form of easy listening.
- Trallalero – Genoese urban songs.
- Trance music – a style of electronic dance music characterized by a tempo lying between 110 and 150 bpm (BPM), repeating melodic phrases, and a musical form that distinctly builds tension and elements throughout a track often culminating in 1 to 2 "peaks" or "drops".
- Trap music (EDM)
- Trap music (hip hop)
- Trival
- Tribal house
- Trikitixa – Basque accordion music.
- Trip hop – a hip hop-influenced genre of electronic music that is known for its melancholy sound and a bass-heavy drumbeat. Sometimes treated as a synonym for downtempo, it differs from that genre by having a more "earthy" sound.
- Tropicalia
- Tropical music – Latin music originating from the Caribbean.
- Tropical house – a mix of reggae and house sounds originated in the late 2000s.
- Tropipop
- Truck-driving country
- Tumba
- Turbo-folk – aggressive form of modernized Serbian music.
- Turntablism – music produced by flipping a record to produce a rhythm.
- Tuvan throat-singing
- Twee pop
- Twelve-bar blues – a distinctive form predominantly based on the I-IV-V chords of a key.
- Twist (also a dance style, early 1960s)
- Two-tone (usually spelled 2 Tone) – a style of ska that incorporates elements of punk rock and new wave music, particularly their high-paced tempo; produced by and named after the record label of the same name, most two-tone music tends to have lyrics that promotes racial harmony.
- UK bass – club music that emerged in the United Kingdom during the mid-2000s under the influence of genres such as house, grime, dubstep, UK garage, R&B, and wonky.
- UK garage – a style of electronic music and an offshoot of garage house that usually features a distinctive 4/4 percussive rhythm with chopped up vocal samples.
- UK hardcore
- UK hard house
- Unblack metal – black metal with lyrics that praise Christianity rather than criticizing it as opposed to black metal, which traditionally focuses on Satanism or anti-Christianity.
- Underground music – music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, mainstream popular music culture.
- Uplifting trance
- Urban Cowboy – a soft, mellow style of music that uses harmonious vocals with smooth synth sounds or rarely no music at all.
- Urban Pasifika – a blend of hip-hop, reggae, and traditional Polynesian musical styles.
- Waila (chicken scratch) – a Tohono O'odham fusion of polka, norteño and Native American music.
- Walking bass – a style of bass accompaniment which creates a feeling of regular quarter note movement, akin to the regular alternation of feet while walking.
- Wall of Sound – a music production technique developed by Phil Spector in which a large number of musicians (including an orchestra) perform the same parts in unison and the resulting sound is re-recorded in an echo chamber. Used mostly by Spector himself for artists signed to his pop music label, along with some rock acts inspired by this style of production (most notably Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys).
- Waltz
- Wangga – Aboriginal Australian music genre.
- Warabe uta
- Wassoulou music – performed mostly by women. Some recurring themes in the lyrics are childbearing, fertility, and polygamy. Instrumentation includes soku, djembe drum, kamalen n'goni, karinyan and bolon.
- War song
- Waulking song – Scottish folk songs, typically sung in Gaelic. These songs were often sung by women as they worked to soften woven tweed by hitting it against a solid surface, which would give the song rhythm.
- Were music – indigenous Yoruba music.
- West Coast blues – a form of jump blues developed in California by Texas blues musicians who moved there.
- West Coast hip hop – hip hop music originating from the western United States (largely Los Angeles); the first form of hip hop not to originate from the East Coast.
- West Coast jazz
- Western blues
- Western swing – an up-tempo danceable form of country music that is heavily influenced by swing music.
- Witch house
- Wizard rock – geek rock that's specifically about Harry Potter.
- Women's music or womyn's music, wimmin's music – 1970s lesbian/feminist music.
- Wong shadow – 1960s Thai pop music.
- Wonky – music with shaky off-kilter beats that came out of the 90s.
- Work song
- Worldbeat – a music genre that combines rock and pop music with music that is usually labeled as world music.
- World music – music originating outside the Western world (although the term has occasionally been applied to various forms of Western folk music). This may also include Latin music, music from the Caribbean, and regional forms of Western popular music that are performed in non-Western languages but are otherwise nearly indistinguishable in style.
- Xenomania – a music style created by Brian Higgins that has usually a strange and crazy feel to it.
- Xoomii – a style of music which is produced by rolling the throat in ways to create an instrument-like sound to it.
- Xote – is a Brazilian music genre and dance for pairs or groups of four.
- Xhosa music
- Xylophonecore – xylophone music mixed with electronic.
