1920s Music: Top Songs, Genres And Trends

Jazz arrives, dance bands fill the ballrooms and the gramophone puts recorded music in the front room.

Below: the albums worth owning from the 1920s, the artists who defined it, how people listened at the time, and the biggest song of every year from 1920 to 1929.

The official UK singles chart did not start until November 1952, so the year-by-year lines here describe the popular songs of the time rather than chart positions.

Shop the cards that go with these

Shop prints and posters Look back to 1920 Look back to 1921 Look back to 1922

Song and lyric prints, drawn and printed by us

Music and milestone art prints and funny cards, printed in the UK. Order on a working day and it usually goes out the same day.

99 Problems, Prompting Ain't One A6 Postcard 99 Problems, Prompting Ain't One A6 Postcard £3.00 Cunt Rude A6 Postcard Cunt Rude A6 Postcard £3.00 Dancing On The Ceiling Music Print A6 Postcard Dancing On The Ceiling Music Print A6 Postcard £3.00 Music Sounds Better With You Music Print A6 Postcard Music Sounds Better With You Music Print A6 Postcard £3.00 99 Problems but Excel Ain't One A6 Postcard 99 Problems but Excel Ain't One A6 Postcard £3.00 Kenny Dalglish Liverpool Football Club (LFC) Legend Stats Print Kenny Dalglish Liverpool Football Club (LFC) Legend Stats Print £12.99

Shop prints and posters

Years covered in the 1920s

  • 1920 - The first Remembrance at the Cenotaph and a country still counting its losses. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1920
  • 1921 - A miners' lockout, mass unemployment and the first British Legion poppy appeal. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1921
  • 1922 - The BBC's first broadcast, the Austin Seven and Tutankhamun's tomb. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1922
  • 1923 - The White Horse Final at Wembley and the first Radio Times. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1923
  • 1924 - The first Labour government, the Empire Exhibition and the Chariots of Fire Olympics. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1924
  • 1925 - The Charleston, the return to the gold standard and a summer of dance halls. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1925
  • 1926 - The General Strike, the birth of Elizabeth II and Baird's public television demonstration. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1926
  • 1927 - The BBC became a corporation, talking pictures arrived and the FA Cup went to Wales. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1927
  • 1928 - Votes for all women, penicillin discovered and the Thames flood. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1928
  • 1929 - Britain's first talkie, a second Labour government and the Wall Street Crash. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1929
  • That is every 1920s year we have written up so far: 1920 to 1929.

Albums of the 1920s

  • Albums as we know them did not exist yet - music sold as 78rpm shellac discs, one song a side.
  • Record companies sold 'albums' as bound books of 78s, which is where the word comes from.
  • Sheet music still outsold records for much of the decade; families played songs themselves.

Artists who defined the 1920s

  • Louis Armstrong, whose Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings run from 1925.
  • Duke Ellington, resident at the Cotton Club from 1927.
  • Bessie Smith, the biggest-selling blues singer of the decade.
  • Al Jolson, who sang in The Jazz Singer (1927), the first feature-length talkie.
  • In Britain: Jack Hylton and the dance bands that played the hotels and the wireless.

Genres of the 1920s

  • Jazz, arriving from America and played by British dance bands.
  • Dance band and ballroom music - foxtrot, charleston, quickstep.
  • Music hall songs, still the popular songbook.
  • Light classical and brass band music on early BBC radio.
  • Blues and ragtime on imported records.

Music trends of the 1920s

  • Electrical recording from 1925 makes records sound dramatically better. Shop this card
  • The BBC begins broadcasting in 1922 and music reaches the home.
  • Sheet music still outsells records in many households.
  • Dance halls become the main night out.

Popular songs, year by year

  • 1920 - Dance bands and ragtime filled the ballrooms; jazz was arriving from America.
  • 1921 - Dance halls were booming and the foxtrot was the dance everyone learned.
  • 1922 - The BBC's first broadcasts included music, talks and news read twice in different speeds.
  • 1923 - The Radio Times was first published in September, listing what the wireless would play.
  • 1924 - 'Rhapsody in Blue' was first performed in New York in February.
  • 1925 - The Charleston arrived from America and became the dance craze of the year.
  • 1926 - Dance bands and jazz were the sound of the ballrooms.
  • 1927 - The Jazz Singer, released in America in October, brought synchronised song to the cinema.
  • 1928 - Dance bands, jazz and the last of the music halls shared the evening.
  • 1929 - Talking pictures put orchestras and cinema organists out of work within a couple of years.

How people listened

  • Wind-up gramophones, acoustic until electrical recording arrives in 1925 and improves everything.
  • The BBC begins daily broadcasting in 1922, and a licence fee follows.
  • Dance halls and ballrooms are where most people heard a band live.

How to use this

  • Party: pick five songs from the list above and let the rest of the night sort itself out.
  • Quiz round: read the year and the song, and ask for the other one.
  • Reminiscence session: the songs people sang at eighteen get the most talking.
  • Present: a print of a song from 1920-1929 beats another mug.

Shop prints and posters

Found your words? Now find the card

Shop prints and posters Look back to 1920 Look back to 1921 Look back to 1922

How to write it so it lands

  • Download the tracks rather than streaming them if the party is somewhere with bad signal.
  • One song from the year someone turned eighteen does more than a whole decade playlist.
  • Check for clean versions before a family party - some of these are ruder than people remember.

Where to shop next

Frequently asked questions

What are the best albums of the 1920s?

Albums as we know them did not exist yet - music sold as 78rpm shellac discs, one song a side. The full list above gives real records with their release years, not a ranking - pick by what the person actually listened to.

What music genres were popular in the 1920s?

Jazz, arriving from America and played by British dance bands. Dance band and ballroom music - foxtrot, charleston, quickstep. Music hall songs, still the popular songbook. The genres section above has the full list.

Who were the biggest artists of the 1920s?

Louis Armstrong, whose Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings run from 1925. The rest are listed above, including the British acts that mattered more here than anywhere else.

What songs were popular in the 1920s?

The year-by-year list above gives the songs people were actually singing. The official UK singles chart only began in November 1952, so nothing before that is a chart position.

Do you sell records?

No. We make greeting cards, art prints and pin badges in the UK, including song and lyric prints. For the records themselves, charity shops and independent record shops are the honest answer.

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