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Billboard magazine publishes its first "Music Popularity Chart".
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In a brutal police operation in Nazi Germany, over 300 Swing Kids are arrested, marking the end of tolerance to swing music.
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Paul Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Weber is premiered in New York City.
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First Nice Jazz Festival with Louis Armstrong, Stéphane Grappelli, Claude Luter, Mezz Mezzrow and Django Reinhardt. It is during this first edition that Suzy Delair sings for the first time the song "C'est si bon" to a cabaret where Louis Armstrong ended his evening.
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Sam Phillips launches Sun Records at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee.
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Heinrich Sutermeister's opera Romeo and Juliet receives its first UK performance at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, conducted by James Robertson.
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First documented use of the abbreviated term "Rock 'n' Roll" to promote Alan Freed's Rock 'n' Roll Jubillee. Previously the genre term was just called "Rock and Roll"
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In New York City, Alan Freed produces the first rock and roll concert.
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Tamla Records is founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in Detroit, Michigan.
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The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club in Liverpool for the first time.
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Bob Dylan portrays a folk singer in The Madhouse of Castle Street, a radio play for the BBC in London.
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Fender Musical Instruments Corporation is sold to CBS for $13 million.
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The Rolling Stones appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. At Ed Sullivan's request, the band change the lyrics of "Let's Spend the Night Together" to "Let's spend some time together".
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Although in September 1969 John Lennon privately informed the other Beatles that he was leaving the group, there was no public acknowledgement of the break-up until Paul McCartney announced on 10 April 1970 he was quitting the Beatles.
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Kiss perform their first concert, at the Coventry Club in Queens.
