structural:summarization
Music

Various styles of music have become popular in the UK, including the indigenous folk music of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Historically, there has been exceptional Renaissance music from the Tudor period, with masses, madrigals and lute music by Thomas Tallis, John Taverner, William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons and John Dowland. After the Stuart Restoration, an English tradition of dramatic masques, anthems and airs became established, led by Henry Purcell, followed by Thomas Arne and others. The German-born composer George Frideric Handel became a naturalised British citizen in 1727, when he composed the anthem Zadok the Priest for the coronation of George II; it became the traditional ceremonial music for anointing all future monarchs. Handel's many oratorios, such as his famous Messiah, were written in the English language. In the second half of the 19th century, as Arthur Sullivan and his librettist W. S. Gilbert wrote their popular Savoy operas, Edward Elgar 's wide range of music rivalled that of his contemporaries on the continent. Increasingly, however, composers became inspired by the English countryside and its folk music, notably Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Benjamin Britten, a pioneer of modern British opera. Among the many post-war composers, some of the most notable have made their own personal choice of musical identity: Peter Maxwell Davies (Orkney), Harrison Birtwistle (mythological), and John Tavener (religious). Today, recent classical singers include: Alfie Boe, Bryn Terfel, Katherine Jenkins, Michael Ball, Roderick Williams, Russell Watson and Sarah Brightman, while Nicola Benedetti and Nigel Kennedy are renowned for their violin ability.

According to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the term " pop music " originated in Britain in the mid-1950s to describe rock and roll 's fusion with the "new youth music". The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that artists such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones drove pop music to the forefront of popular music in the early 1960s. Birmingham became known as the birthplace of heavy metal, with the band Black Sabbath starting there in the 1960s. In the following years, Britain widely occupied a part in the development of rock music, with British acts pioneering hard rock; raga rock; heavy metal; space rock; glam rock; Gothic rock, psychedelic rock, and punk rock. British acts also developed neo soul and created dubstep. The modern UK is known to produce some of the most prominent English-speaking rappers along with the United States, including Stormzy, Kano, Yxng Bane, Ramz, Little Simz and Skepta.

The Beatles have international sales of over 1 billion units and are the biggest-selling and most influential band in the history of popular music. Other prominent British contributors to have influenced popular music over the last 50 years include the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Queen, Led Zeppelin, the Bee Gees, and Elton John, all of whom have worldwide record sales of 200 million or more. The Brit Awards are the BPI's annual music awards, and some of the British recipients of the Outstanding Contribution to Music award include the Who, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, the Police, and Fleetwood Mac (who are a British-American band). More recent UK music acts that have had international success include George Michael, Oasis, Spice Girls, Radiohead, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Robbie Williams, Amy Winehouse, Susan Boyle, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, One Direction, Harry Styles and Dua Lipa.

A number of UK cities are known for their music. Acts from Liverpool have had 54 UK chart number 1 hit singles, more per capita than any other city worldwide. Glasgow's contribution to music was recognised in 2008 when it was named a UNESCO City of Music. Manchester played a role in the spread of dance music such as acid house, and from the mid-1990s, Britpop. London and Bristol are closely associated with the origins of electronic music sub-genres such as drum and bass and trip hop.

UK dance music traces its roots back to the Black British Sound System Culture and the New Age Traveller movement of the 60s and 70s, it also has influences from New Wave and Synth-pop such as from bands New Order and Depeche Mode and also has influences from the Chicago House and Detroit Techno scenes. In the late 80's, dance music exploded with Rave culture mainly Acid House tracks which were made mainstream with novelty records (such as Smart E's Sesame's Treet and the Prodigy's Charly) and the Balearic sound brought back from the Ibiza club scene. This led on to genres such as UK Garage, Speed Garage, Drum and bass, Jungle, Trance and Dubstep. Influential UK dance acts past and present include 808 State, Orbital, the Prodigy, Underworld, Roni Size, Leftfield, Massive Attack, Groove Armada, Fatboy Slim, Faithless, Basement Jaxx, Chemical Brothers, Sub Focus, Chase & Status, Disclosure, Calvin Harris and Fred Again. Other influential UK DJs include Judge Jules, Pete Tong, Carl Cox, Paul Oakenfold, John Digweed and Sasha.