8 Oldest Songs in the World - Oldest.org (2023)

FAQs

What is the oldest song ever made? ›

The Hurrian Hymn was discovered in the 1950s on a clay tablet inscribed with Cuneiform text. It's the oldest surviving melody and is over 3,400 years old.

In the academic world, the song "Gaudeamus Igitur" has been known and sung since at least 1287. The currently used melody is only tracked back to the 1780's, but it is mentioned to be an old melody even in that source.

First American Song - My Days Have So Wondrous Free (1759) What is believed to the first original American song was written by a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The composer was Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791). He was a lawyer and also an amateur composer.

"Sumer is icumen in" is the incipit of a medieval English round or rota of the mid-13th century; it is also known variously as the Summer Canon and the Cuckoo Song.

Making music is a universal human trait that goes back to at least 35,000 years ago. Explore the evidence for some of the world's earliest musical instruments.

An anonymous vocalist sings "Au Claire De La Lune" to Parisian inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville, who makes the first known and oldest surviving recording of the human voice.

Scholars credit the world's oldest Christmas hymn-song to the 4th century in France and written by St. Hilary of Poitier (c310-367). The carol was “Jesus Refulsit Omnium” (“Jesus, Light of All the Nations” aka “Jesus Illuminates all”).

The oldest musical instrument in the world, a 60,000-year-old Neanderthal flute is a treasure of global significance. It was discovered in Divje babe cave near Cerkno and has been declared by experts to have been made by Neanderthals. It is made from the left thighbone of a young cave bear and has four pierced holes.

Early Christian hymns are known as canticles and are often based on Biblical passages other than the psalms; they are still used in Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist liturgy, examples are Te Deum and Benedicite.

What is the world's oldest sheet music? ›

The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest surviving complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the world. The epitaph has been variously dated, but seems to be either from the 1st or the 2nd century CE.

In the United States, minstrel shows performed the compositions of songwriters such as Stephen Foster. In the 1890s Tin Pan Alley emerged as the first popular song-publishing industry, and over the next half century its lyricism was combined with European operetta in a new kind of play known as the musical.

Example made his first chart appearance in September 2009, when he released "Watch the Sun Come Up" as the lead single from his second album Won't Go Quietly through Data Records. The single debuted at number 20 on the UK Singles Chart, rising to number 19 the following week.

Jericho, Palestine

A small city with a population of 20,000 people, Jericho, which is located in Palestine, is believed to be the oldest city in the world.

Sumerian can be considered the first language in the world, according to Mondly. The oldest proof of written Sumerian was found on the Kish tablet in today's Iraq, dating back to approximately 3500 BC.

All existing archaeological evidence and studies from around the world support the conclusion that Egypt's ancient civilisation appeared far earlier than that of China's, despite the shared similarities.

"Blinding Lights" by the Weeknd (pictured) is the most-streamed song of all time on Spotify, with over 3.4 billion streams as of March 2023.

What is the rarest voice type? ›

Contraltos are arguably the rarest of female voice types and they possess a tone so dark they often give the men a run for their money. If mezzos are like clarinets, contraltos are more like bass clarinets.

The ability to sing isn't necessarily something you're born with. You can be born with the right genetics and physiological features that put you at a better vocal disposition to become a singer, but that doesn't mean singing is innate. You have to learn how to use this vocal apparatus to be able to sing.

2010–2014: Formation and early years

Years & Years' first single, "I Wish I Knew" was released in July 2012 on the Good Bait label, with the band performing as a five-piece. Leeman and Subria left the band the following year, leaving them as a trio.

The oldest recorded human voice is a ten-second fragment of the French folk song 'Au Clair de la Lune'. It was recorded on 9 April 1860 by inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville (France).

George Washington Johnson (c. October 1846 – January 23, 1914) was an American singer and pioneer sound recording artist. Johnson was the first African American recording star of the phonograph. His most popular songs were "The Whistling Coon" and "The Laughing Song".

The first Christmas song to mention Santa Claus was Benjamin Hanby's “Up on The Housetop.” Written in 1864, Hanby was inspired by Clement Moore's 1823 poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas.”

The history of the Christmas number one - now one of the great festive traditions - begins with Al Martino and his ballad Here In My Heart. This topped the charts in 1952 and was not only the first Christmas number one, but also the first ever UK number one.

It's generally accepted that one of the first Christmas carols ever to be recorded was the 129 AD 'Angels Hymn', according to The New Daily.

Flute fragments found earlier at the nearby site of Geissenklösterle have been dated to around 35,000 years ago. The newfound flutes, though, "date to the very period of settlement in the region by modern humans ... about 40,000 years ago," Conard said.

Did cavemen have music? ›

The cave paintings were part of a ritual system — like early religious beliefs — practiced by Paleolithic humans that likely also included singing and music, Reznikoff said. He noted that bone whistles and flutes have been found inside many of the caves.

The song of Moses and Miriam

The first song in the Bible happens after one of its greatest miracles. God parts the Red Sea, allowing the children of Israel to cross on dry ground, escaping Pharaoh's army.

"Song of Moses".

In the Bible the origin of music is ascribed to Ju- bal 'the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe' (Gn 4:21). From archaeology we know that music is very old. Music was already relatively developed as early as the third millennium Be.

Sometime in 1889, Emile Berliner recorded the first album in the history of the world. Then, that record by the father of the gramophone was destroyed. Today, Patrick Feaster, a sound historian at Indiana University, recreated the album using just a printed photograph of the album.

The earliest music definitely written and published specifically for the piano were twelve Sonate da cimbalo di piano e forte detto volgarmente di martelletti (Florence, 1732) by Lodovico Giustini (1685–1743), dedicated to Don Antonio of Portugal, uncle of Maria Barbara and another student of Scarlatti.

The Sugar Hill Gang's 12-inch single "Rapper's Delight" - released in 1979 - became the first rap song to be played on the radio.

"Maybe Memories" was the first song The Used ever wrote as a band. Before lead singer Bert McCracken joined the band, The Used held auditions for a singer at bassist Jeph Howard's house. The group called the auditions "terrible" until guitarist Quinn Allman asked his friend Bert McCracken if he wanted to audition.

Who is the oldest person alive? ›

The oldest known living person is Maria Branyas of Spain, aged 116 years, 10 days. The oldest known living man is Juan Vicente Pérez of Venezuela, aged 113 years, 291 days. The 100 oldest women have, on average, lived several years longer than the 100 oldest men.

One of the first rappers at the beginning of the hip hop period, at the end of the 1970s, was also hip hop's first DJ, DJ Kool Herc. Herc, a Jamaican immigrant, started delivering simple raps at his parties, which some claim were inspired by the Jamaican tradition of toasting.

Sharon Green (born 1962), considered the "first female rapper" or emcee, known by the rap moniker MC Sha-Rock. Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, she grew up in the South Bronx, New York City during the earliest years of hip hop culture.

Rap began in 1971, in the Bronx, with Kool Herc, who was from Jamaica. At block parties, Kool Herc would play two turntables by hand and manipulate the sound to create an entirely new sound, while he rapped the lyrics from the song he was playing.

Al Martino – Here In My Heart (1952) – was also the first ever Number 1 single!

The most widely held belief is that the first rock'n'roll single was 1951's Rocket 88, written by Ike Turner, sung by Jackie Brenston (the saxophone player from Turner's backing band The Kings of Rhythm), and recorded by Sam Phillips, who later went on to found Sun records and discover Elvis Presley.

The short answer is: No one knows who invented music. No historical evidence exists to tell us exactly who sang the first song, or whistled the first tune, or made the first rhythmic sounds that resembled what we know today as music. But researchers do know it happened thousands of years ago.

In fact, America's oldest continuously active professional music organization predates Washington, D.C. The U.S. Marine Band was founded by an act of Congress — signed by then-President John Adams — in 1798, two years before Washington, D.C., became the nation's capital.

Who lived more than 300 years? ›

According to one tradition, Epimenides of Crete (7th, 6th centuries BC) lived nearly 300 years.

A picture taken on February 12, 2023 shows Bobi, a 30 year-old Portuguese dog that has been declared the world's oldest dog by Guinness World Records, at his home in the village of Conqueiros near Leiria.