This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1950.
These singles reached the top of Billboard magazine's charts in 1950.
| First week | Number of weeks | Title | Artist | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 7, 1950 | 1 | "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" | Gene Autry, 7,000,000 sold by 1969[7] | |
| January 14, 1950 | 4 | "I Can Dream, Can't I?" | The Andrews Sisters | |
| February 11, 1950 | 1 | "Rag Mop" | The Ames Brothers | |
| February 18, 1950 | 4 | "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy" | Red Foley | |
| March 18, 1950 | 4 | "Music! Music! Music!" | Teresa Brewer | |
| April 15, 1950 | 2 | "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake" | Eileen Barton | |
| April 29, 1950 | 11 | "The Third Man Theme" | Anton Karas, 4,000,000 sold | |
| July 15, 1950 | 5 | "Mona Lisa" | Nat King Cole | |
| August 19, 1950 | 13 | "Goodnight, Irene" | Gordon Jenkins & The Weavers, 2,000,000 sold | |
| November 18, 1950 | 2 | "Harbor Lights" | Sammy Kaye | |
| December 2, 1950 | 4 | "The Thing" | Phil Harris | |
| December 30, 1950 | 9 | "The Tennessee Waltz" | Patti Page |
The following songs achieved the highest chart positionsin the limited set of charts available for 1950.
| Artist | Title | Year | Country | Chart entries | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1950 | US | US 1940s 1 – Jun 1950, US 1 for 5 weeks Jul 1950, Oscar in 1950, US BB 2 of 1950, POP 2 of 1950, DDD 4 of 1950, Italy 48 of 1951, RIAA 109, Acclaimed 1292 | |||
| 2 | 1950 | US | US 1940s 1 – Nov 1950, US 1 for 9 weeks Dec 1950, US BB 4 of 1950, 6,000,000 sold by 1967 | |||
| 3 | 1950 | US | US 1940s 1 – Nov 1950, US 1 for 4 weeks Dec 1950, Peel list 1 of 1950, US BB 12 of 1950, POP 12 of 1950 | |||
| 4 | 1950 | US | US 1940s 1 – Jan 1950, US 1 for 4 weeks Feb 1950, DDD 17 of 1950, US BB 18 of 1950, POP 25 of 1950 | |||
| 5 | 1950 | US | US 1940s 1 – Feb 1950, US 1 for 4 weeks Mar 1950, US BB 3 of 1950, POP 3 of 1950 |
| Composer | Composition | Date | Location | Performers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950-11-01 | Amsterdam | Concertgebouw Orchestra – Monteux[8] | ||
| Le Soleil des eaux (2nd version, subsequently withdrawn) | 1950-07-18 | Paris | Joachim, Mollet, Peyron / RTF National Orchestra – Désormière | |
| Piano Sonata No. 2 (1948) | 1950-04-29 | Paris | Grimaud[9] | |
| Five Flower Songs | 1950-07-23 | Darlington Hall, England | Imogen Holst conducting a student choir | |
| String Quartet in Four Parts | 1950-08-12 | Black Mountain, North Carolina | Summer Session Quartet[10] | |
| Song of Anguish | 1950-03-10 | Boston | Boston Symphony – Foss[11] | |
| 1950-05-14 | Madrid | National Chamber Music Association[12] | ||
| 1950-09-10 | Donaueschingen Festival, Germany | SWF Symphony – Rosbaud[13] | ||
| Hymnus Paradisi (1938) | 1950-09-07 | Gloucester, UK (Three Choirs Festival) | Baillie, William Herbert / London Symphony – Howells[14] [15] | |
| 1950-01-24 | Paris | Rampla / [unknown orchestra and conductor] | ||
| Triumphal Poem | 1950-12-09 | Moscow | USSR Radio Symphony – Gauk[16] | |
| 1950-12-29 | New York City | Louisville Orchestra – Whitney[17] [18] | ||
| 1950-05-19 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Liepmann, Finckel, Tucker[19] | ||
| Sinfonietta La Jolla | 1950-08-13 | San Diego, California | Orchestra of the Musical Arts Society of La Jolla – Sokoloff[20] | |
| Variazioni canoniche sulla serie dell'op. 41 di Schoenberg | 1950-08-27 | Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Germany | Darmstadt Landestheater Orchestra – Scherchen[21] | |
| Cello Sonata (1949) | 1950-03-01 | Moscow | Rostropovich, Richter[22] | |
| Poem for 22 Strings | 1950-08-27 | Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Germany | Darmstadt Landestheater Orchestra – Scherchen[23] | |
| Strauss, Richard (d. 1949) | Four Last Songs (1948) | 1950-05-22 | Royal Albert Hall, London | Flagstad / Philharmonia Orchestra – Furtwängler[24] |
| Montanhas de Brasil (Symphony No. 6) (1944) | 1950-04-29 | Rio de Janeiro | Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre Symphony – Villa-Lobos [25] | |
| Piano Concerto No. 2 (1948) | 1950-04-21 | Rio de Janeiro | / Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre Symphony – Villa-Lobos[26] | |
See main article: 1950 in jazz.