* Sabar - drumming style found in Senegal
* Sacred Harp
* Sadcore
* Saibara
* Salegy
* Salsa - fusion of multiple Cuban- and Puerto Rican-derived pop genres from immigrants in New York City
* Salsa erotica - lyrically explicit form of salsa romantica
* Salsa gorda
* Salsa romantica - a soft, romantic form of salsa music
* Saltarello
* Salve
* Samba - form of Brazilian popular music
* Samba-canção - traditional samba in slow tempo and with romantic lyrics. influenced by bolero
* Samba-reggae - a genre of samba with a choppy, reggae-like rhythm.
* Sambai
* Sanjo - Korean instrumental folk music
* Sato kagura
* Sawt - urban music from Kuwait and Bahrain
* Saya - Bolivian music derived from African rhythms

* Schlager
* Schottisch
* Schranz
* Science Future Vision - Post genome code science punk rock originally started in Hull
* Scottish Baroque music
* Scrap (music)
* Screamo
* Scrumpy and Western - folk music from West Country of England
* Sea shanty
* Sean nós - Sean-nós singing style of Ireland
* Second Viennese School
* Sega music
* Seggae
* Seis
* Semba
* Sephardic music
* Serialism
* Set dance
* Sevdalinka - Bosnian urban popular music
* Sevillana
* Shabab
* Shabad
* Shalako - Armenian folk dance
* Shan'ge - Taiwanese Hakka mountain songs
* Shango
* Shape note
* Shibuya-kei
* Shidaiqu - Hong Kong-based form of traditional music updated for pop audiences and sung in Mandarin
* Shima uta - a form of Okinawan dance music
* Shock rock
* Shoegazing
* Shoka - Japanese songs written during the Meiji Restoration to bring Western music to Japanese schools
* Shomyo - Japanese Buddhist chanting
* Showtunes

* Sica
* Siguiriyas
* Silat - Malaysian mixture of music, dance and martial arts
* Sinawi - Korean religious music meant for dancing; it is improvised and reminiscent of jazz
* Singer-songwriter
* Situational
* Ska
* Ska punk
* Skacore (third wave of ska)
* Skald
* Skate punk
* Skiffle
* Skronk - popular music originating in Charleston, South Carolina, USA in the late 1990s having elements of ska, rock, and funk.
* Slack-key guitar (kihoalu) - Hawaiian form invented by retuning open strings on a guitar
* Slängpolska
* Slide
* Slowcore
* Sludge metal
* Smooth jazz

* Soca
* Soft rock
* Son-batá (batá rock)
* Son montuno - Cuban folk music
* Sonata
* Songo - a mixture of changuí and son montuno
* Songo-salsa - a mixture of songo, hip hop and salsa
* Soukous
* Soul blues
* Soul jazz
* Soul music
* Soundtrack
* Southern Gospel
* Southern Harmony
* Southern hip hop
* Southern metal
* Southern rock
* Southern soul
* Space age pop
* Space music
* Space rock
* Spacesynth
* Spectralism
* Speedcore
* Speed garage
* Speed metal
* Spirituals
* Spouge - Barbadian folk music
* Square dance

* St. Louis blues
* Steelband
* Stoner metal
* Stoner rock
* Straight edge
* Strathspeys
* Stride
* String - 1980s Thai pop music
* String quartet
* Suite
* Sunshine pop
* Suomirock
* Super Eurobeat
* Surf ballads
* Surf instrumental
* Surf music
* Surf pop
* Surf rock
* Swamp blues
* Swamp pop
* Swamp rock
* Swingbeat (New Jack Swing, New Jack R&B)
* Swing music

* Sygyt - type of xoomii (Tuvan throat singing), likened to the sound of whistling
* Symphonic black metal
* Symphonic metal
* Symphonic poem
* Symphonic rock
* Symphony
* Symphusion
* Synthpop
* Synthpunk