The music of Latin America refers to music originating from Latin America, namely the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking regions of the Americas south of the United States. Latin American music also incorporates its African influences into the music of Latin America, while maintaining the identity of indigenous music of Latin America. Due to its highly syncretic nature, Latin American music encompasses a wide variety of styles, including influential genres such as cumbia, bachata, bossa nova, merengue, rumba, salsa, samba, son, candombe and tango. During the 20th century, many styles were influenced by the music of the United States giving rise to genres such as Latin pop, rock, jazz, hip hop, and reggaeton.

Geographically, it usually refers to the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking regions of Latin America, but sometimes includes Francophone countries and territories of the Caribbean and South America as well. It also encompasses Latin American styles that have originated in the United States such as, New Mexico music, Tejano, various forms of country-Western, as well as Chicano rock, Nuyorican rap, and Chicano rap. The origins of Latin American music can be traced back to West Africa, Central Africa, Indigenous, and the Spanish and Portuguese conquest of the Americas in the 16th century, when the European settlers brought their music from overseas. Latin American music is performed in Spanish and Portuguese.

While the exact origins of tango remain uncertain, Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges believed the genre to have originated in the brothels of 19th century Buenos Aires or Montevideo. Editors of World Music: The Rough Guide (2000) called Borges' statement "a little presumptive" and pinpoint the early developments of tango to the bars frequented by porteños. Emerging from a melting pot of European immigrants, criollos, blacks, and indigenous peoples, the genre is believed to have been influenced by Andalusian flamenco, Spanish contradanse, Italian folk music, Cuban habanera, African candombe and percussion, German polkas, Polish mazurkas, and Argentine milonga. In its early history, tango music was associated with brawls at brothels and knife-wielding womanizing men, known locally as malevos or compadritos. By 1914, men outnumbered women in Argentina by 100,000, leading to an increased rate of prostitution and the brothel lifestyle that came with it. Men would often dance at cafes and bars and try to outdo one another with improvised dance steps in an attempt to attract a woman.

Their dances were characterized by "showy yet threatening, predatory quality, often revolving around a possessive relationship between two men and one woman". In its original form, tango music included the violin, guitar, and flute. By the late 19th century, the bandoneon had been introduced into the genre. The instrument, first developed in Germany for playing folk and religious music in churches that lacked organs, is believed to have been brought to the region by immigrants and sailors. One of its early pioneers, Eduardo Arolas, was nicknamed the "Tiger of the Bandoneón". Arolas believed the instrument was made to play in tango. Vicente Greco is credited with standardizing tango with his group, Orquesta Típica Criolla, by using two violins and two bandoneons. The instrumentation of tango remained largely unchanged until the 1940s. Tango music began playing in populated areas such as fairgrounds and streets in Buenos Aires. It contained lyrics that were "sometimes obscene and deeply fatalistic". Similar to families in the United States during the rise of rock and roll, families in the area tried to shield their children from tango. Upper-classmen began taking an interest in tango: writer Ricardo Güiraldes performed tango during a tour of Europe in 1910 and has been credited with introducing tango in Europe. Güiraldes' introduction made tango the first Latin dance to gain popularity in Europe. Actor Rudolph Valentino performed the tango in his film The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (1926), with Hollywood taking advantage of "[Valentino's] charisma, the magnetism of tango, and the attraction they both had on a huge public".

Other styles of music in Argentina include the chacarera, milonga, zamba and chamamé. Modern rhythms include cuarteto (music from the Cordoba Province) and electrotango. Argentine rock (known locally as rock nacional) was most popular during the 1980s, and remains one of Argentina's most popular music genres. Rock en español was first popular in Argentina, then swept through other Hispanic American countries and Spain. The movement was known as the "Argentine Wave".

Bolivian music is perhaps the most strongly linked to its native population among the national styles of South America. After the nationalistic period of the 1950s Aymara and Quechuan culture became more widely accepted, and their folk music evolved into a more pop-like sound. Los Kjarkas played a pivotal role in this fusion. Other forms of native music (such as huayños and caporales) are also widely played. Cumbia is another popular genre. There are also lesser-known regional forms, such as the music from Santa Cruz and Tarija (where styles such as Cueca and Chacarera are popular).

Brazil is a large, diverse country with a long history of popular-musical development, ranging from the early-20th-century innovation of samba to the modern Música popular brasileira. Bossa nova is internationally well-known, and Forró (pronounced [foˈʁɔ]) is also widely known and popular in Brazil. Lambada is influenced by rhythms like cumbia and merengue. Funk carioca (also known as Brazilian funk) is also a highly popular style, including tamborzão rhythms.

Many musical genres are native to Chile; one of the most popular was the Chilean Romantic Cumbia, exemplified by artists such as Americo and Leo Rey. The Nueva Canción originated in the 1960s and 1970s and spread in popularity until the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, when most musicians were arrested, killed or exiled.