In 1912 the first public concerts of ragtime were performed in the United Kingdom by the American Ragtime Octette (ARO) at the Hippodrome, London a group organized by ragtime composer and pianist Lewis F. Shipboard orchestras on transatlantic lines included ragtime music in their repertoire. The growth of dance orchestras in popular entertainment was an outgrowth of ragtime and continued into the 1920s. The new rhythms of ragtime changed the world of dance bands and led to new dance steps, popularized by the show-dancers Vernon and Irene Castle during the 1910s. Europe were among the first to crash the color bar in American music. Polite society embraced ragtime as disseminated by brass bands and 'society' dance bands. Piano 'professors' such as Jelly Roll Morton played ragtime in the 'sporting houses' ( bordellos) of New Orleans. Ragtime became the first African-American music to have an impact on mainstream popular culture. Ragtime quickly established itself as a distinctly American form of popular music. In a 1913 interview published in the black newspaper New York Age, Scott Joplin asserted that there had been 'ragtime music in America ever since the Negro race has been here, but the white people took no notice of it until about twenty years ago. For at least 12 years after its publication, 'Maple Leaf Rag' heavily influenced subsequent ragtime composers with its melody lines, chord progressions or metric patterns. 1868–1917) became famous through the publication of the ' Maple Leaf Rag' (1899) and a string of ragtime hits such as ' The Entertainer' (1902), although he was later forgotten by all but a small, dedicated community of ragtime aficionados until the major ragtime revival in the early 1970s. Ragtime was also a modification of the march style popularized by John Philip Sousa, with additional polyrhythms coming from African music. The composition was a hit and helped popularize the genre to the mainstream. Kentucky native Ben Harney composed the song 'You've Been a Good Old Wagon But You Done Broke Down' a few months later in 1896. It was written by minstrel comedian Ernest Hogan.

The first ragtime composition to be published was ' La Pas Ma La' in 1895. It has origins within African-American communities in cities such as St. The style of music was developed long before it was printed into sheet music. Scott Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions and was dubbed the 'King of Ragtime' by contemporaries.

King of ragtime