The Dominican Republic is known primarily for merengue, though bachata and other forms are also popular. Dominican music has always been closely intertwined with that of its neighbor, Haiti

More modern merengue incorporate electric instruments and influences from salsa, rock and roll and hip hop. Choruses are usually in groups of three and are often used in a call and response pattern. Live, wild dancing has long been commonplace, and is a staple of many of the genre's biggest stars. Lyrically, irony and oblique references to issues of sexuality and politics.

The origins of merengue are disputed. It may be related to Haitian méringue (mereng), which is very similar except in its guitar-based sound, while merengue is dominated by the accordion. Another cousin could be UPA, a Cuban form that includes a section called a merengue and arrived in Santo Domingo in the mid-1800s, imported from Puerto Rico. European contradanza was another major influence. Other scholars have claimed that merengue is a distinctively Dominican form, developed after the Dominican victory at Talanquera by soldier named Tomas Torres who deserted, falsely predicting a loss, and that it is a fusion of Spanish decima with African plena music. A final seminal influence was contact with a major trading partner, Germany, through which the accordion was introduced to Dominican society. At the time of its development, merengue was attacked by newspapers and the upper-class, who preferred an older form of dance music called tumba. It was called vulgar and obscene, as have many forms of folk music.

Merengue continued to be limited in popularity to the lower-classes, especially in the Cibao area, in the early 20th century. Artists like Juan F. García, Juan Espínola and Julio Alberto Hernandez tried to move merengue into the mainstream, but failed, largely due to risque lyrics. Some success occurred after the original form (then called merengue típico cibaeño) was slowed down to accommodate American soldiers (who occupied the country from 1916-1924) and couldn't dance the difficult steps of the merengue; this mid-tempo version was called pambiche. Major mainstream acceptance started with the rise of Rafael Trujillo in the early 1930s.

Rafael Trujillo, who seized the presidency of the Dominican Republic in 1930, helped merengue to become a national symbol of the island up until his assassination in 1961. Being that he was of humble origins, he had been barred from elite social clubs. He therefore resented these elite sophisticates and began promoting the Cibao-style merengue as the populist symbol. The text of merengue songs covers an array of topics, including politics. This is evidenced by the hundreds of songs that were made, which were focused on political aspects of Trujillo's dictatorship, praising certain guidelines and actions of his party. Trujillo even made it mandatory for urban dance bands to include merengue in their routines. Also, piano and brass instruments were added in large merengue orchestras. On the other hand, merengue that continued to use an accordion became known as perico ripiao (ripped parrot). It was because of all this that merengue became and still is the Dominican Republic’s national music and dance.

In the 1960s, a new group of artists (most famously Johnny Ventura) incorporated American R&B and rock and roll influences, along with Cuban salsa music. The instrumentation changed, with accordion replaced with electric guitars or synthesizers, or occasionally sampled, and the saxophone's role totally redefined. In spite of the changes, merengue remained the most popular form of music in Dominica. Ventura, for example, was so adulated that he became a massively popular and influential politician on his return from a time in the United States, and was seen as a national symbol.

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