Your local music store is a great resource for finding different artists and genres from past and present.

(Billboard Book of Top 40) by Joel Whitburn

Back in the days of Louis Jordan and Bullmoose Jackson and His Buffalo Bearcats, swing, and World War II, Billboard magazine started keeping tabs on the best-sellers in record stores in New York City's Harlem. That Harlem Hit Parade chart of 1942, the starting point of this book, was Billboard's first accounting of the growing interested in the music that would come to be known as R&B. Today, more than sixty years later, Billboard is proud to present the first edition of The Billboard book of Top 40 R&B and Hip-Hop Hits, packed with complete, authoritative chart information on the most popular songs and artists, including everyone from the Nat King Cole Trio to Ray Charles to Mary J. Blige to Jay-Z. Great for music fans, record collectors, industry professionals, and trivia lovers, this book will answer questions, resolve arguments, and inspire new ideas.

Bull Moose is a cool independently owned record store, so there aren't that many across the country.  But they are the place to go for indie music and all their merchandise can be bought online. To find out if there is a location near you, visit http://www.bullmoose.com.

Found all over the country, Newbury Comics was the first underground music store to become popular.  They have the greatest stuff there from hot new releases to indie artists you never knew about.  Find locations at http://www.newburycomics.com/.