The Maple Leaf Rag is an early ragtime musical originally composed for piano by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, and became the model for ragtime compositions by subsequent composers. It is one of the most famous of all ragtime pieces. As a result Joplin was called the "King of Ragtime" and the work gave Joplin a steady, if unspectacular, income for the rest of his life.