Favorite Ambient Songs

Placing an emphasis on atmosphere over rhythm, ambient music helps set a tone that invites the listener to engage in a way that's different from all other forms of music. Along with the inclusion of exotic instruments and both natural and synthesized sounds, ambient musical tracks take listeners to a whole new place when they embrace them properly. So, which ambient music tracks do you consider your favorites? Rank yours now and then share your list with your friends to help spread the word!

Filter coming soon.

Real-Time Results(actually, partially randomized placeholder data for now)

  • 1 image/svg+xml
    Erratic Patterns
    Ranked by 3 users
    12 +60
  • 2 image/svg+xml
    Papua New Guinea
    Ranked by 2 users
    11 -81
  • 3 image/svg+xml
    Arabesque
    Ranked by 1 users
    10 -9
  • 4 image/svg+xml
    Lux Aurumque
    Ranked by 1 users
    10 +90
  • 5 image/svg+xml
    Ai no Jikken
    Ranked by 1 users
    9 +6
  • 6 image/svg+xml
    Little Fluffy Clouds
    Ranked by 1 users
    9 -93
  • 7 image/svg+xml
    Blue Room
    Ranked by 2 users
    9 -51
  • 8 image/svg+xml
    Woman's Hand
    Ranked by 1 users
    9 -43
  • 9 image/svg+xml
    Friendship to Last
    Ranked by 1 users
    8 -48
  • 10 image/svg+xml
    Erotic
    Ranked by 1 users
    8 -80
  • 11 image/svg+xml
    On
    Ranked by 1 users
    8 -83
  • 12 image/svg+xml
    Pictures At An Exhibition - The Hut On Fowl's Legs (Baba-Yaga)
    Ranked by 1 users
    8 +72
  • 13 image/svg+xml
    The Mighty Rio Grande
    Ranked by 1 users
    7 +51
  • 14 image/svg+xml
    Gymnopédie No.1
    Ranked by 1 users
    7 -42
  • 15 image/svg+xml
    Betrayal
    Ranked by 4 users
    7 -82
  • 16 image/svg+xml
    Hikōsen
    Ranked by 1 users
    7 -92
  • 17 image/svg+xml
    Photosynthesis
    Ranked by 2 users
    7 +93
  • 18 image/svg+xml
    The Death of Music
    Ranked by 1 users
    7 +18
  • 19 image/svg+xml
    Memories of Green
    Ranked by 2 users
    7 -77
  • 20 image/svg+xml
    Up Up Up!
    Ranked by 1 users
    7 -79

Conversations

  • 7 years ago
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    Gee this list sure took off.
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  • 9 years ago
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    Betrayal, best ambient song, yes :3
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  • 9 years ago
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    Can Post-Rock like Mogwai or God is an Astronaut be considered ambient?
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    • Gries He
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      Gries He
      Editing … Thanks for reminding me that I wanted to buy a Mogwai CD for a while now. Which album is Glasgow-Snake from? edit: "Mr. Beast" according to Wikipedia. I loved that song in Tony Hawk's Underground 1. Anyway, you should ask @Chemical Reaction about this, she knows her shit.
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    • MasterCrash
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      MasterCrash
      Editing … 2 months later, I still dunno :I
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  • 9 years ago
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    An attempt at documenting the genre's presence in video games from 1980 to now (please be excited):
    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLznWdSFQxsPuPAmA7XO_RC1hv7cleCPsC
    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLznWdSFQxsPt0GvZPwe65cmdAOGxaNuBf
    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLznWdSFQxsPtqTocLEqAUqMsOC9y-CbSR
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  • 9 years ago
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    I can't see this becoming a particularly popular list.
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    • chemical
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      chemical
      Editing … The only reason it won't be popular is because it seems that a lot of this site doesn't like electronic music. This site seems to be very rock and metal heavy.
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    • Sudertum
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      Sudertum
      Editing … I like electronic music but i can barely remember anything related to music, names just get lost.
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    • chemical
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      chemical
      Editing … Something that helps you remember names is to become invested in some of the artists. If you become a fan of them, you'll more than likely listen to their stuff over and over and you'll become used to how it sounds and be like "OH, THAT'S <INSERT SONG HERE> FROM <INSERT ARTIST HERE>!!!"
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    • WoodrowShigeru
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      WoodrowShigeru
      Editing … I can't see this becoming a popular list because right now it's such a hassle to tag all those songs appropriately. That's why!
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  • 9 years ago
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    Did this win a poll? Only two people have ranked anything yet >.>
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    • Rich .
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      Rich .
      Editing … It's weird, baseball won a poll but took a week for the number of people that made a list to hit double figures. This'll probably be worse, ambient only won because the poll had bad options that week, there were only music genres to choose from and even then I can think of better genres that weren't options.
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    • IceTheRetroKid
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      IceTheRetroKid
      Editing … It did win a poll, yes.
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  • 9 years ago
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    Ambient House and Ambient Pop shouldn't be listed. They are house/pop sub-genres.
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    • Papissama
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      Papissama
      Editing … Ambient Dub is fine?
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    • Magwaza
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      Magwaza
      Editing … It's definitely more ambient than dub. Dark Ambient, Tribal Ambient and Ritual Ambient should also be included. Psybient probably too.
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    • Papissama
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      Papissama
      Editing … Done!
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    • chemical
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      chemical
      Editing … Um, actually, you're wrong, Magwaza. Ambient house is actually ambient. Ambient pop, however, is not. Ambient House was pioneered by Brian Eno and if you know your ambient history, he is pretty much one of the main people who got the genre on the map back in the day. Ambient house is actual ambient.
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    • chemical
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      chemical
      Editing … Also, can these genres be added: Drone, Illbient, Ethereal Wave, Ambient Techno, Trip Hop, Minimalism, and New Age? There's also 3 genres that really need adding to the site as a whole and to this inclusion: Ambient Breaks, Ambient Trance and Ambient Psy. Pweeze and thank you? <3
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    • chemical
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      chemical
      Editing … Also, Ambient House needs added back. :(
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    • IceTheRetroKid
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      IceTheRetroKid
      Editing … Look if it has the word Ambient in the genre, just leave it!!!
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    • Magwaza
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      Magwaza
      Editing … Yep, Ambient House was my mistake, but I don't agree with everything you wrote. Minimalism doesn't have to be ambient, it's its own thing. Trip hop songs can be very ambient-heavy, but that's not enough too add the whole genre (same reason as Ambient pop). You might as well add post-rock because of bands like Sigur Rós https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xow2gnVTUjs. There has to be a line drawn somewhere. Most of these genres should have their own lists.
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    • chemical
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      chemical
      Editing … Trip hop has its roots in the ambient genre pretty firmly. Sure, it has some breakbeat nuances, but a lot of its influence is ambient in nature. The wikipedia article on the genre cites several ambient sub-genres as being its influence. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trip_hop ). As far as minimalism goes, you can look up a man named Steve Reich and a lot of his music will describe very accurately what "minimalism" is.
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    • Gries He
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      Gries He
      Editing … +1000 for including Trip Hop !! @Pape Badiane ... Also, wow @@Chemical Reaction I'm impressed how much you know about electronic music!
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  • 9 years ago
    Saved!
    I have a question about ambient music. On wikipedia, it says: "Ambient music includes forms of music that put an emphasis on tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. Ambient music is said to evoke an 'atmospheric', 'visual'[2] or 'unobtrusive' quality." I don't listen to this genre /terribly/ often, but when I think of ambient music, I tend to think of stuff that is mellow and relaxing (unobtrusive). Does that mean that stuff like some of the songs on the Catherine soundtrack wouldn't count as ambient, because while the tracks I have in mind are evocative and create atmosphere, they're generally evocative of terror, fear, or tension?
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    • chemical
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      chemical
      Editing … Actually, Catherine stuff would most definitely fit the ambient genre. Dark ambient is known for its scary, creepy, and terror invoking properties and yet it's still ambient! So, yes, you are right.
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    • Filly Vanilli
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      Filly Vanilli
      Editing … Thanks, wasn't sure since I always thought of ambient music as being mellow. On that note, I'm about to be "that person" who fills up a music list almost completely with video game music because I don't listen to ambient music outside of vg soundtracks :I
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    • chemical
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      chemical
      Editing … Yeah, I was worried about that when the list won. I was worried that people would just list a metric fuckton of video game stuff, and well, like clockwork, it's happening. XD It's okay, though. I don't mind. :)
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  • 9 years ago
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    New list out!
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    • Sudertum
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      Sudertum
      Editing … Nice, but expected myself a new year n movie list to appear, after the songs and album lists of 2007...
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    • Papissama
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      Papissama
      Editing … It's the next one ;)
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