140 songs and pieces of music every child should recognise

We have compiled a list of 140 songs and pieces of music that we believe children should recognise by the time they leave primary school.  The music ranges from classical to jazz and blues to modern pop and dance music and hopefully everything in between.  The music has been chosen to ensure that children recognise a range of musical styles and genres as well as recognising some of the significant cultural aspects of music.  For example ‘Strange Fruit’ by Billie Holliday may not be the most lovely piece of music but it is highly significant in its cultural references and description of the oppression of Black people in the South of America in the 1960s (not suggested listening for younger children).  Contrast this with Gnarles Berkley ft Ceelo Green and ‘Crazy’ which was the first song to reach number 1 in the charts through downloads alone or with ‘Stayin’ Alive’ by the BeeGees which defined the disco era or ‘Skyfall’ by Adele, the first Bond song to win an Oscar.  Placing these songs alongside classical music like Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ or ‘Toccata and Fugue in D Minor’ by J.S. Bach or ‘The dance of the knights’ by Prokofiev (the theme tune to ‘The Apprentice’) which children will probably recognise but not know who wrote them or the time period that they are were written in.

 

Our aim is that by the end of primary school children have experienced a rich range of music and understand how music has progressed over centuries. In this way we hope that they will build an appreciation of music and a love of an eclectic mix of sounds and melodies.

 

Clicking on the hyperlinks will take you to YouTube and a version of the song or piece of music.  How many do you think you know?  How many can your child recognise?

Title	Artist	Date	Genre	Subgenre	Year Group
Symphony number 5 in C Minor	Beethoven	1808	Classical	Classical	1
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik	Mozart	1827	Classical	Classical	1
The ride of the Valkyerie	Wagner	1914	Classical	20th Century	1
One more time	Daft Punk	1998	Dance		1
Le Freak	Chic	1978	Disco		1
The toreadore’s song	Bizet	1875	Opera		1
Suspicious Minds	Elvis Presley	1969	Pop		1
All I want for Christmas is you	Mariah Carey	1994	Pop		1
Good Vibrations	The Beach Boys	1966	Pop		1
Satisfaction	The rolling stones	1965	Rock		1
Good Golly Miss Molly	Little Richard	1958	Rock and Roll		1
Hedwig’s theme	John Williams	2001	Film/TV		1
God Save the King	Henry Carey	1825	Traditional		1
Baby	Justin Bieber	2010	Pop		1
I love rock and roll	Joan Jett and the Blackhearts	1982	Rock		1
I was made for lovin’ you	Kiss	1979	Rock	Disco	1
Unchained Melody	The righteous brothers	1965	Pop		1
Evergreen	Will Young	2002	Pop		1
What a wonderful world	Louis Armstrong	1967	Blues		2
Nocturne No. 2 in E Flat	Chopin	1830	Classical	Romantic	2
The Flower Duet	Delibes	1883	Classical	Romantic	2
The Blue Danube	Johann Strauss	1867	Classical	Romantic	2
Swan Lake	Tchaikovsky	1877	Classical	Romantic	2
Crazy	Patsy Cline	1961	Country		2
Stayin’ Alive	Bee Gees	1978	Disco		2
Like a rolling stone	Bob Dylan	1965	Folk		2
L’amour est un oisseau rebelle	Bizet	1875	Opera		2
Your song	Elton John	1970	Pop		2
All Shook Up	Elvis Presley	1957	Pop		2
Chasing Cars	Snow Patrol	2006	Pop		2
I will always love you	Whitney Houston	1992	Pop		2
Sweet Child of Mine	Guns and Roses	1988	Rock		2
Bohemian Rhapsody	Queen	1975	Rock		2
Respect	Aretha Franklin	1967	Soul		2
Star Wars theme	John Williams	1977	Film/TV		2
Gangnam Style	Psy	2012	Pop	Kpop	2
Love is all around	Wet Wet Wet	1994	Pop	Soundtrack	2
Piano man	Billy Joel	1973	Pop		2
In the Hall of the Mountain King	Grieg	1875	Classical	Romantic	3
Piano sonata No. 11	Mozart	1784	Classical	Classical	3
The Hallelujah Chorus	Handel	1741	Classical	Baroque	3
Air on a G String	JS Bach	1871	Classical	Romantic	3
9 to 5	Dolly Parton	1980	Country		3
I will Survive	Gloria Gaynor	1978	Disco		3
Feeling good	Nina Simone	1964	Jazz		3
Nessun Dorma	Puccini	1926	Opera		3
Skyfall	Adele	2012	Pop		3
Do they know it’s Christmas?	Band Aid	1984	Pop		3
Imagine	John Lennon	1971	Pop		3
Sweet Caroline	Neil Diamond	1969	Pop		3
Wannabe	The spice girls	1996	Pop		3
Single Ladies (put a ring on it)	Beyonce	2008	RnB		3
It’s a man’s, man’s, man’s world	James Brown	1966	Soul		3
My Way	Frank Sinatra	1969	Swing		3
Yesterday	The Beatles	1965	Rock		3
Everything I do (I do it for you)	Bryan Adams	1998	Pop	Soundtrack	3
String quartet No.1 in D Major	Tchaikovsky	1871	Classical	Romantic	3
Light my Fire	The Doors	1967	Rock	Psycedelic Rock	3
Revolting Children	Tim Minchin	2011	Musical Theatre		3
Mr. Blue Sky	Electric Light Orchestra	1977	Rock	Progressive rock	3
Wonderwall	Oasis	1995	Pop		4
The Marriage of Figaro (overture)	Mozart	1786	Classical	Classical	4
The Four Seasons	Vivaldi	1725	Classical	Baroque	4
Cannon in D	Pachabel	Unknown between 1680-1706	Classical	Baroque	4
Jolene	Dolly Parton	1974	Country		4
Superstition	Stevie Wonder	1972	Funk		4
Ain’t got No/I got life	Nina Simone	1968	Jazz		4
One Day More	Les Miserables	1980	Musical Theatre		4
Heroes	David Bowie	1977	Pop		4
American Pie	Don Mclean	1971	Pop		4
Candle in the Wind 1997	Elton John	1997	Pop		4
Running up that hill (deal with God)	Kate Bush	1985	Pop		4
Billie Jean	Michael Jackson	1983	Pop		4
Purple Rain	Prince	1984	Pop		4
Let it Be	The Beatles	1970	Pop		4
Video Killed the radio star	The Buggles	1979	Pop		4
Baby on more time	Britney Spears	1999	Pop		4
Gansta’s paradise	Coolio	1995	Rap		4
Three Little Birds	Bob Marley	1980	Reggae		4
A Change is gonna come	Sam Cooke	1963	Soul		4
Miserere	Gregorio Allegri	1514	Classical	Renaissance	4
A million love songs	Take That	1992	Pop	Boy bands	4
My Generation	The Who	1965	Rock		4
Smooth	Santana & Rob Thomas	1999	Rock	Latin Rock	4
Whiter shade of Pale	Procol Harum	1967	Rock		4
Rhapsody in Blue	George Gershwin	1924	Classical	20th Century	5
Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini	Rhachmaninoff	1934	Classical	20th Century	5
1812 overture	Tchaikovsky	1880	Classical	Romantic	5
Danse Macbre	Saint-Sens	1538	Classical	Renaissance	5
Bolero	Ravel	1928	Classical	20th Century	5
Folsom Prison Blues	Johnny Cash	1955	Country		5
Children	Robert Miles	1995	Dance		5
Blowin’ in the wind	Bob Dylan	1962	Folk		5
Bui Doi	Miss Saigon	1989	Musical Theatre		5
Starman	David Bowie	1972	Pop		5
Like a Prayer	Madonna	1989	Pop		5
Hotel California	The Eagles	1976	Rock		5
Back to Black	Amy Whinehouse	2007	R&B		5
Redemption Song	Bob Marley	1980	Reggae		5
Purple Haze	Jimi Hendrix	1967	Rock		5
Amazing Grace	John Newton	1779	Traditional		5
Pray	Take That	1993	Pop	Boy bands	5
Where is the love?	The Black-eyed peas	2003	RnB		5
Fortunate son	Creedence Clearwater Revival	1969	Rock		5
We found love	Rhianna & Calvin Harris	2011	Pop		5
Strange Fruit	Billie Holliday	1965	Blues		6
The dance of the Knights (Romeo and Juliet	Prokofiev	1935	Classical	20th Century	6
O Fortuna	Orff	1935	Classical	20th Century	6
The Gambler	Kenny Rogers	1978	Country		6
Sweet Home Alabama	Lynyrd Skynyrd	1974	Country		6
Doo Wop (That thing)	Lauren Hill	1998	Doo Wop		6
Hallelujah	Jeff Buckley	1984	Folk		6
I put a spell on you	Nina Simone	1956	Jazz		6
Guns and Ships	Hamilton	2015	Musical Theatre		6
Sapce Oddity	David Bowie	1969	Pop		6
In the Ghetto	Elvis Presley	1969	Pop		6
Get Back	The Beatles	1969	Pop		6
Lose Yourself	Eminem	2002	Rap		6
Rapper’s Delight	Sugarhill Gang	1979	Rap		6
Smells like teen spirit	Nirvana	1991	Rock		6
Jerusalem	William Blake	1916	Traditional		6
Crazy	Gnarles Barkley ft. Ceelo Green	2006	Pop		6
Mack the knife	Bobby Darrin	1959	Swing		6
As it was	Harry Styles	2022	Pop		6
Moonlight Sonata	Beethoven	1801	Classical	Classical	R
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor	J.S. Bach	1703	Classical	Baroque	R
The Dance of the Sugar Plum fairy	Tchaikovsky	1882	Classical	Romantic	R
Flight of the Bumblebee	Korsikov	1899	Classical	Romantic	R
Apprentice Sorcerer (The sorcerer’s apprentice)	Dukas	1897	Classical	Romantic	R
Titanium	David Guetta	2011	Dance		R
Memory	Cats	1982	Musical Theatre		R
Waterloo	ABBA	1974	Pop		R
Can’t help falling in love	Elvis Presley	1961	Pop		R
I want to hold your hand	The Beatles	1963	Pop		R
Seven Nation Army	The White Stripes	2003	Rock		R
Johnny Be Goode	Chuck Berry	1958	Rock and Roll		R
Let it Go	Indina Menzel	2013	Film/TV		R
The Bare Necessities	Phil Harris	1967	Film/TV		R
Three Lions	Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds	1996	Pop		R
Take on Me	A-ha	1985	Pop		R

 

The music is also available as a public playlist on Deezer.