Geoff StevensIf you’re on the hunt for new music for coding, we’ve got you covered.
We recently launched the beta version of Music Time, our VS Code extension that lets you control your music right from VS Code and provides recommendations based on the music you listen to while coding.
Rewind, play, pause, and skip songs from the status bar. Browse your playlists and discover new music recommendations right in VS Code without context switching to the Spotify app.
You can check it out in the VS Code marketplace.
If you're looking for music to listen to right now, we've compiled some of the best and most popular Spotify playlists to get you started.
A quick breakdown of music categories in our list of the top 50 playlists for coding:
- Focus (1-9)
- Study (10-18)
- Mellow (19-24)
- Binaural (25-27)
- Beats (28-31)
- Energy Boost (32-42)
- Feel Good (43-46)
- Experimental (47-50)
Let's dive in.
Focus
1. Software Top 40
Want to know what other developers are listening to while coding? Check out the Software Top 40 for the most popular songs from the developer community.
The Software Top 40 aggregates data from Music Time listeners. You can follow the playlist on Spotify or software.com/top40.
2. Brain Food
Hypnotic electronic for studies and a relax. [50 songs, 3.42m followers]
3. Deep Focus
Keep calm and focus with atmospheric music. [184 songs, 3.15m followers]
4. Soft Focus
Free your mind and let your thoughts flow, or let the world fade to a soft focus as you drift off to dream. [45 songs, 290k followers]
5. Classical Focus
Enhance your focus with classical music. [200 songs, 16k followers]
6. House Focus
Instrumental house for when you need to focus. [82 songs, 55k followers]
7. Indie Folk for Focus
Zone in (or out) with ethereal, meditative instrumental indie folk and acoustic tracks. [110 songs, 713k followers]
8. Focus Now
Piano music to hone your focus and thought process. [176 songs, 257k followers]
9. Focus Flow
Focus your flow with uptempo instrumental hip-hop beats. [191 songs, 274k followers]
Study
10. Music for Concentration
Minimalism, electronica, and modern classical to concentrate to. [90 songs, 1.2m followers]
11. Perfect Concentration
Calming piano music for enhanced concentration. [189 songs, 668k followers]
12. Productive Morning
Get into a morning flow with this focus playlist. [67 songs, 453k followers]
13. Intense Studying
Score your study sessions with some calm, focus-enhancing classical and instrumental works. [212 songs, 2.1m followers]
14. Intense Studying: Mixtape Edition
Classical music to help you concentrate and stay focused during your most intense studying sessions. [100 songs]
15. Soundtrack for Study
Instrumental music from your favourite movies specifically curated to help you concentrate. [90 songs, 364k followers]
16. Reading Soundtrack
Beautiful scores to accompany your reading. [164 songs, 776k followers]
17. Instrumental Study
A smooth musical backdrop to keep your focus on the task at hand. [268 songs, 1.3m followers]
18. All-Nighter
Stay focused with these instrumental electronic and trap beats. [75 songs, 204k followers]
Mellow
19. Chill Out Music
The ultimate chill out playlist. [85 songs, 681k followers]
20. SPA Treatment
Music wellness for your soul. [165 songs, 393k followers]
21. Your Favorite Coffeehouse
Curl up in your favorite spot with some sweet, mellow tunes. [117 songs, 3.8m followers]
22. Peaceful Piano
Relax and indulge with some profoundly beautiful piano pieces. [264 songs, 5.8m followers]
23. Creamy
Melodic future bass, warm vocal drizzle, and dreamy dance music. [185 songs, 602k followers]
24. Calm before the Storm
Improve your concentration with aerial post-rock sounds. [40 songs, 239k followers]
Binaural Beats
25. Binaural Beats: Focus
Enhance your concentration by traveling through different brainwave frequencies until you reach peak awareness in Gamma state. [44 songs, 107k followers]
26. Binaural Beats: Gamma Brainwaves
Tones with sound frequencies that increase focus and concentration. [12 songs]
27. Binaural Beats: Beta Brainwaves
Tones with frequencies that encourage alertness. [26 songs]
Beats
28. Gold Instrumental Beats
Timeless hip hop instrumentals and contemporary beats inspired by the golden era. [46 songs, 202k followers]
29. Beats to think to
Focus with deep techno and tech house. [80 songs, 257k followers]
30. Lo-Fi Cafe
Chill instrumental beats for cool coffeehouse vibes. [114 songs, 118k followers]
31. Lo-Fi Beats
Beats to relax and focus. [450 songs, 2.9m followers]
Energy Boost
32. Rage Beats
The absolute hardest electronic tracks. [132 songs, 214k followers]
33. Lowkey Tech
Chill techno and tech house. [60 songs, 413k followers]
34. Walk Like a Badass
Big riffs and pounding drums to help you strut the streets like the badass you are. [50 songs, 1.8m followers]
35. Rock Hard
For those who like the newest songs loud. Very loud. [100 songs, 687k followers]
36. Punk Essentials
Punk rock from the 90s and 00s that you need in your life. [50 songs, 559k followers]
37. Chilled Drum & Bass
Escape with these melodic liquid drum & bass beats. [60 songs, 14k followers]
38. Confidence Boost
You’re on top of the world. Don’t forget it. [60 songs, 3.1m followers]
39. Creativity Boost
Need a burst of inspiration? These artsy and innovative tracks are sure to spark your creativity. [86 songs, 361k followers]
40. Workday Soul
Soulful tracks to help you get through your day. [121 songs, 84k followers]
41. Cleaning Kit
No dust was found after cleaning to this playlist. [80 songs, 317k followers]
42. Groove Theory
A feel-good soulful house and disco selection. [108 songs, 218k followers]
Feel Good
43. Pura Vida
Musica para feeling good. [47 songs, 441k followers]
44. Cafe con Leche
Savor life like a cup of your favorite cafecito. [49 songs, 440k followers]
45. Acoustic Covers
A fun mix of folksy and acoustic covers. [108 songs, 3.6m followers]
46. mint Acoustic
Dance music unplugged. [100 songs, 235k followers]
Experimental
47. Organic Experimental
The ethereal world of experimental music with organic sounds. [50 songs, 77k followers]
48. Minimalism
Including genre-defining classics, postminimalism, holy minimalism, and more. [50 songs, 122k followers]
49. Deep Listening
Drown in an ocean of atmospheric soundscapes. [50 songs, 194k followers]
50. Exospheres
A deep dive into Experimental and Ambient music today. [100 songs, 72k followers]
Create your own coding playlist
Listening to playlists curated by Spotify or other developers is a great way to discover new and productive music. As you listen to music while coding, you'll start to find what music works best for you.
If you want to control Spotify from VS Code, explore your best coding music, and get automatic song recommendations, check out our Music Time extension.
Thanks to Vijay Verma at illlustrations.co for the open source illustrations kit.
