Minecraft: 10 Best Songs, Ranked (2024)

Since its release in 2009, the block-building game Minecraft has featured dozens of memorable songs that are now iconic staples. A quick search will lead you to livestreams of Minecraft music and remixes for studying or relaxing. Without lyrics, the songs in Minecraft are the perfect accompaniment to your adventure.

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Much of Minecraft's soundtrack was created by Daniel Rosenfeld, also known as C418, and composer Lena Raine. Aside from the gentle, melancholic background music, there are a number of in-game music discs to be found and played on jukebox blocks. Unsurprisingly, all the best songs in Minecraft come from the first album: Minecraft - Volume Alpha, released in 2011.

10 Moog City

Spotify Plays: 41 Million

Moog City opens with a rising crescendo of electronic tones and acoustic strums, building a peaceful sort of anticipation. Despite its name, Moog City wasn't actually made with a Moog Synthesizer. In the words of artist C418, the name comes from waiting to get the Moog device he ordered and hadn't received.

Moog City doesn't actually appear in the game itself outside of the menu screen, but Moog City 2, from Minecraft - Volume Beta, does appear in the game. Moog City is the rising electronica beat that best comes to mind as you poke around the main menu, waiting for friends to join or playing with settings and mods.

9 Living Mice

Spotify Plays: 43 Million

Despite its slow, quiet start, this track is tranquil and best encapsulates the feeling of solitary exploration felt when roaming the overworld. The name of this song is a direct reference to C418's work with musician deadmau5, also known as Joel Zimmerman. deadmau5 and C418 worked together on Minecraft - Volume Alpha, and later collaborated on other albums.

In the game, the song is referenced as hal2, with a shorter filename like many of the songs in C418's album. The near-silent beginning of Living Mice sets you up to be taken off-guard by a sense of grandeur and awe that accompany a quiet appreciation for procedurally-generated nature.​​​​​​, like the elusive lush caves or deep dark.

8 Haggstrom

Spotify Plays: 46 Million

Haggstrom is one of the few Minecraft songs with a more upbeat melody, following a simple chord progression. The name Haggstrom most likely is in reference to soundtrack producer Mattias Häggström Gerdt, also known as anosou, who later collaborated with C418 on other works.

Haggstrom is one of the longest songs on the Minecraft - Volume Alpha soundtrack at 3:24. The in-game filename is hal3. Much of the song is done on piano. The up-beat chimes of Haggstrom certainly touch on the light-hearted aspects of Minecraft; not everything is solitary, underground, and melancholy, especially when played with friends.

7 Dry Hands

Spotify Plays: 48 Million

Dy Hands, found as piano1 in-game, is a piano single that's just a hair longer than a minute. Despite its simplicity, this song has been played on Spotify nearly 50 million times. This gentle composition is simple and soft. The simplicity of this song is reminiscent of the simplicity of Minecraft itself: blocks and building.

On the surface, you could be fooled into thinking that this song, like the game, has little to offer beyond the apparent. But on closer inspection, Dry Hands (and Minecraft) offer a depth of gameplay that has kept the game thriving for more than a decade.

6 Mice On Venus

Spotify Plays: 63 Million

Mice On Venus is the longest song in the Minecraft - Volume Alpha album. Found as piano3 in-game, this song is almost 5 minutes long and has a runtime of 4:41. The title Mice On Venus is a reference to German music duo Mouse On Mars, which inspired C418 as he wrote the songs for Minecraft.

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The track starts simple, slow, and borderline peaceful, before extra chords and a synthesizer join the piano to add some extra depth and excitement. According to C418, this song was his attempt at making more light-hearted music for the game. This attempt pays off, because this is the song that comes to mind when goofing around with other players or building something ridiculous.

5 Key

Spotify Plays: 64 Million

Key is another extremely short track at just 1:05. Key is the track Subwoofer Lullaby, from the same album, remixed with additional reverb and a smooth progression from note to note. This is the song that introduces the listener to the album and starts gently enough that the transition to the next song isn't a shock.

Key can be found remixed in Minecraft - Volume Beta as Ki and features an alternate second half to the song. Key often appears in Minecraft's main menu to introduce the player to the game, just like introducing a listener to the album. Chord progressions in Key come back repeatedly in Minecraft's soundtrack, making you feel like you've heard this song before somewhere.

4 Wet Hands

Spotify Plays: 76 Million

Wet Hands is simply piano2 in-game and is barely more than a minute in length. Wet Hands is melancholic, slow, and played on piano in the key of A Major. Despite the Major key, Wet Hands still manages to sound somber. The calm, plain piano progression is a short-but-sweet gem on the Minecraft soundtrack.

You've heard it before as you run around the overworld or row along a river in a booden box boat, expanding your map and searching for villages to raid. You can practically feel the map streaking past you as you listen to Wet Hands' gentle melody.

3 Subwoofer Lullaby

Spotify Plays: 89 Million

C418 has stated that he imagined a subwoofer playing this melody in a forest, which makes sense given the common forest biome in Minecraft. Subwoofer Lullaby is a more beefed-up version of Key and is much longer, at about three and a half minutes.

This song has a mysterious air about it which mimics the charm of Minecraft. At times, even the wide open sky and daylight still make the game feel a little creepy or uncanny, but still peaceful, just like Subwoofer Lullaby. The song has a steady build to a drop-off and gentle, droning tones that make you feel like you're deep underground even if you're out in the open.

2 Minecraft

Spotify Plays: 95 Million

Minecraft is the second-longest track in the Minecraft - Volume Alpha album at 4:14. This is the first song C418 wrote for the game and is titled simple calm1 in-game. This song is incredibly simple and pentatonic, mimicking the simple elegance that made Minecraft an instant classic.

Parts of Minecraft can be found remixed into songs Alpha and The End in the album Minecraft - Volume Beta. Parts of the song can also be found on in-game music discs Far, Strad, and Chirp. This delicate, lilting piano song could be mistaken for a lullaby. The piano is accompanied by string instruments that add depth to the simple melody. Like most of the songs in Minecraft's soundtrack, this simplicity is only at face value.

1 Sweden

Spotify Plays: 143 Million

By far the most popular Minecraft song, Sweden is slow to build and slow to fade. It follows some of the same principles of Minecraft in its simplicity. Sweden is the most common song used in Youtube videos when the music of Minecraft is discussed. In-game it is simply titled calm3 and runs about three and a half minutes.

This is C418's most popular song of all his creations. Sweden was certified Gold in the US; pretty impressive for video game music. This is definitely one of the more melancholy songs for Minecraft, but that sort of sadness is what helps Minecraft feel nostalgic. Nostalgia is one reason it's remained popular for more than a decade and draws players back.

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