I always enjoy listening to good music, and ever since I became interested in China I’ve been searching for some music that could really get me going. However, and as I’m sure you are aware, while there is a great abundance of pop music in China (I love you, you love me, why don’t you love me, that kind of thing), I always found it really hard to find anything with my kind of style, anything with a bit more character, or anything without that suggary sachrine style which seems to define a lot of Chinese music.
When it comes to English music I listen to quite a variety, from Elliot Smith to Jack Johnson, RJD2, Gorillaz, The Rolling Stones and more (I’m also a big bluegrass fan). If you are interested you can check out my profile on last.fm to see what kind of stuff I listen to. Finding the Chinese equivilent of these kind of music isn’t always that easy, and in fact I guess I had to learn to appreciate Chinese music in different ways before I could find some more enjoyable music.
I’ve now stumbled across a few good songs which have managed to make it into my regular listening cycle. I’ve come across these songs in a number of different ways – going to karaoke with friends is certainly a big one (and hence I can actually sing some of these songs in Chinese), my friends ringtones/dialtones (it plays songs when you call their phones), the occasional recomendation (although this hasn’t been very successful to the different tastes I have from most of my friends), and through assorted things that I listen to across the Chinese internet.
And so, here is a selection of a few songs that I’ve really got into (sorry about some of the videos – quality isn’t too great) with videos and MP3′s (via Baidu – not me!) – hope you like them!:
10: 南拳妈妈 – What can I do
A KTV favorite for my friends. A bit poppy, but easy to get into. MP3 link
9: 梁静茹 – 小手拉大手
Quite a cheerful song, just makes me feel happy. Poppy again, but hey, what can I do? Ha. MP3 link
8: 巫启贤 – 爱拚才会赢
Taiwanese/闽南话 – This song really amuses me, great video, great energy. A bit more traditional style I guess. MP3 link
7: 郭美美 – 不怕不怕
This is a song I always heard in bars when I first arrived in China. Full of energy. A little electronic? MP3 link
6: 梁静茹 – 宁夏
The reason I like this is all about the video, just love the story! MP3 link
5: 张震岳 蔡健雅 – 思念是一种病
Nice to see a guitar in Chinese music. Catchy tune. MP3 link
4: 阿牛 – 桃花朵朵开
I really enjoy this one, especially the chorus. It’s my Chinese New Year song. MP3 link
3: 張震嶽 – 再见
This one is my current ring tone (I know) and the first real song I learnt to sing. More guitar, very enjoyable. MP3 link
2: 周杰伦 – 稻香
Pretty much the only song by Jay I really enjoy. Interesting story too, if you understand the words. MP3 link
1: 反光镜 – 还我蔚蓝
Chinese punk rock? Well, pretty much. Great song this on, check it out! MP3 link
How do you like my taste in Chinese music? Any great songs I missed out? What are your favorites? Be sure to let me know in the comments!
June 25th, 2010 at 20:54
Bookmarked! AWESOME!
June 28th, 2010 at 05:55
The bassist on the last one has a Graffix sticker on his guitar!
June 28th, 2010 at 14:48
Gosh you’ve got keen eyes! I just love the song – that video isn’t the greatest, but the MP3 is well worth the download.
Thanks for dropping by!
July 7th, 2010 at 23:27
Ok, that sounds cool! Love the last one.
July 14th, 2010 at 19:11
I just wanted to comment your blog and say that I really enjoyed reading your blog post here. It was very informative and I also digg the way you write! Keep it up and I’ll be back to read more in the future…
July 22nd, 2010 at 12:23
Hey!, I found your blog via Google while searching for baidu english mp3 download and your post regarding rners Chinese Top 10 Songs | Sinomatter looks very interesting for me
August 18th, 2010 at 16:03
This is awesome. Great job compiling this. I will be spamming all my ABC friends beginning now…
August 18th, 2010 at 16:09
Thanks David, glad you liked it! Several older songs in there too, might be a few they remember from when they were younger.
August 20th, 2010 at 13:56
同桌的你 老狼 ： captures the experience of post 80s Chinese beautifully.
蝴蝶花 水木年华： the lyrics create really beautiful imagery.
爱 小虎队： old, but tested and true.
为你写诗 吴克群： kinda corny but i Like it
and, (I’m not joking) the best Chinese song lyric I know of (except for maybe 同一首歌)is the children’s song
让我们呢荡起双桨
August 20th, 2010 at 15:28
Thanks for sharing – a few new ones for me to check out then! I really enjoy 让我们荡起双桨 as well – just something funny about it which I like.
Cheers.
September 20th, 2010 at 18:51
Sigh. Will the Chinese ever come up with anything half-decent in the pop world?
January 11th, 2011 at 21:08
i can’t remember how do i find this wonderful blog, you lived in wuhan for 2 years? what a coincidence, i am wuhanese. and i am also a fan of jay chou. 稻香 is my favorite too. and several days ago, i just write a post about learn mandarin from chinese songs,jay chou’s listen to mama’s words.
http://askpeterchinese.com/learn-chinese-through-music-listen-to-mamas-words
a self promotioin which includes some stats on the subject.
February 16th, 2011 at 22:26
I want to learn famous chinese song for karaoke. I search at Google and find this list. Thanks for sharing this top 10 song.
March 2nd, 2011 at 22:12
Hi,
I’m a Malaysian Chinese student and 思念是一種病(the fifth) is a personal favorite of mine! A very comforting song :) Some of my other favorites are (referring to my ‘most played tunes’ on iTunes):
晴天-周傑倫
Lydia- F.I.R
飛行部落- F.I.R
One Night in 北京- 信樂團
真的- 張韶涵
年年- 熊寶貝
無與倫比的美麗- 蘇打綠
當你離開的時候-蔡健雅
空港- 戴愛玲
假行僧- 崔健
Hope you might like it!
June 4th, 2011 at 05:04
One of my favorite Chinese songs is Kan Guo Lai
http://mychinesenotebook.blogspot.com/2011/04/kan-guo-lai.html
June 5th, 2011 at 11:24
well.
Here are some zbout my favorite Chinese songs.
I think these songs is very perfect
such as:
1.第三者的第三者 弦子
2.我知道 BY2
3.下一个天亮 郭静
4.我不配 Jay
4.大哥 卫兰
June 6th, 2011 at 21:27
I’m not chinese/Taiwanese as you can probably tell, but my mam is and she got me into many artists :D I’ll tell you all of the ones I know :D
Zhou Jie Lun
Tao Zhe
Wang Leehom
Dirt Star
Wu Bai
Tank
Deep White
Long Shen Dao
Cold Fairy Land
Yaksa
Twisted Machine
Nan Quan Mamay
Gary Yang
Tang Chao
A-Do
Tizzy Bac
Lonely Day China
1976
BiBi Zhou
Edison Chen
Faye Wong
Fusion
Wu Yue Tian
MC Hotdog
Tong Ku De Xin Yang
Yeah, that’s about it ^^ Check em out, they’re all cool :D