Dark wave is a subgenre of alternative rock music that emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is characterized by its melancholic and introspective lyrics, as well as its use of electronic instruments and synthesizers. The genre often features a heavy emphasis on atmosphere and mood, with a focus on creating a sense of darkness and mystery. Dark wave music often incorporates elements of post-punk, gothic rock, and new wave, and has been associated with themes of death, despair, and the supernatural.
Top artists of dark wave genre
Show Moredark wave music timeline
Explore dark wave history by listening to songs from every decade. Click on the decade to view songs.
Similar Genres to dark wave
Discover more related genres to dark wave genre. This list is ordered by similarity from left to right.
dark wave playlist created by Chosic
Enjoy this playlist of popular dark wave music. We made this playlist using an algorithm created by our team.
List of dark wave artists
Here is a list of dark wave artists on Spotify, ranked based on popularity, who exemplifies the dark wave genre. You can find out what dark wave genre sounds like where you can preview artists or sort them the way you want, just click the headers to sort.
# | name | Popularity | instrumentalness | danceability | energy | acousticness | Happiness | tempo | followers |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 54 | 16 | 60 | 73 | 2 | 50 | 130 | 322081 | |
2 | 53 | 13 | 50 | 62 | 12 | 43 | 131 | 709742 | |
3 | 45 | 43 | 59 | 76 | 18 | 56 | 124 | 103973 | |
4 | 44 | 11 | 53 | 86 | 7 | 45 | 127 | 100753 | |
5 | 43 | 16 | 38 | 78 | 9 | 29 | 129 | 148001 | |
6 | 42 | 20 | 44 | 81 | 0 | 28 | 124 | 108666 | |
7 | 42 | 26 | 53 | 73 | 5 | 44 | 129 | 136078 | |
8 | 41 | 8 | 59 | 82 | 2 | 51 | 125 | 38515 | |
9 | 40 | 38 | 49 | 94 | 2 | 33 | 132 | 77811 | |
10 | 40 | 12 | 60 | 67 | 15 | 48 | 129 | 84078 | |
11 | 39 | 32 | 56 | 85 | 4 | 47 | 127 | 74976 | |
12 | 39 | 24 | 54 | 89 | 1 | 41 | 122 | 67259 | |
13 | 38 | 59 | 59 | 83 | 12 | 39 | 127 | 89562 | |
14 | 37 | 36 | 60 | 72 | 29 | 30 | 124 | 67933 | |
15 | 37 | 21 | 49 | 54 | 13 | 31 | 110 | 101520 | |
16 | 37 | 49 | 30 | 70 | 8 | 31 | 126 | 101408 | |
17 | 36 | 23 | 61 | 66 | 15 | 41 | 112 | 29277 | |
18 | 35 | 37 | 52 | 83 | 4 | 28 | 126 | 53634 | |
19 | 35 | 8 | 57 | 86 | 4 | 43 | 128 | 29316 | |
20 | 35 | 24 | 56 | 58 | 59 | 31 | 117 | 46315 | |
21 | 34 | 9 | 51 | 79 | 1 | 44 | 137 | 47539 | |
22 | 34 | 38 | 53 | 75 | 2 | 41 | 128 | 101698 | |
23 | 33 | 43 | 52 | 87 | 2 | 44 | 127 | 58721 | |
24 | 33 | 33 | 45 | 75 | 4 | 58 | 149 | 65186 | |
25 | 33 | 24 | 51 | 67 | 17 | 28 | 119 | 16697 | |
26 | 33 | 9 | 56 | 81 | 7 | 40 | 127 | 48139 | |
27 | 32 | 48 | 47 | 87 | 2 | 57 | 139 | 42190 | |
28 | 31 | 44 | 61 | 89 | 3 | 51 | 131 | 31179 | |
29 | 31 | 33 | 56 | 84 | 3 | 41 | 126 | 31494 | |
30 | 30 | 20 | 53 | 63 | 5 | 36 | 146 | 22608 | |
31 | 30 | 4 | 58 | 85 | 2 | 37 | 127 | 52523 | |
32 | 30 | 57 | 44 | 39 | 28 | 27 | 122 | 15741 | |
33 | 30 | 71 | 46 | 81 | 1 | 43 | 126 | 36611 | |
34 | 30 | 45 | 38 | 73 | 4 | 37 | 124 | 34326 | |
35 | 29 | 11 | 34 | 84 | 10 | 25 | 133 | 33524 | |
36 | 29 | 23 | 57 | 56 | 17 | 41 | 135 | 50341 | |
37 | 29 | 1 | 53 | 73 | 9 | 24 | 111 | 46953 | |
38 | 29 | 10 | 62 | 78 | 13 | 49 | 121 | 23193 | |
39 | 29 | 14 | 40 | 72 | 13 | 32 | 128 | 31755 | |
40 | 29 | 61 | 54 | 88 | 3 | 47 | 120 | 39031 | |
41 | 29 | 49 | 50 | 79 | 5 | 38 | 129 | 27699 | |
42 | 28 | 27 | 60 | 82 | 6 | 45 | 119 | 17444 | |
43 | 28 | 37 | 36 | 57 | 34 | 25 | 130 | 17171 | |
44 | 28 | 50 | 41 | 79 | 6 | 44 | 138 | 38389 | |
45 | 27 | 29 | 61 | 87 | 9 | 43 | 122 | 28307 | |
46 | 27 | 9 | 54 | 54 | 38 | 35 | 113 | 20854 | |
47 | 26 | 26 | 53 | 82 | 7 | 43 | 130 | 25212 | |
48 | 26 | 61 | 58 | 77 | 1 | 41 | 128 | 23792 | |
49 | 26 | 72 | 41 | 63 | 12 | 28 | 122 | 23628 | |
50 | 25 | 25 | 49 | 79 | 19 | 29 | 129 | 12082 | |
51 | 25 | 49 | 58 | 80 | 8 | 50 | 127 | 8179 | |
52 | 25 | 10 | 53 | 77 | 8 | 36 | 130 | 25124 | |
53 | 25 | 47 | 40 | 66 | 17 | 29 | 128 | 27362 | |
54 | 25 | 13 | 44 | 81 | 7 | 32 | 129 | 15035 | |
55 | 24 | 16 | 54 | 83 | 5 | 35 | 125 | 5708 | |
56 | 24 | 14 | 48 | 79 | 2 | 67 | 111 | 12080 | |
57 | 24 | 19 | 47 | 77 | 1 | 33 | 130 | 19479 | |
58 | 24 | 22 | 46 | 80 | 3 | 45 | 139 | 20361 | |
59 | 23 | 75 | 20 | 23 | 76 | 12 | 100 | 16501 | |
60 | 23 | 29 | 53 | 76 | 10 | 47 | 120 | 12513 | |
61 | 22 | 8 | 55 | 87 | 2 | 68 | 138 | 13165 | |
62 | 22 | 49 | 42 | 53 | 24 | 42 | 122 | 17845 | |
63 | 20 | 9 | 49 | 85 | 1 | 35 | 123 | 23485 | |
64 | 20 | 32 | 50 | 80 | 1 | 27 | 121 | 9355 | |
65 | 20 | 68 | 37 | 46 | 52 | 17 | 116 | 6518 | |
66 | 20 | 60 | 56 | 78 | 2 | 49 | 121 | 5260 | |
67 | 19 | 32 | 33 | 55 | 29 | 10 | 115 | 14343 | |
68 | 19 | 1 | 52 | 55 | 12 | 33 | 130 | 8062 | |
69 | 19 | 25 | 50 | 82 | 1 | 36 | 131 | 5620 | |
70 | 18 | 56 | 54 | 71 | 10 | 39 | 139 | 4905 | |
71 | 18 | 43 | 53 | 82 | 1 | 52 | 133 | 18245 | |
72 | 18 | 14 | 45 | 79 | 5 | 37 | 126 | 7700 | |
73 | 18 | 29 | 47 | 36 | 65 | 21 | 118 | 7847 | |
74 | 18 | 39 | 50 | 78 | 6 | 32 | 135 | 8678 | |
75 | 17 | 21 | 39 | 47 | 63 | 41 | 125 | 10720 | |
76 | 17 | 34 | 20 | 35 | 67 | 9 | 96 | 10965 | |
77 | 17 | 38 | 56 | 86 | 6 | 40 | 135 | 9784 | |
78 | 16 | 66 | 43 | 70 | 1 | 25 | 129 | 8989 | |
79 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7810 | |
80 | 16 | 33 | 52 | 68 | 6 | 41 | 127 | 7894 | |
81 | 15 | 75 | 52 | 80 | 4 | 30 | 134 | 4330 | |
82 | 14 | 51 | 51 | 81 | 2 | 47 | 137 | 6880 | |
83 | 13 | 4 | 31 | 64 | 11 | 20 | 124 | 6222 | |
84 | 13 | 19 | 47 | 58 | 17 | 18 | 120 | 6475 | |
85 | 13 | 62 | 34 | 21 | 94 | 7 | 93 | 6067 | |
86 | 12 | 36 | 47 | 87 | 0 | 55 | 113 | 7671 | |
87 | 12 | 10 | 58 | 84 | 14 | 52 | 109 | 4597 | |
88 | 12 | 11 | 46 | 84 | 2 | 39 | 121 | 8569 | |
89 | 11 | 84 | 44 | 71 | 8 | 15 | 105 | 4915 | |
90 | 10 | 61 | 60 | 77 | 17 | 36 | 121 | 3614 | |
91 | 10 | 9 | 50 | 83 | 1 | 50 | 133 | 4135 | |
92 | 9 | 42 | 29 | 47 | 33 | 17 | 127 | 3019 | |
93 | 9 | 12 | 51 | 82 | 3 | 32 | 132 | 4417 | |
94 | 9 | 10 | 36 | 46 | 40 | 21 | 104 | 3514 | |
95 | 8 | 39 | 45 | 77 | 11 | 46 | 135 | 1864 | |
96 | 8 | 2 | 30 | 88 | 4 | 34 | 159 | 11167 | |
97 | 8 | 1 | 57 | 85 | 0 | 29 | 140 | 6881 | |
98 | 8 | 62 | 45 | 57 | 33 | 27 | 125 | 2993 | |
99 | 7 | 0 | 41 | 71 | 0 | 6 | 140 | 4340 | |
100 | 7 | 0 | 38 | 93 | 1 | 38 | 124 | 2192 | |
101 | 6 | 42 | 43 | 58 | 66 | 4 | 117 | 2830 | |
102 | 6 | 0 | 41 | 78 | 0 | 27 | 135 | 4006 | |
103 | 5 | 23 | 43 | 62 | 21 | 21 | 147 | 2398 | |
104 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 902 | |
105 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1815 | |
106 | 5 | 43 | 37 | 56 | 45 | 51 | 114 | 1245 | |
107 | 4 | 87 | 54 | 72 | 3 | 44 | 107 | 621 | |
108 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1117 | |
109 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3122 | |
110 | 3 | 8 | 70 | 60 | 0 | 19 | 119 | 765 | |
111 | 2 | 93 | 58 | 40 | 2 | 6 | 120 | 450 | |
112 | 2 | 30 | 59 | 33 | 20 | 35 | 86 | 950 | |
113 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 131 | |
114 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 83 | |
115 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2081 | |
116 | 0 | 0 | 49 | 51 | 1 | 14 | 112 | 206 | |
117 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 146 | |
118 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | |
119 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 86 | |
120 | 0 | 2 | 36 | 67 | 1 | 22 | 177 | 31 |