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Genre
surf music
Parent Genre: rock

Surf music is a genre of instrumental rock music that originated in the early 1960s. It is characterized by its upbeat and energetic sound, which is often accompanied by reverb-drenched electric guitars and driving drum beats. The music is heavily influenced by the surfing culture of Southern California and Hawaii, and often features themes of beach life, surfing, and hot rod cars. Surf music is known for its catchy melodies and memorable guitar riffs, and has been popularized by a number of iconic bands.


Top artists of surf music genre

Santo & Johnny
The Champs
Dick Dale
The Ventures
Link Wray
Duane Eddy
The Surfaris
The Bobby Fuller Four
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surf music music timeline

Explore surf music history by listening to songs from every decade. Click on the decade to view songs.

2020s 2010s 2000s 1990s 1980s 1970s 1960s 1950s 1940s 1930s

Similar Genres to surf music

Discover more related genres to surf music genre. This list is ordered by similarity from left to right.

instrumental surf deep surf music rock-and-roll rockabilly brill building pop instrumental rock merseybeat bubblegum pop folk rock trash rock classic garage rock surf punk indie surf psychobilly lounge doo-wop rautalanka british invasion adult standards lund indie
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surf music playlist created by Chosic

Enjoy this playlist of popular surf music music. We made this playlist using an algorithm created by our team.

Play on spotify

List of surf music artists

Here is a list of surf music artists on Spotify, ranked based on popularity, who exemplifies the surf music genre. You can find out what surf music genre sounds like where you can preview artists or sort them the way you want, just click the headers to sort.

#namePopularity instrumentalnessdanceabilityenergyacousticnessHappinesstempofollowers
1
Santo & Johnny
52 67 56 35 65 48 115 107357
2
The Champs
48 55 62 78 34 88 103 28509
3
Dick Dale
46 79 33 88 11 56 150 111845
4
The Ventures
46 56 54 71 35 82 135 152652
5
Link Wray
44 38 47 66 33 62 119 95840
6
Duane Eddy
44 87 55 64 46 78 126 96132
7
The Surfaris
43 63 45 72 17 66 153 38130
8
The Bobby Fuller Four
43 8 55 80 13 89 136 21787
9
The Trashmen
42 6 53 88 5 78 113 44327
10
Dick Dale & His Del-Tones
42 67 39 82 19 76 130 48383
11
Jan & Dean
40 2 51 71 52 82 123 102321
12
Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs
39 0 71 60 66 77 123 55729
13
The Lively Ones
38 82 44 76 20 76 138 21650
14
The Centurians
37 87 43 61 38 69 128 11858
15
The Chantays
35 82 47 62 53 68 135 17661
16
Daikaiju
34 76 36 89 4 43 109 33279
17
Link Wray & The Wraymen
34 47 52 75 35 72 132 10592
18
The Tornadoes
33 76 48 83 43 66 136 12041
19
The Marketts
33 71 50 65 57 81 142 10326
20
Freddy Cannon
32 0 44 84 51 73 141 30664
21
Los Straitjackets
32 68 50 79 15 69 140 42993
22
The Fireballs
31 73 62 78 24 84 131 5161
23
The Sandals
31 0 48 19 26 53 84 3022
24
The Pyramids
31 68 43 70 13 81 156 6866
25
Man Or Astro-Man?
30 65 31 90 3 51 149 38152
26
Les Jaguars
30 80 60 75 22 79 141 2720
27
The Rivieras
29 2 47 60 46 76 127 5712
28
The Challengers
29 76 53 71 28 82 143 6721
29
Sandy Nelson
29 84 50 76 5 63 127 13331
30
The Sentinals
28 81 53 67 38 82 124 5935
31
Jack Nitzsche
28 67 28 43 55 33 98 6718
32
Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet
28 73 44 78 0 69 122 8952
33
The Mermen
27 79 43 74 3 66 132 10924
34
Bailey's Nervous Kats
25 77 52 59 63 74 136 1665
35
The String-A-Longs
25 50 67 51 53 85 123 2296
36
Ronny & The Daytonas
24 16 46 59 66 72 108 7249
37
Revels
23 0 0 0 0 0 0 972
38
The Original Surfaris
23 77 37 83 11 83 86 2459
39
Hawaii Samurai
22 78 34 90 5 70 125 8145
40
The Atlantics
22 86 39 86 8 70 164 9690
41
The Rip Chords
20 0 54 69 57 84 146 8998
42
The Astronauts
20 69 44 68 15 84 151 5964
43
The Belairs
19 82 41 78 52 82 156 4354
44
The Aqua Velvets
19 78 60 67 3 75 112 8644
45
Link Wray & His Ray Men
19 1 41 63 25 31 87 6288
46
Davie Allan & The Arrows
19 73 50 79 33 63 126 2396
47
The Revels
19 59 39 69 54 62 86 2876
48
The Super Stocks
18 0 50 46 44 96 83 2063
49
Laika & The Cosmonauts
18 76 33 79 4 66 150 7620
50
The Jokers
17 60 56 66 8 71 115 1764
51
The Hondells
16 0 37 61 54 90 153 4340
52
The Blue Hawaiians
14 59 57 59 32 55 131 3867
53
Aqualads
13 85 40 83 11 75 140 2119
54
Los Plantronics
12 0 0 0 0 0 0 1966
55
Blue Stingrays
12 49 60 63 3 72 130 2160
56
The Sandals
12 0 39 98 1 44 99 2458
57
The Rumblers
12 25 56 90 36 94 145 1588
58
The Coffin Daggers
11 85 35 87 0 72 163 2745
59
The Phantom Four
10 78 45 72 0 73 140 2694
60
Jan Davis
10 91 53 74 9 93 140 875
61
The Blazers
10 47 43 64 43 51 110 829
62
Al Casey
9 0 0 0 0 0 0 617
63
Eddie Angel
9 56 53 78 41 77 134 898
64
Jon & The Nightriders
8 76 25 86 8 72 176 2232
65
Moám
8 0 0 0 0 0 0 38
66
The Surf Teens
8 90 47 65 43 77 129 897
67
Pharos
7 0 39 40 44 16 142 460
68
Eddie & The Showmen
7 0 0 0 0 0 0 1277
69
The Impacts
7 81 48 26 75 45 88 1348
70
Jerry Cole and his Spacemen
6 0 0 0 0 0 0 695
71
The Looney Tunes
6 91 75 86 5 60 121 442
72
Leopold Kraus Wellenkapelle
6 0 0 0 0 0 0 683
73
The Penetrators
6 85 32 79 1 91 160 736
74
The Hustlers
6 0 0 0 0 0 0 389
75
The Pastel Six
6 0 62 52 8 78 73 309
76
Los Banditos
6 0 0 0 0 0 0 1157
77
The Avengers VI
5 0 0 0 0 0 0 756
78
The Vibrants
5 2 45 94 0 60 151 970
79
The Pyronauts
4 0 0 0 0 0 0 914
80
Trashman
4 81 74 92 0 23 130 187
81
The Tomorrowmen
4 0 0 0 0 0 0 805
82
The Nebulas
4 91 32 94 0 35 136 1317
83
The Neptunas
4 67 54 77 10 53 114 1480
84
The Chevells
3 0 0 0 0 0 0 261
85
The Diamondheads
3 68 51 69 5 65 135 997
86
Slacktone
3 0 0 0 0 0 0 728
87
Johnny Fortune
3 0 0 0 0 0 0 196
88
Thom Starr & Galaxies
3 0 0 0 0 0 0 238
89
The Centurions
3 91 25 76 0 88 133 1021
90
The Secret Samurai
3 88 17 88 7 84 185 1042
91
The Phantom Surfers
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 999
92
Susan & The Surftones
2 1 37 83 0 87 158 807
93
The Halibuts
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 241
94
The Frogmen
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 265
95
The Fabulous Playboys
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 150
96
The Mar-Kets
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 155
97
The Surfriders
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 501
98
Dr. Frankenstein
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 289
99
The Nevegans
1 69 59 85 6 96 154 115
100
The Cocktail Preachers
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 167
101
The Atlantics #1 featuring Barry White
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 163
102
Aki Aleong & The Nobles
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
103
The Apeman
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 59
104
Dick Dale & the Del Tones
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 349
105
Dave Myers and His Surf-Tones
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 248
106
The Apemen
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2454
107
Ape Men
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 80
108
El Ray
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 366