The Best Lyricless Music
This is a collection of songs that don’t have lyrics. And they’re not just any songs: they’re the best. I’ve curated the whole collection carefully, piece by piece, to showcase the finest musical works I’ve ever found. I’ve tried to cover a wide variety of genres and styles, so that regardless of what your musical tastes are, you’ll still find a huge chunk of these that are up your alley.
I want the pitch for each song to be so compelling that you can’t help but want to listen to each and every one. It’s an ambitious goal, and I’ve given it my very best shot.
This list will likely grow over time as I uncover additional songs that deserve a place amid its ranks.
Sea of Stars - Encounter Elite
This is one of the best boss themes of any game ever, in my opinion. It’s meant to be a extreme modernized take on retro music. There’s nothing else out there does the same wild things it does with the xylophone.
River City Girls - Dollar Signs
The entire River City Girls soundtrack is extraordinary. This song is a personal favorite of mine within it, but I recommend the whole album. It’s an extraordinary rarity to find games that try to lean into the aesthetic pioneered by Scott Pilgrim both graphically AND musically. I treasure them where I can find them!
Final Fantasy I - Battle Theme (MSX)
I adore Final Fantasy 1‘s soundtrack, and there’s this little-known port of the game to an obscure console called the MSX. This was during an era of gaming where to port a game to a new console, you needed to rewrite the entire soundtrack from scratch. I think the MSX port’s version of the songs are such a unique and amazing envisioning of the original music.
All the tracks are worth listening to, but I’ve highlighted the battle theme for a reason. Let’s contrast it with the (more well known) playstation version. I love the little “thtracka tah” it does after the opening bars, like it’s saying to the player “alright, here we go!” And it’s even more extraordinary that the MSX version works as a piece of music entirely without that little “here we go” riff.
Buttercup (Earthbound/Chiptune Cover)
A nice non-lyrical cover of Jack Stauber’s Buttercup. It’s a classic. If you’re familiar with the rest of his work, then you’ll know that I don’t even have to pitch this song, really. His reputation precedes him.
Persona 5 - Price: Another Version
One of the more niche songs from Persona 5, called “Price: Another Version.” It’s absurdly good for big “leading up to a confrontation with the villain” scenes for DnD sessions. I use it whenever the occasion arises. And now you can, too! 😊
Phoenotopia - Panselo (Piano version)
The piano arrangements from a game near and dear to my heart: Phoenotopia. This particular song is the theme of your hometown, called Panselo.
The composer for this game, SillyTheWilly, is one of the finest I’ve ever known. They’re incredible. A genuine talent, and very few people on this planet can capture the same magic that they can with their songs.
Blinx 2 - Credits Theme
The soundtrack to my favorite game of all time: Blinx 2. It was my childhood, and I have a ton of thoughts about it that I’ll likely write elsewhere.
I’ve picked the credits theme to show off within this playlist, because it’s one of the most musically impressive pieces in the entire game, and it also shows off just how unusual the instrumental style it picked is. The Blinx games had this very particular musical angle and I haven’t seen anything else quite recapture it in the modern day.
I love it so much. 😊
Infinity Blade 3 - Lake Explore 2
Infinity Blade 2 - Explore Dark
Tense Path
Some songs from a game I also care a lot about: Infinity Blade. These first two songs are a style unto themselves. I use them in DnD campaigns for scenes where the players are discovering ancient technology in a place where it wouldn’t ordinarily be expected, and its presence turns the players’ view of the world on its head.
(The third song, Tense Path, hails from a very different source. It’s not from Infinity Blade, but it’s the only non-Infinity Blade song to recapture the same aesthetic.)
Mega Man X7 - Decisive Battle (Vs. Maverick)
Another joyous theme for use in DnD! But this one is used for high intensity, slightly silly battles.
Imagine, uh, a robot with big ol’ spinning arms. Its programming has gone slightly haywire and it’s trying to attack the players while making funny beeping noises.
into the battle
Yuki Kajiura, the composer for SAO, is very talented. She’s also made the soundtrack for many other shows, like (in this case) Fate/stay night.
Her music, however, really isn’t to my personal taste. I fully recognize her as an amazing artist, just not one that I personally like to listen to.
But this piece of hers? It’s one of the single most epic sounding pieces of music I’ve ever heard. It makes me want to cry every time I hear it.
petals and butterfly
Another piece of Yuki Kajiura’s, of a similar quality.
Kirby Star Allies - Friend Star (+TEK Remix)
Look, I’m not a Kirby fan. I literally know nothing about the games. They’re like, about a giant pink blob who sucks up people and things?
I don’t know. I don’t really care.
I can say, confidently, that this is the single greatest remix of any song to ever exist. Ever. And the fact that it’s from a Kirby game doesn’t matter to me in the slightest.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged - Duke Devlin’s Theme Song
This is… uh… something I like to listen to on loop for hours. You might get less out of it than me.
But my family found it very funny when they found out this is what I liked to listen to.
The background: Duke Devlin is a Yu-Gi-Oh! character who, in the abridged series, is this over-the-top womanizer. And the running joke is that, whenever the show’s camera has him in frame, his theme song always plays, overriding whatever music (if any) was supposed to be in the scene.
This song—a lyricless version of Justin Timberlake’s Bringing Sexy Back—is his theme song.
Sonic Generations - Planet Wisp (Classic)
Sonic games in general have amazing music. So many absurd gems can be found inside of them. They may be pretty bad games, but man their music is good!
I’ve picked this one as one of the single best Sonic music songs of all time, amongst a game series whose music is already fantastic. If you like this one, then I have a whole set of sonic-related recommendations to offer. But for now, I’ll just restrict myself to the best of the best.
Interrogation (Closet)
Interrogation (Library Car)
Final Interrogation
Three Sonic theme songs from the (semi-joking) game, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. They’re used during Phoenix Wright-style cross examinations. Which is, uh, not the usual gameplay you get in a Sonic game. But as per usual with Sonic games, they nail the music, even giving Phoenix Wright a run for its money!
Baki - Dominance
I’m told this is what “work out music” is supposed to sound like. Except, unlike most “work out music,” I actually find this one listenable!
Golden Sun - Isaac’s Battle Theme (Ben Briggs Remix)
Okay, you remember how I said that Kirby Star Allies Friend Star remix was the greatest remix of all time? I wasn’t lying. It really is the best.
But this one? This is the second best.
Ben Briggs is absurdly talented. Give him a second to warm up, and he brings out these amazing chiptunes that run circles around the original melody he’s remixing.
This Golden Sun remix is his finest work. The “Ben Briggs is going to annihilate your whole world” part activates at the 25 second mark.
Hana ni Natte
This isn’t exactly “lyricless,” but to my brain, since it’s in Japanese, I can’t understand it so it counts as not having lyrics.
I’m just going to say: The 1:20-1:35 period is the single most intense guitar riff I’ve ever heard in my life. Even if the rest of the song were terrible, I think I would have this song bookmarked for that amazing riff alone.
Silksong - Lace
Hollow Knight - Decisive Battle
Silksong - Incisive Battle
Silksong - Strive
Silksong - Red Maiden
Obligatory shout-out to Christopher Larkin, the composer for Hollow Knight and Silksong. Everything he makes is solid gold. And somehow, going from his Hollow Knight compositions to his Silksong compositions, he managed to improve from a stellar composer to the stuff of legends.
I love everything he does with his time signatures. They’re the best kind of wonky classical music shenanigans, chucking 7/8 and 5/4 everywhere with reckless abandon.
Pokémon B/W - Driftveil City (Vector U Remix)
This is probably the… lowest class thing I have in my music collection. It’s a trashy remix with an image of a scantily clad woman as the thumbnail.
Most of my stuff is refined! Dignified! Tasteful!
Screw it. I love it anyway.
Sonic 3 - Hydrocity act 2 (Dance Remix)
Sonic & Knuckles - Lava Reef Zone (Electro House Remix)
Two of the best Sonic remixes ever made. It’s hard to remix Sonic music, since the originals are already so good! But somehow, these two songs are able to do something new and unique with them.
Pegboard Nerds - Emergency
A song that somehow ended up in the famed Netflix production, Video Game High School. I have nostalgic feelings about it.
Wouldn’t say it’s an amazing piece of music overall, but it does have a delightful sense of power underlying it! That’s a neat thing for a song to capture, I suppose.
Story of an Unknown Actor, Op. 125: I. Those Free Butterflies
Alfred Schnittke is an incredible composer. He’s not well known to most Americans, and I think he should be.
This song is one of my favorites of his. It captures so many emotions that I think classical music sometimes has a hard time capturing. And he does it with a deft hand and wonderful ear.
Wildcat
Loud Pipes
Nostrand
Lex
Gettysburg
Kennedy
Several songs from Ratatat, a particular electronic music group that’s… indescribable. They’re unlike anything else in the genre.
You simply have to listen to them yourself to see what I mean. What they make is genuinely incomparable to anything else. It defies description.
Krenel, Downwell, Somatosensor
This song is from Disco Elysium. It’s more emotionally powerful than basically anything else on this list. It makes me weep when I listen to it.
The game plays this song when you, the player, undergo one of the most moving story events the plot has to offer. You’ve superimposed yourself between several union workers, and three hired killers who want to see you dead.
As you stand there, terrified of what your choice implies, of how likely it is that you’ve thrown your life away, the words of a particular woman come back to you.
“Oranjese literature is terribly boring. It’s like the literature of every other country. The protagonists are people who wax poetic about how life is meaningless, and drink themselves to death while doing it. But Revacholian literature is different. Its heroes are immense screwups, people who have every reason to act as broken as the heroes of Oranjese literature. But instead, they try to make the best of their lives. Their heroism lies in trying to do what’s right, despite how much their unsuited to the task. There’s a hopefulness in that, I think, which appeals to me.”
And so you grip your gun, whisper a prayer, and try to do the right thing.
VA-11 HALL-A - Every Day is Night
VA-11 HALL-A - Your Love is a Drug
Some songs from Valhalla, a game about mixing cocktails for people in a cyberpunk setting. The music is an absolute delight. It’s actually what I use most often (though not exclusively) for studying.
Blizon Mines (Blizar Prime): The Drill – Combat
Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart is a game with a wonderful soundtrack overall, and this is my personal favorite song in its tracklist. It’s incredibly hard to find on the internet! I think I have one of the few links to it out there. So safeguard it with your life! You never know when it might vanish from YouTube forever.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (PC) OST
Jeremy Soule is the composer famous for being the genius behind big projects like Skyrim, but less well known is his work on another of my childhood favorite games: the PC version of the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets game.
He’s also been accused of rape, and I don’t know how credible those accusations are. They could be entirely credible or entirely non-credible. I haven’t looked into it too deeply and it would be irresponsible for me to speculate.
Since these songs are so incredibly close to my heart, I’m going to separate the art from the artist on this one if it turns out the accusations are credible. It’s a really magical soundtrack and no Harry Potter game has been able to recapture what those early games had.
Out Of Touch (Eurobeat Remix)
One of my favorite Eurobeat remixes. Not much else to say! Either that’s your kind of thing or it’s not. 😛
Gleeokenspiel
Dance of the Decorous
Konga Conga Kappa
Mausoleum Mash
Some songs from the Crypt of the Necrodancer series. They’re very fun to listen to! High energy dance stuff, more or less.
The Great Secret Trial ~ Court Begins
One of the highlights of the second Dai Gyakuten Saiban game. People in the Anglosphere don’t really talk about this game all that much! And they should, because it has some wonderful songs in its soundtrack!
This is another of those songs that I usually use in DnD campaigns. It’s great for confrontations with powerful political opponents.
Ghosts of Miami Animated Opening
I can’t find the music to this opening cinematic anywhere. I’ve tried so long and hard to locate it! But the best I can give you is the opening cinematic itself, with the music glued on.
This is from the game Ghosts of Miami, which I applaud as one of the only anime-themed-artstyle games to portray women as visually realistic and also flashlight, while also tackling genuinely serious themes around drug addiction among Cuban immigrants to the US.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective - AWAKENING
This is from the original soundtrack to Ghost Trick, a game whose music was composed by the same guy who composed the first Phoenix Wright game’s music. It’s magical.
Unfortunately, with the remastered version of the game out, it’s almost impossible to find the original un-remastered versions of the songs on the internet. And in my opinion, the originals are far and away the superior version.
This song is one of the few you can still find out there. I treasure it like it were made of diamonds.
Note: You can find the original versions of the songs bundled in the remastered version of Ghost Trick, and it allows the player to freely which version they’d prefer to play in-game. However, since the remastered version comes bundled with a truckload of DRM, I don’t consider this archivist-approved method of preserving that original soundtrack, let alone a way to makes it suitably accessible to the public.
Bite Your Nails
Art of Guitar
These are two compositions by Marcin, an incredible guitarist. His work is like nothing else I’ve ever seen.
Classical Dragon
Another Marcin composition, played together with guitarist Tim Henson.
This list was originally created as a gift for a very dear friend. If you’ve been linked to this list without any context and aren’t even sure what the appeal of lyricless music is in the first place, here’s a blog post that explains why you should give it a try.