@Ioannis Alexopoulos

Discover new music from artists we think you'll like. Refreshed every Friday.

The songs you can’t do without. The more you use Apple Music, the more essential they become. Refreshed every Tuesday.

Whether it’s a weekday morning or Saturday night, get going with this personalised set of upbeat music. Refreshed every Monday.

Songs to help you relax and unwind. Updated every Sunday.

Reggaetón’s evolution is an unlikely success story. Though today the genre enjoys the spotlight on the global charts and at top-tier festivals, the once-forbidden rhythm earned notoriety in ‘90s-era Puerto Rico for its hedonistic approach. Emerging after Panamanian reggae en Español, and locked in by the skeletal rhythms of Jamaican dembow, genre-defying producers like The Noise, Playero and DJ Nelson turned the Caribbean style into a dance-floor movement that has been resonating ever since. Vocalist Ivy Queen, influenced by the New York school of hip-hop, started repping female empowerment, and by the turn of the millennium, Daddy Yankee took a more maximalist path that furthered its expansion. By the second coming of reggaetón in the mid-‘10s, Colombian artists J Balvin and Maluma added gloss and sophistication to the urbano format, as did Puerto Rico’s Ozuna and Luis Fonsi—the latter of whom went on to change its course forever with a slinky banger called “Despacito”.

In the late 1910s, the French composer Erik Satie came up with a concept he called “furniture music”—sounds designed more for passive listening than active engagement. It’s a useful idea in thinking about the history of ambient music in general, but it feels especially applicable to the wave of lo-fi/chill-hop that has washed over the digital world 100 years later: soundtracks for studying, reading, resting, cooking or whatever; more a sonic companion than a point of focus. With that, here’s a playlist of low-key, hip-hop-influenced beats to keep you company, whatever the errand—the furniture music for the 2020s. Our editors update picks here regularly, so if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

The “lo-fi beats to study/chill to” phenomenon is certainly a global one, but few countries have contributed as much to the conversation as Japan. Reaching back to the mid-2000s innovations of artists like Nujabes through the seemingly countless—and ever-multiplying—torchbearers of today, here’s a playlist of fuzzy, mellowed-out Japanese lo-fi to help shape a mood without hijacking too much attention or focus. Our editors update things here regularly, so if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

Whether you're meditating, up late studying, or just plain old being mindful, deep concentration requires a special soundtrack. Narrow your focus with these enveloping electronic tracks, from ambient and minimalism to downbeat house. We regularly refresh this playlist. If you like a song, add it to your library.