clean music to do homework to

College Info Geek

The Ultimate Study Music Playlist

This is a playlist of my favorite study music. It’s great for homework, studying for exams, reading, and generally getting crap crossed off my many checklists.

I’ve been working on this playlist for several years, and it contains music (all non-lyrical) from a wide variety of genres and sources, including video game/anime/movie soundtracks. At the moment, it’s got about 240 songs for you to choose from.

Listening on another app? I’ve worked to mirror this study playlist to other services. Check them out below:

• Spotify Study Music Playlist
• Apple Music Study Playlist

If you’d like, you can study with me in another tab while this plays. You can also listen to the playlist on YouTube instead of on this page.

By the way – I create my own study music as well! If you’d like to give it a listen, here’s a playlist:

You can also follow me on Spotify or on YouTube if you want to be notified when new tracks are released.

Need even more study music?

Here are a few options.

Brain.fm – Music designed specifically to help you focus more effectively. It works really well for me, and I use it for around 50% of my research, writing, and reading sessions – the other half are mostly done with the playlist above.

Piano Study Playlist – If you’re in the mood for a more consistent playlist, check out this one full of solo piano tracks.

Coffitivity – Sometimes I’m in the mood for ambient noise instead of music, and the sounds of a bustling coffee shop are my personal favorite type.

Noisli – An ambient noise generator that lets you create your own mix using sounds like rain, thunder, fan, and white/brown/pink noise.

More Playlists

Work Vibes – My personal playlist of “getting-stuff-done” music. Most of the tracks here have vocals, so I wouldn’t read or study intently with them. But they’re great for crushing emails, working on design projects, or doing other work where I simply need to execute quickly.

Tom’s Workout Playlist – A collection of the tracks that usually accompany me to the gym.

4 best music for homework that’ll dramatically improve your productivity

Choosing the right music for homework can help you focus better and learn faster.

Around 60% of students tend to listen to music while studying. Researchers also found that listening to music was the most popular side activity for teens who juggled studying with another task.

While we may prefer different genres of focus music, we can all agree that the right playlist has the magical ability to boost concentration.

This is because music activates the most diverse networks of the human brain. It’s been proven that people with ADHD focus better with the right music.

This is on top of  existing research  that has found listening to music reduces anxiety, blood pressure, and improves sleep quality, mood, and memory.

Johns Hopkins University researchers have done work on jazz performers improvising inside an fMRI machine to see which areas of the brain light up as well.

They found that jazz musicians make unique improvisations by turning off inhibition and turning up creativity.

In short, if you find the right music for homework, you can elevate both brain power and creativity.

While there isn’t a one-size-fit-all approach to this, let us help you narrow down some of the best genres for you to try:

Here are the five best music for homework to help you increase your productivity:

Having the right music matters, even for top athletes. Source: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

1. Classical music

When picking music for homework, you’ve probably heard how classical music can increase your focus when studying.

There’s a theory dubbed “The Mozart Effect” that suggests this genre of music can enhance brain activity and arouse your brain to focus.

There are also several studies done where students listening to classical music did better on quizzes than students with no music.

Suggestions:

• ClassicFM  (a free radio streaming platform that plays famous classical pieces)
• “Study Playlist: Classical Music” on Spotify
• “Classical Music for When You’re on a Deadline” on YouTube

2. Video game music 

This might surprise you but video game music is actually one of the best music for homework. According to Orion Academy , video game music is designed to keep you absorbed and focused — which is also great for memorising. 

When your brain is focused on just melody, it’s taking a break from trying to break down the lyrics of a song and thus increases your performance .

Video game music tends to stay at a relatively low, constant volume too, preventing you from becoming distracted by sudden increases in volume.

Since video game music is generally fast-paced, your brain will be constantly engaged in the task at hand.

• “Video game soundtracks” on Spotify
• “Video game music for studying” on YouTube
• Choose favourites from this list and create your own playlist!

If you’re someone who easily gets distracted, RnB may not be the best music for homework for you. There’s a high chance that you might spend too much time jamming to the lyrics of the song instead of focusing.

Though music under his genre generally has lyrics, many RnB fans reported feeling more relaxed, focused, and less stressed, which may have a positive impact on their ability to focus and learn.

• “Study R&B Smooth Songs ” on Spotify
• “Chill R&B Beats Mix – Beats to Relax and Study (Vol.1)” on YouTube

4. Nature sounds 

It’s been shown that nature sounds relax our nervous system. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute  have also discovered that natural sounds boost moods and focus.

The study found employees were more productive and had more positive feelings when nature sounds were playing in the background while they worked.

Nature sounds include the soothing sounds of the rain, ocean waves on the beach or even the jungle. Some prefer listening to bird calls and animal noises, so feel free to explore if nature sounds aren’t the right music for homework for you. 

Relaxing Nature Sounds for Sleeping – Natural Calm Forest Waterfall Music Meditation Sound for Study on YouTube

“Nature Sounds For Concentration” on Spotify

Popular stories

Nursing schools in canada for int’l students: the best, most affordable, and most accessible.

6 affordable universities in Austria every international student should consider

A Princeton student adviser answers your most pressing questions

The ultimate guide to becoming an astronaut — the requirements, how to get them, and where to study

Why are certain genres of music more effective in helping you study than others?

This is the ultimate focus music for students, according to research

These are the best music types to engage your brain

Study Music Playlist - Ultimate Studying Music for Concentration, Intense Exam Study, Graduation, Revision and Homework Music to Study to

March 16, 2015 30 Songs, 1 hour, 59 minutes ℗ 2015 Exam Study Music

You Might Also Like

Natural Aid

Concentration Music Ensemble

New Feeling & Study Music

Study Music Guys

Exam Study Background Music Consort

Concentration Lacour

Concentration Lacour & Relax

Africa, Middle East, and India

• Côte d’Ivoire
• Congo, The Democratic Republic Of The
• Guinea-Bissau
• Niger (English)
• Congo, Republic of
• Saudi Arabia
• Sierra Leone
• South Africa
• Tanzania, United Republic Of
• Turkmenistan
• United Arab Emirates

Asia Pacific

• Indonesia (English)
• Lao People's Democratic Republic
• Malaysia (English)
• Micronesia, Federated States of
• New Zealand
• Papua New Guinea
• Philippines
• Solomon Islands
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• France (Français)
• Deutschland
• Luxembourg (English)
• Moldova, Republic Of
• North Macedonia
• Portugal (Português)
• Türkiye (English)
• United Kingdom

Latin America and the Caribbean

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Argentina (Español)
• Bolivia (Español)
• Virgin Islands, British
• Cayman Islands
• Chile (Español)
• Colombia (Español)
• Costa Rica (Español)
• República Dominicana
• Ecuador (Español)
• El Salvador (Español)
• Guatemala (Español)
• Honduras (Español)
• Nicaragua (Español)
• Paraguay (Español)
• St. Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• St. Vincent and The Grenadines
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Turks and Caicos
• Uruguay (English)
• Venezuela (Español)

The United States and Canada

• Canada (English)
• Canada (Français)
• United States
• Estados Unidos (Español México)
• الولايات المتحدة
• États-Unis (Français France)
• Estados Unidos (Português Brasil)
• 美國 (繁體中文台灣)

8 best study playlists for work, concentration and focus

Need to focus? Want to study? Good news: we've got the ultimate backing tracks for you

On YouTube, Lofi Girl has 11 million subscribers thanks to the channel's massively successful lofi hip hop radio - beats to relax/study to stream that's almost always live. The takeaway? People love to work, study, and relax with some music going in the background, but some music can be distracting, so you need the right playlist.

We at What Hi-Fi? have been making playlists for a long time, so not only have we drummed up our own official What Hi-Fi? playlist for concentration and focus but we've rounded up some of the best concentration and focus playlists on the internet too, for you to check out.

Whether you just want chill, ambient beats or some great, classic music you can put on in the background without feeling distracted, we've found something for everyone below, so crack open that textbook or load up that spreadsheet and have a listen.

Need new headphones to help you focus on the task at hand? Our best headphones for study buying guide is here for you too.

1. Chill Melancholy by What Hi-Fi? (Spotify & Tidal)

Imagine: It's four o'clock on a Wednesday, but the sky's already dark, and the rain's coming down. You've got hours more of stuff to do, but all you're doing, right now, is looking out the window, listening to the silence. Enter Chill Melancholy.

So many playlists for vibing or chilling out are filled with slower, sadder joints, but it's rare that you see tracks from artists you recognise. And so many of these playlists lean into just electronic music or just low-fi indie stuff or only piano-driven tracks. Not to mention there's rarely an eye for how one track might balance out and flow into another in these lists.

We set out to try and fix these problems with Chill Melancholy. It's got chill, moody picks from artists you'll recognise, but there's also a healthy variety of genres across the playlist's hour-long runtime, including the familiar electronic, indie, and piano-driven sounds of these kinds of playlists.

Get the What Hi-Fi? Newsletter

The latest hi-fi, home cinema and tech news, reviews, buying advice and deals, direct to your inbox.

It might not be as expansive as the other playlists on our list, offering up an infinite amount of music to listen to forever, but if you've ever wondered what a What HiFi? take on a playlist for concentration and focus sounds like, check this out!

Not on Spotify? Check out Chill Melancholy on Tidal

2. Lofi Girl's lofi hip-hop music – beats to relax/study to

Here we've got possibly the biggest, most classic playlist for concentration and focus: Lofi Girl's original playlist. This one's got over 6 million likes on Spotify for a reason, too: it's exceptionally chill. This playlist is chock full of lowkey (and lo-fi) beats that fade perfectly into the background, never becoming a distraction.

If you find vocals or a huge variety of instrumentation or lots of effects to be a bit much when you're trying to concentrate and focus, these minimalist beats won't ever ask too much of you. Plus, the energy of the picks on this playlist is always laid back, relaxed, and at least vaguely upbeat.

You probably won't find major hits from big artists on this playlist, but that's part of the charm: if your favourite song came on in the middle of a study session, suddenly you're not making headway on that last chapter anymore and you're in an impromptu karaoke session.

Not on Spotify? No problem. Check out Lofi Girl's playlist on a huge number of platforms

3. Spotify's Peaceful Piano

It's well known that listening to classical music can help with focus and concentration, but where do you start if you're not already a Leonard Bernstein fan? Well, why not check out Spotify's Peaceful Piano playlist? As the name suggests, in this playlist you'll find an endless suite of peaceful, piano-driven music.

Like many playlists to use for focus and concentration, there aren't vocals here, and you'll just find piano music, not orchestral stuff, but unlike many other similar playlists, these aren't all upbeat tracks. Often, picks can be wistful and slightly sad, serene with the feeling that you're floating through space but also a bit lonely as well.

Nonetheless, these all fade into the background easily while still filling a space with music and keeping your ears happy. If you're looking for something a little slower and subtler to put on, check out Peaceful Piano.

4. Apple Music's Study Beats

Study Beats is like Apple Music's take on Lofi Girl's playlist. Study Beats cultivates a similar vibe, but tracks here are generally cleaner and more electronic, and there are a lot more picks with vocals. Apple describes the playlist as one full of "slinky, downtempo grooves" that's great for setting the mood, which is true, but there are lots of more energetic, dynamic tracks, too.

Apple electronics are slick, well-produced, and thoroughly modern, and this Study Beats playlist has a lot of the same characteristics. Study Beats is a great way to cleanly and smoothly enjoy rhythmic, beat-heavy background music that, even with vocals, never feels distracting or overbearing. And even though this is a beats playlist designed for productivity and focus, there's a healthy amount of variety there.

If you're an Apple Music user, make sure to check out Study Beats for some excellent music to help you concentrate and focus.

5. Apple Music's Pure Focus

Like the idea of chill beats to study and relax to but just wish they were a bit more ambient and less hip-hop sounding? Enter Apple Music's Pure Focus playlist. Much like Apple Music's Study Beats playlist, the Pure Focus one is on the cleaner, more minimalist electronica side of the spectrum, but this playlist is much more ambient and comes without a spate of vocal-heavy tracks.

This playlist is perfect for doing some reading, as there's nothing in this playlist at all that might pull you out of a book, but you'll still get to enjoy an endless supply of smooth, groovy music that's updated constantly by the editors over at Apple Music. Plus, this is nice way to bridge the gap between Spotify's Peaceful Piano playlist and Apple Music's Study Beats playlist: it's got beats and electronic sounds, but lots of piano and ambient elements, too.

If you aren't happy filling your space with silence while you work, consider checking out the Pure Focus playlist on Apple Music.

6. Spotify's Jazz Relax

You might've noticed that many of these concentration and focus playlists are filled with electronic sounds (outside of Peaceful Piano) and hip-hop beats, but maybe that's not your thing. But what if you still want something relatively rhythmic and lively to put on in the background while you get to work? 

Enter Spotify's Jazz Relax playlist. As you might be able to guess, this is a collection of smooth jazz, of both the vocal and instrumental variety, that runs the gamut from punchier, more upbeat tracks to slower, more contemplative pieces. Jazz is a huge genre, and this playlist delights in the variety of sounds it has to offer without ever becoming distracting.

If you like jazz, or even the idea of jazz, but don't know where to start, why not start with Spotify's Jazz Relax playlist?

7. Apple Music's Lofi Japan

Lofi Girl might have brought the chill, lo-fi beats phenomena to the mainstream, but this type of music has been around for a long time, and this unique style can be, largely, traced back to Japan's electronic music scene. Japanese music legends like Nujabes have been making this kind of beat-driven ambient music for ages.

Accordingly, Apple Music's Lofi Japan playlist tries to offer up those kinds of tracks. It'll sound fairly similar to Lofi Girl's, but there's a different character to these tracks and a different suite of sounds relied on that likely comes down to the different musical cultures that both of these playlists come from. 

So, if you're tired of all the low-fi hip-hop beats playlists out there but still like that sound, why not check out Apple Music's Lofi Japan playlist and see where it started?

8. Tidal's Decaf

What if you, much like most of the world, like vocals in your music – but you don't need them out of the way when you're trying to focus or concentrate? You're in luck because Tidal has the Decaf playlist for you. This is a collection of low-fi, indie-electro pop, acoustic, and chill R&B, according to its description.

You'll find lots of vocals and even tracks from artists you'll recognise (big, mainstream ones, too) but, true to its name, this playlist is full-bodied and robust without the frantic intensity of louder, harder, more distracting tracks. It's a clever playlist that relies on the tendency of a lot of music today to be stripped-down, chill, and above all else, a vibe .

If you're looking for something to throw on with artists you'll recognise but still won't be distracted by, check out Tidal's Decaf playlist.

How to transfer Spotify playlists to Apple Music

Check out the official What Hi-Fi? playlist

12 of the best Spotify playlists to listen to right now

The 9 best Bluetooth party speakers to disco-fy your dorm

Ruben is a long-time freelance consumer technology and gaming journalist, and was previously a Staff Writer at What Hi-Fi?. Since 2014, Ruben has written news, reviews, features, guides, and everything in-between at a huge variety of outlets that include Lifewire, PCGamesN, GamesRadar+, TheGamer, Twinfinite, and many more. Ruben's a dedicated gamer, tech nerd, and the kind of person who misses physical media. In his spare time, you can find Ruben cooking something delicious or, more likely, lying in bed consuming content.

• manicm Any of Brian Eno's ambient albums, also his 2018 compilation Music For Installations. Reply
• Gray You can study. You can listen to music. You cannot do both properly simultaneously. You may think you can..... Reply
• View All 2 Comments