As you may have noticed, we’re having an intense moment (or arguably an intense couple of years). Between trying to keep up with federal grand jury indictments and celebrities being accused of sexual assault, not to mention dealing with the frenzy of a major holiday, you might need a break.
Reddit’s crowdsourced playlist of beautiful songs is a thing that is not on fire and will not hurt you
From Kanye to Clair de Lune, Reddit’s crowdsourced list of beautiful songs has it all.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Aja Romano wrote about pop culture, media, and ethics. Before joining Vox in 2016, they were a staff reporter at the Daily Dot. A 2019 fellow of the National Critics Institute, they’re considered an authority on fandom, the internet, and the culture wars.
If that sounds nice, you’re in luck — Reddit’s got your back, with a massive playlist curated from an enormous thread devoted to crowdsourcing the most beautiful songs ever.
More than 20,000 upvotes later, Reddit’s choice for the most beautiful song might be surprising to anyone expecting a modern favorite: Readers went for Debussy’s famous soft piano nocturne “Clair de Lune.” (That’s French for “moonlight.”)
Other top vote getters included Louis Armstrong’s “Wonderful World,” Kermit the Frog’s “Rainbow Connection,” and various classical pieces, from Mozart’s Requiem to Barber’s famous Adagio for Strings. The second-place vote getter was the Dayman song from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, because Reddit gonna Reddit.
Reddit user Ericaohh took it upon herself to compile a playlist from the top vote getters (leaving out obvious jokes like the Dayman song). The randomized nature of the crowdsourcing results in some unusual juxtapositions throughout the playlist, like Pachelbel’s Canon appearing next to Johnny Cash, and Bach sandwiched between Toto’s “Africa” and “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
Like other magical internet moments, there’s plenty of delight to be found herein, from the unexpected dominance of Pink Floyd to the presence of everything from Enya to Neutral Milk Hotel to Kanye West, all united solely by the theme of celebrating music we love.
The playlist, in its odd assortment of beauty, is a nice reminder that music still does have the power to unite all of us, even when everything else feels hopelessly divided.
