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If you travel outside of the US, you’ll be surprised by how many hits you’ll recognize on the radio. American music is ubiquitous. But if you’re looking to immerse yourself in a language other than English, you’ll want to take a closer listen to international hits.
You can’t learn a language by just listening, but it’s still an integral part of the learning process. Since you can take music with you, it’s easy to train your ear to a new language while you’re driving your car, sitting on the metro, or cleaning your kitchen. With music, you really can immerse yourself in a language from anywhere.
Plus, repetition—you know, the way you like to listen to the same songs over and over—can also help your pronunciation. And it’s much easier to remember speech when it’s linked with a melody. Whether you’re aware of it or not, you’ll no doubt pick up phrases to use from the songs you listen to.
All this to say, it’s no mistake that it’s so high on our list of top ways to learn a language on your own. And there’s good reason for you to listen to every song on the list below. From Spain to Japan, here are the top 25 international hits to listen to in 2023. Drop them in a playlist and make learning a language fun!
Table of Contents
- Top Latin and Spanish language songs
- Top Korean songs
- Top French songs
- Top Swedish songs
- Top Japanese songs
Top Latin and Spanish Language Songs
With over 500 million speakers, Spanish is spoken across the world in over 20 countries—and there’s no lack of Spanish language music to dance to. With the hits below, you can keep things upbeat with Latin pop or slow things down with a sierreño track from Mexico.
1. un x100to by Groupo Frontera, Bad Bunny
2. TQG by KAROL G, Shakira
3. Herrera by YEИDRY
4. Ella Baila Sola by Eslabon Armado, Peso Pluma
5. BESO by ROSALÍA, Rauw Alejandro
Top Korean Songs
Korean pop, better known as K-pop, has taken the world by storm, speaking to the nostalgia of girl and boy bands that dominated the mainstream US music scene in the 1990s/early 2000s. It’s an easy genre to fall in love with, between its catchy lyrics and polished music videos. K-pop fans are notoriously smitten and almost as ubiquitous as the stars themselves, from fueling a booming merch industry to wielding effective political force.
6. Cupid by FIFTY FIFTY
7. Pink Venom by BLACKPINK
8. FEVER by ENHYPHEN (엔하이픈)
9. SET ME FREE by TWICE
10. OMG by NewJeans (뉴진스)
Top French Songs
From food to fashion, France takes what it loves seriously. Hip-hop falls high on that list. Behind the US, France is the second-largest market in the world for hip-hop, a movement that started in the ‘70’s and has grown into a vibrant medium with global clout. Check out the hits below that include some of French hip-hop’s best and budding artists.
11. Demain by PLK
12. Baby by Aya Nakamura
13. Secret by Louane
14. Amber by Zola
15. Qui sait? by Niro
Top Swedish Songs
ABBA is a global phenomenon. If you were born in the ‘70’s, you witnessed their rise to fame first hand. Now, you’ll hear their music in movies, at the bar, or in the waiting room of every dentist’s office, with varying degrees of static. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that they are inescapable.
Of Swedish artists, ABBA is the most well-known, but you’d be surprised by how many artists continue to influence and transform the global music scene, from Avicii to Zara Larsson.
16. Can’t Tame Her by Zara Larsson
17. Kan Inte Gå by Bolaget
18. KURIRER by DIZZY
19. X by Miss Li
20. DIT ÄLVEN GÅR by Hooja
Top Japanese Songs
Learning Japanese? There’s something for everyone. From rock to hip-hop, Japan has a robust global presence across multiple genres. After listening to the five hits below, we bet you’ll have at least one stuck in your head.
21. Subtitle by Official髭男dism
22. Dai Zero Kan by 10-FEET
23. Billimillion by YUURI (優里)
24. KICKBACK by Kenshi Yonezu (米津玄師)
25. KIMINOMAMA by MUKADE, INMAN
Expand your listening opportunities with Rosetta Stone
Ready to get serious about language learning? Go beyond the playlist and pair listening experiences with lessons that prepare you for real-life conversations. Rosetta Stone’s unique Dynamic Immersion approach and TruAccent technology help you learn faster and retain more.
Plus, Rosetta Stone allows you to choose between single-language plans or Rosetta Stone Unlimited, which gives you lifetime access to all 25 languages we offer. That way, you can master languages at your own pace!
Start your first lesson today at www.rosettastone.com.
