ambient music artists

38 published ambient music artists, led by David Bowie, Moby and Imogen Heap.

At a glance

38 published ambient music artists; 616 studio albums have verified cover art.

Published artists2 tier 1 · 7 tier 2 · 29 tier 3: 38
Release groups: 3,258
Studio albums: 651
Albums with cover artverified Cover Art Archive: 616
Timeline events: 848
Monthly listenerssum across artists: 76.2M
Claimed salessum of stored claims; implausible values excluded: 100M
Average career spanfirst to last dated release: 32.1 years
Full biographies: 33
Biography words: 162,175

When they started

Debut decade from each artist's earliest dated release. Most debuts fell in the 2000s (13 artists).

Artists by debut decade
Decade	Artists
1960s	2
1970s	8
1980s	4
1990s	6
2000s	13
2010s	1
2020s	2

2 artists have no dated release or formation year and are not plotted.

Where they come from

Countries with the most ambient music artists. United Kingdom leads with 11.

Often paired with

Genres that share artists with ambient music. The most shared is electronic music, with 10 artists in both.

Covers from ambient music

616 studio albums have verified cover art. The 12 shown come from the most famous artists.

David Bowie: Starman Audio Documentary
David Bowie · 2017
★
David Bowie · 2016
The Next Day
David Bowie · 2013
Toy
David Bowie · 2011
Reality
David Bowie · 2003
Heathen
David Bowie · 2002
‘hours…’
David Bowie · 1999
Earthling
David Bowie · 1997
1.Outside: The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper Cycle
David Bowie · 1995
Black Tie White Noise
David Bowie · 1993
Never Let Me Down
David Bowie · 1987
Tonight
David Bowie · 1984

Leaders

Nine Inch Nails has the most release groups (300); Vangelis the longest career (63 years); David Bowie the most awards (26).

Most prolific

Most prolific, by number of release groups
Artist	release groups
Nine Inch Nails	300
Moby	299
David Bowie	298
Mike Oldfield	197
Jean-Michel Jarre	179

Longest careers

first to last dated release

Longest careers, by number of years
Artist	years
Vangelis	63
David Bowie	61
Rick Wakeman	55
Jean-Michel Jarre	54
Brian Eno	53

Most decorated

Most decorated, by number of awards
Artist	awards
David Bowie	26
Jean-Michel Jarre	24
Daniel Lanois	17
Vangelis	10
Nine Inch Nails	6

Most famous ambient music artists

David Bowie

United Kingdom · Person · born 1947

rock music, pop music, hard rock, psychedelic rock, experimental rock, soul, pop rock, electronic music, glam rock, art rock, alternative rock, art pop, new wave, blue-eyed soul, psychedelic pop, ambient music, avant-garde jazz, rapping

20.3M listeners · 136 wikis

Moby

United States · Person · born 1965

electronic music, alternative rock, Q3071, electronic rock, house music, ambient music, techno, electronica, trip hop, downtempo, chill-out music

9.9M listeners · 68 wikis

Imogen Heap

United Kingdom · Person · born 1977

alternative rock, synth-pop, ambient music, indie rock, electronica, dream pop, trip hop, folktronica

20.6M listeners · 31 wikis

Grimes

Canada · Person · born 1988

contemporary R&B, electronic music, art pop, synth-pop, ambient music, indie pop, electronica, dream pop, experimental music

7.6M listeners · 47 wikis

Beach House

United States · Group · 2004–present

ambient music, indie rock, neo-psychedelia, dream pop, shoegaze

17.8M listeners · 27 wikis

David Gilmour

United Kingdom · Person · born 1946

rock music, blues rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, art rock, ambient music

76 wikis

Nine Inch Nails

United States · Group · 1988–present

alternative rock, electronic rock, ambient music, industrial metal, industrial rock, industrial music, dark ambient

72 wikis

Vangelis

Greece · Person · born 1943

electronic music, progressive rock, ambient music, new age music, film score

76 wikis

Brian Eno

United Kingdom · Person · born 1948

electronic music, art rock, art pop, ambient music, drone music

64 wikis

Jean-Michel Jarre

France · Person · born 1948

ambient music

71 wikis

Mike Oldfield

United Kingdom · Person · born 1953

pop music, traditional folk music, pop rock, progressive rock, classical music, ambient music, world music, new age music, Celtic fusion

56 wikis

Trent Reznor

United States · Person · born 1965

rock music, alternative rock, synth-pop, alternative metal, ambient music, industrial rock

46 wikis

More ambient music artists

Showing 1–26 of 26 artists

Aphex Twin

United Kingdom · Person · born 1971

electronic music, ambient music, techno, experimental music, intelligent dance music, ambient techno, acid techno, drill and bass

54 wikis · Tier 3

Rick Wakeman

United Kingdom · Person · born 1949

hard rock, progressive rock, classical music, ambient music, new age music, Christian music

35 wikis · Tier 3

Kitarō

Japan · Person · born 1953

ambient music, new age music, electronica

44 wikis · Tier 3

André 3000

United States · Person · born 1975

pop music, contemporary R&B, soul, funk, electronic music, jazz, progressive rap, pop rap, hip-hop soul, Southern hip-hop, dirty south, ambient music, alternative hip-hop, new age music, jazz rap, Atlanta hip-hop, soul jazz

31 wikis · Tier 3

Jónsi

Iceland · Person · born 1975

art rock, alternative rock, ambient music, indie pop, baroque pop, post-rock, post-metal

35 wikis · Tier 3

Devin Townsend

Canada · Person · born 1972

heavy metal music, ambient music, industrial metal, progressive metal

35 wikis · Tier 3

Wardruna

Norway · Group · 2003–present

ambient music, Nordic folk music, neofolk

34 wikis · Tier 3

Yoko Kanno

Japan · Person · born 1964

pop music, blues, jazz, art rock, classical music, ambient music, J-pop, new age music

32 wikis · Tier 3

C418

Germany · Person · born 1989

electronic music, dance-pop, house music, ambient music, downtempo, intelligent dance music, drum and bass, tech house, chiptune

32 wikis · Tier 3

Max Richter

United Kingdom · Person · born 1966

ambient music, postminimalism

31 wikis · Tier 3

Boards of Canada

United Kingdom · Group · 1986–present

ambient music, electronica, folktronica, downtempo, intelligent dance music, ambient techno

31 wikis · Tier 3

Ólafur Arnalds

Iceland · Person · born 1986

ambient music, experimental music

29 wikis · Tier 3

Jeremy Soule

United States · Person · born 1975

ambient music

28 wikis · Tier 3

Daniel Lanois

Canada · Person · born 1951

rock music, blues rock, folk rock, experimental rock, blues, pop rock, folk music, art rock, alternative rock, new wave, ambient music, acoustic music

25 wikis · Tier 3

Alison Goldfrapp

United Kingdom · Person · born 1966

ambient music, electronica

21 wikis · Tier 3

Harold Budd

United States · Person · born 1936

jazz, ambient music, avant-garde music, minimalist music

21 wikis · Tier 3

Lil B

United States · Person · born 1989

hip-hop, ambient music, cloud rap, alternative hip-hop, West Coast hip-hop, new age music, lo-fi music, experimental music, outsider music, experimental hip-hop, hyphy, deep funk

20 wikis · Tier 3