There is some music that is unavoidable if you learn Spanish, some that is obvious to find, and some not so obvious. Either way, it’ll all help you on your quest to becoming better at Spanish. Here’s a list of my personal favourite Spanish language musicians!

Calle 13

Calle 13 are a Puerto Rican reggaeton group who shouldn’t be ignored. One of their most recent songs features Julian Assange of Wikileaks fame doing a bit of rapping. I don’t think there’s much else I can say about that, if that last sentence doesn’t intrigue you to watch the video below then nothing will.

Daddy Yankee

Unbelievably cheesy reggaeton pop + Spanish lyrics = a little bit of fun revision!

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Perrozompopo

Hailing from a musical family in Nicaragua, Perrozompopo has plenty to make music about. His album Quiero Que Sepas is definitely worth a listen. It’s available on iTunes and although there’s not much about him on YouTube, there is this beautiful acoustic version of the title track from that album.

Julieta Venegas

Julieta Venegas is a Mexican songstress who has 6 albums under her belt. Lyrics include “I love you with lemon and salt.” So that’s always good.

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Manu Chao

Singing in…wait for it…Spanish, French, English, Italian, Portuguese and Galician (wow!) Manu Chao is someone you’ll come across sooner or later in your Spanish studies. From a (slightly edited!) version of Me Gustas Tú to Clandestino at a higher level, he’ll bud up and he’ll be useful. And relaxing. And confusing. And addictive.

Enrique Iglesias/Christina Aguilera/Jennifer Lopez/Nelly Furtado

I’m going to group these ones together! You probably know them for their English music, but these guys often have Spanish versions of popular songs that might be familiar to you in English. They recorded them just for you. Well, maybe not. But, hey, we can pretend.

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Juanes

Truth be told, Juanes is cool. Not only that, you can actually hear every word he says! If you haven’t already come across La Camisa Negra, then now is the time. Enjoy!

Chenoa

Chenoa is a Spanish pop chica with some ridiculously catchy songs. Just like Juanes, her lyrics are a little more friendly on the ears of a new(ish) Spanish learner.

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Ojos de Brujo

When you think “Ok, I need some music to help me learn Spanish”, Ojos De Brujo might well be exactly what you had in mind. Flamenco-ee (yes, that’s a word) guitars and lots of “he he, ole” with a slight rock vibe. Viva España.

Shakira

I did say some were obvious! Besides, Shakira is the reason I speak Spanish – in fact the reason I speak all the languages I do and the reason I’m writing this to you now having based my job around languages.

You see, way back in 2003 Shakira appeared and was awesome. I bought her album, Laundry Service, and there were some Spanish songs on it. I was intrigued. For my birthday, I asked for a Spanish dictionary and another of her albums that was completely in Spanish (Dónde Están los Ladrones? for uber fans). This led to me doing Spanish GCSE, which to do I had to also do French GCSE. After that I ended up doing both subjects for A level, just because. Then a fair few years later here I am – teaching, blogging and vlogging about languages for a living. Doing something I love. So Shakira, I thank you.

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Spanish Con Salsa!

If you want to use music to learn more Spanish, then Spanish Con Salsa is for you! Tamara has created such a good course for Spanish learners to bring a little fun into their learning. Check it out here. (That’s my affiliate link because I love Tamara’s work!)