Best Dinner Party Songs
A dinner party song has to survive being talked over. That means mid-tempo, warm production, no sudden dynamics, and familiar without being overplayed. Bill Withers, Khruangbin, Sade and Marvin Gaye are the four most reliable names for it.
The test is whether someone stops talking to ask what this is. Once or twice a night is perfect. Every song is a problem, because then nobody is having dinner.
By Emilis, who builds and plays Aux Battles
Every track hand-picked, with the reason beside it written by someone who plays the game. Album art and clean or explicit flags come from Spotify.
If you only play one
Bill Withers - Lovely Day (1977)
The safest record ever made and not a compromise. If you put on one thing before guests arrive, put on this.
Think you'd pick better? Start a room on "Song for a Dinner Party", everyone submits a song, and your friends vote blind.
- 01
Bill Withers - Lovely Day
1977
The safest record ever made, and not a compromise. The held note near the end is eighteen seconds long and almost nobody at the table will notice it.
- 02
Khruangbin - August 10
2018
Almost entirely instrumental, so it never competes with conversation. Thai funk guitar through a lot of reverb, which reads as expensive without reading as background.
- 03
Sade - Cherish the Day
1992
Sade's catalogue is the single most reliable dinner resource in existence. This is the one with enough tension underneath to keep it from becoming wallpaper.
- 04
Marvin Gaye - Got to Give It Up
1977
Recorded at an actual party, with the guests audible in the mix. It brings its own room noise, which is why it never feels like it is being performed at you.
- 05
Roy Ayers - Everybody Loves the Sunshine
1976
Four chords, a Rhodes and almost no drums. Sampled endlessly since, so most guests will half-recognise it without being able to place it, which is the ideal state.
- 06
Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares for Me
1958
The piano solo is playful rather than showy, which is the difference between jazz that works at dinner and jazz that demands the room.
- 07
Stevie Wonder - Golden Lady
1973
From the side of Innervisions nobody plays. Warm, unhurried, and the chord changes keep moving, so it rewards anyone actually listening without insisting on it.
- 08
Elis Regina - Águas de Março
1974
The Jobim duet. Lyrics in Portuguese are an advantage here: anyone who does not speak it hears the vocals as another instrument.
- 09
Men I Trust - Show Me How
2018
Modern and low-key enough not to date the evening. The bass is the loudest thing in the mix, which keeps it warm at conversational volume.
- 10
D'Angelo - Really Love
2014
Opens with Spanish guitar and a string arrangement, then settles into the slowest groove on this list. Nothing about it is in a hurry, including the drums.
Think you'd pick better? Start a room on "Song for a Dinner Party", everyone submits a song, and your friends vote blind.
- 11
Erykah Badu - Didn't Cha Know
2000
A Dilla beat built on a Tarika Blue loop, and the drums are deliberately dragging. That drag is exactly what makes it work while food is being passed around.
- 12
Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
1970
The one lift on the list, for the point in the evening where the energy needs raising without anyone being asked to dance.
- 13
Tom Misch - It Runs Through Me
2018
Clean guitar, a De La Soul verse and no dynamic range to speak of. Built for exactly this, and unembarrassing in a way most contemporary jazz-adjacent pop is not.
- 14
Nick Drake - Northern Sky
1970
The warmest thing Drake recorded, with John Cale arranging. Best deployed late, once the table has thinned out and people are still sitting there.
- 15
Stan Getz & João Gilberto - The Girl from Ipanema
1964
The bossa nova record everyone half-knows. Soft enough to talk over and pleasant enough that nobody asks to change it, which is the first hour's whole brief.
- 16
Antônio Carlos Jobim - Wave
1967
Jobim's own instrumental, with a gentle bossa pulse and strings. Groove without insistence, exactly what the arrival hour needs.
- 17
Vince Guaraldi Trio - Cast Your Fate to the Wind
1962
A jazz piano trio playing something hummable. Light enough for a room that is still taking coats.
- 18
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five
1959
The 5/4 rhythm sounds relaxed rather than odd, and the saxophone never gets loud. The one jazz record nearly every guest knows without stopping to ask.
- 19
Herbie Hancock - Cantaloupe Island
1964
A loping piano riff that repeats for five minutes. Cool rather than busy, and familiar to anyone who knows the US3 sample.
- 20
Cesária Évora - Sodade
1992
Cape Verdean morna sung in a low, unhurried voice. Gentle enough to sit under conversation and warm enough to fill the room.
- 21
Bebel Gilberto - Samba da Benção
2000
Bossa nova with soft electronic production, from João Gilberto's daughter. The bridge between the classic records and a modern dinner playlist.
- 22
Air - La Femme d'Argent
1998
Seven minutes of bass-led French instrumental. The bassline does the moving so the table does not have to.
- 23
St Germain - Rose Rouge
2000
House music built on a jazz sample, at a volume that never needs to rise. Late in the arrival hour, it hints the evening is going somewhere.
- 24
Nujabes - Aruarian Dance
2004
Mellow jazz-hop from Japan: a soft beat, a flute loop and no lyric competing with the table.
- 25
Bonobo - Kiara
2010
Strings and a soft breakbeat that shift gradually without ever lurching. Good for the moment people move from standing to sitting.
- 26
Donny Hathaway - Valdez in the Country
1973
An instrumental: bright electric piano over a gentle groove. Soul that works as background in the best sense.
- 27
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Cheek to Cheek
1956
Two voices trading lines over a quiet band. Warm, a little playful, and old enough that nobody has strong feelings about it.
- 28
Hiatus Kaiyote - Nakamarra
2012
Neo-soul with a slightly off-kilter groove. Interesting enough to earn one "what is this?", which is exactly the right number.
- 29
BADBADNOTGOOD - Time Moves Slow
2016
A slow soul song played by a jazz band. Sam Herring's voice is the only thing in it above a murmur.
- 30
Cleo Sol - Why Don't You
2020
A quiet vocal over strings and a soft, steady groove. Modern soul that sounds made for a long table.
- 31
Al Green - Let's Stay Together
1971
The most reliable soul record for a table. His voice stays soft even when it climbs, and the groove keeps to the background.
- 32
The Isley Brothers - For the Love of You
1975
The Isleys at their mellowest, gentle guitar and harmonies. Slow enough for the main course, warm enough to hold the room together.
- 33
Earth, Wind & Fire - Can't Hide Love
1975
Horns and harmonies kept just below full volume. Busy enough to lift the room without taking it over.
- 34
Commodores - Easy
1977
A slow, loose ballad that sounds like a lazy Sunday. Nothing in it competes with a conversation.
- 35
Grover Washington Jr. - Just the Two of Us
1980
Bill Withers singing over Grover Washington Jr.'s saxophone. One of the smoothest records of its era, and nobody ever complains about it.
- 36
Anita Baker - Sweet Love
1986
A low, rich voice over a quiet-storm arrangement. Made for exactly this volume.
- 37
Sade - By Your Side
2000
A second Sade pick, because her records are built for this. Spare, slow and calm from the first bar.
- 38
Jill Scott - A Long Walk
2000
A date described over a loose, warm groove. Conversational singing for a room that is having a conversation.
- 39
Corinne Bailey Rae - Put Your Records On
2006
Bright and breezy without being pushy. A song about relaxing that actually makes people relax.
- 40
Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again
2012
Gentle, 70s-flavoured folk soul. Guitar and strings at a comfortable, steady volume.
- 41
Gregory Porter - Hey Laura
2013
A warm baritone over a soft jazz backing. Classic in sound and new enough that nobody has heard it a hundred times.
- 42
Leon Bridges - Coming Home
2015
Early-60s soul revived with clean guitars and a smooth voice. Familiar in feel without being overplayed.
- 43
Durand Jones & The Indications - Is It Any Wonder?
2019
A modern soul band that sounds like a lost 70s single, with a light falsetto and a gentle groove.
- 44
Lianne La Havas - Bittersweet
2020
A slow, warm arrangement that swells without ever getting loud. A good one for the stretch after mains.
- 45
Frank Sinatra - Fly Me to the Moon
1964
Sinatra with the Count Basie band. Recognisable at the two-hour mark, when the table is ready for something everyone knows.
- 46
Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay
1968
The whistled outro and lazy pace suit the end of a meal. Recognisable enough to lift people without startling them.
- 47
Van Morrison - Moondance
1970
A late-evening record by name and by feel. The walking bass and swing lift the room without making anyone shout.
- 48
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Is This Love
1978
Marley at his gentlest. The steady reggae offbeat keeps a late table moving without anyone noticing.
- 49
Mark Ronson - Valerie
2007
The version with Amy Winehouse singing. Save it for late, since it is exactly the kind of record the advice below says to hold back.
- 50
Aretha Franklin - Day Dreaming
1972
Aretha at her quietest, with a flute line and a piano part she wrote herself. Proof that the biggest voice in the room can still be the right dinner record.
Settle it properly
Lists are one person's opinion. Put the same question to your friends instead. Everyone submits their answer to
"Song for a Dinner Party"
and the room votes blind on whose pick was best. Free, no account, about four minutes.
Start the BattleHow to build a dinner playlist
Start lower than feels right. The first hour is arrival and conversation, so anything with an insistent beat will make people talk over it and the room will get louder rather than warmer. What works is groove without insistence, which is mostly the bass player's job; songs with a great bassline are a good place to start.
Keep the dynamic range narrow. A song that drops to almost nothing and then returns loud forces everyone to adjust their voices twice, and that is what people register as bad music at a dinner even when they like the track.
Save the recognisable records for later. "Move On Up" or "Got to Give It Up" at the two-hour mark lifts a table that is already comfortable; the same songs at the start just make the first hour awkward.
What kills a dinner party
Lyrics that demand attention. A story song or anything with a strong narrative pulls half the table out of their conversation, which is why story songs and dinner are a bad combination however good the writing is.
Songs everyone has heard too often. A record played at every wedding for twenty years does not read as warm, it reads as a default, and someone will say so out loud.
And genre whiplash. Six good songs from six unrelated places is worse than fifteen decent ones from the same neighbourhood, because the room re-orients every four minutes instead of settling. Yacht rock and 90s R&B are the two safest neighbourhoods for a table.
Best Dinner Party Songs, answered
What music should you play at a dinner party?
Mid-tempo soul, funk, bossa nova and instrumental jazz-adjacent records, kept in a narrow dynamic range. Bill Withers, Sade, Khruangbin, Roy Ayers and Marvin Gaye are the most reliable starting points.
How loud should dinner party music be?
Quiet enough that two people at opposite ends of the table can hear each other without raising their voices. If anyone repeats themselves twice in a conversation, it is too loud regardless of what is playing.
What should you not play at a dinner party?
Anything with a big dynamic range, anything with a lyric that demands attention, and anything played to death at weddings. Sudden genre changes are the other common mistake, since the room re-orients every time one happens.
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