With over 300 million speakers of Arabic around the world, there is a huge audience for Arabic music. The official language of over 20 countries, Arabic has many different variations depending on which part of Africa or the Middle East you visit, and this is reflected in some of the music.
In recent years, Arabic singers have grown in popularity on YouTube with many of them getting hundreds of millions of views on their video, but in this guide we are looking at some popular songs from the history of Arabic as well as current hits.
If you are learning Arabic, songs can be a fantastic resource for understanding the language, and in this guide we're also sharing some of the lyrical meanings to help you with the translation of songs from Arabic into English.
Mawṭinī - موطني
This song dates back to the 1930s and is well-known across the Arab world from the Levant region to Arabic Africa due to the fact that it has been widely-used as a national anthem for both Iraq and Palestine.
Appropriately, the lyrics also serve as a love letter to the Arab world. It is written in Classical Arabic meaning that it is an interesting tool for those learning the older forms of the language. The lyrics roughly translate as:
"My homeland, my homeland,
Glory and beauty, sublimity and splendor
Are in your hills, are in your hills.
Life and deliverance, pleasure and hope
Are in your air, are in your air.
Will I see you, will I see you?
Safely comforted and victoriously honored.
Will I see you in your eminence?
Reaching to the stars, reaching to the stars
My homeland, my homeland."
Balti - Ya Lili feat. Hamouda
Released in 2017, this song has achieved the amazing feat of having over 700 million views on YouTube.
The song is written from the perspective of a young child talking to his mother, and the lyrics represent this. It also deals with some very sad themes.
The lyrics in the chorus roughly translate to:
"Oh my night
I want to complain to mom
They said no, no
You are a child and your heart is heavy
I want to fly, fly so high
But they want to cut my wings off
I'm your son, I'm suffocated
And I beg your pardon"
Lamma Bada Yatathanna لما بدا يتثنى
This is a song with an amazing history and many different versions performed by a variety of different artists. It started life as a poem, thought to be written by Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib who died in 1374 AD. That would date this song back over 600 years.
In recent decades, many popular artists from the region have released versions of this song.
The lyrics don't translate amazingly into English but they roughly mean:
"When she appeared with her walk so proudly, The beauty of my love has seduced me, and how, with her gaze she enslaved me
When she bends she's a branch that captivates and oh! in what troubles she puts me
I got no mercy for my wail In love cause of this pain 'but' (and only) from the Queen of Beauty"
Nour El Ein - Amr Diab عمرو دياب - نور العين
Nour El Ain is the title track from one of the most successful Arabic albums of all time. The album came out in the 1990s and was a success outside of the Arab world as well as in Diab's native Egypt.
Amr Diab is undeniably one of the most successful Arabic singers, and this is his most popular song. It has a Mediterranean influence to it, and is extremely catchy. The singer holds a Guinness World Record for "Most World Music Awards for Best Selling Middle Eastern Artist" and much of his reputation comes from this song and album.
A look at some of the lyrics will show you this is most definitely a love song.
"My darling, you are the glow in my eyes,
You live in my imagination,
I have adored you for years,
No one else is in my mind,
My darling, my darling, my darling glow in my eyes"
3 Daqat - Abu Ft. Yousra ثلاث دقات - أبو و يسرا
Another of the more recent songs that shows the incredibly popularity of modern Arabic music, this has over 700 million views on YouTube.
The song features Yousra, an Egyptian actor and extremely influential figure in the area. She has appeared in over 80 films and plenty of serial television dramas which are popular during Ramadan, including 2005's Ahlam 'Adiya (Ordinary Dreams).
This is another love song, and a section of the lyrics translates to:
"I was standing far by the sea at sunset
I was complaining and hanging loosely, explaining to the sea once and again
Suddenly I saw her, and I thought she was a mermaid
Getting out of the water with a glimpse more powerful than magic"
Hussain Al Jassmi - Boshret Kheir بشرة خير
This is not only one of the most popular Arabic songs it is arguably the best-known Arabic music video. The song is by Hussain Al Jassmi, who is famous for a variety of different reasons and even became the first Arab musician to play at the Vatican's annual Christmas concert.
The song itself is a rallying cry, asking Egyptians to get out and vote in their elections and try to make a difference to the way the country is run.
"This is an easy task, and you will do it
To the world you will speak out
And take an oath to make it better
you have been quiet for too long
What did Egypt gain from your silence?"
Hala Alturk & Mashael - Bnayty El Habooba حلا الترك و مشاعل بنيتي الحبوبة
Hala Alturk is a Jordanian-Syrian Bahraini who became a child star back in 2011 after taking part in Arabs Got Talent. Interestingly, she didn't win the tournament, but went on to have an amazingly successful career. This song has over 500 million views, and she also released "Happy Happy" in 2013 which became the first Arabic music video to reach 100 million views on YouTube. Hala Al Turk is still releasing music today as an adult.
The lyrics to this cute song are a back and forth between mother and daughter, when the daughter is scared to go to sleep. A section roughly translates to:
"Mashael: My lovely daughter.
Hala: Here I am.
Mashael: You're so sweet and pretty.
Hala: Yes, I am.
Mashael: My lovely daughter.
Hala: Here I am.
Mashael: You're so sweet and pretty.
Hala: Yes, I am.
Mashael: When I want her to sleep she holds my hand
Hala: Yes, I do.
Mashael: And she asks for a gift.
Hala: Yes, I do.
Mashael: Oh, my darling, sleep, God will treat you. Sleep, my dear, come on.
Hala: I don't want to."
Zouhair Bahaoui - Decapotable (زهير البهاوي - دكابوطابل (فيديو كليب
A bouncy summer number, this was another track to quickly get an amazingly high number of views on YouTube. Just to make things more complicated when it comes to languages, the title "décapotable" is actually from the French language, it means "convertible" and is referring to an open-top, convertible car in this instance.
Zouhair Bahaoui is a huge celebrity in Morocco, and has 10 million followers on his Instagram account.
This seems to be something of a diss track, judging by the lyrics:
"In a convertible
I saw you holding your cellphone
you think you're the real deal
keep lying and riding
in a convertible
I saw you holding your cellphone
I'm sick of this story
of you just hanging around"
More Arabic Songs
If you are looking for recent hits, this Spotify playlist is constantly being updated with some of the top Arabic songs that are released, including brand new music. The Arabic scene includes musicians from many different regions, and there are new songs to take in every single day. When there is a big hit in the Arab world, it tends to get hundreds of millions of YouTube hits, which is the sign of a modern classic.
Summary – The Best Arabic Songs
What do you think of our list of amazing Arabic songs? There is always likely to be some debate as everyone has their own favourite when it comes to Arabic music.
Are you currently learning Arabic? Perhaps you are already working with one of our amazing tutors here on Superprof and building your Arabic vocabulary? Listening to these songs may be an amazing way to boost your learning and take in some of the Arabic culture at the same time.
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