25 Famous French Songs Every French Learner Should Know

France is a country with a rich culture and strong artistic tradition, and this is something that also extends into the world of music.

However, with a few notable exceptions, not many French artists cross over and become known outside the francophone world.

This is a great shame since there are many exceptional singers and songwriters working in French whose talents deserve wider recognition.

To help rectify this, at least in some small measure, in this post, I list 25 famous French songs that anyone interested in France and French culture – as well as music in the wider French-speaking world – should be familiar with.

Famous French Songs: Classics

1. Non, je ne regrette rien – Édith Piaf

I can’t compile a list of famous French songs without including at least one track by Édith Piaf, a giant of the cabaret and modern chanson genres, of French music more generally and of French culture as a whole.

Born in Paris in 1915, Piaf led an eventful life that has been the subject of several biographies, most recently in the film known to English speakers as La vie en rose (Life in Pink) and in the francophone world as La môme (The Girl). 

Non, je ne regrette rien (No, I don’t regret anything) was first performed in 1961, just two years before her death in 1963.

The song is typically defiant, declaring in blunt language je me fous du passé, a rather crude expression that can be translated loosely as “I don’t give a damn about the past”.

It remains one of the most recognisable songs in the French language, and it was given fresh exposure more recently when it was used in the 2010 film Inception Starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

2. Tout va très bien, Madame la Marquise – Ray Ventura

Paris-born Ray Ventura was a French jazz pianist and bandleader who was credited with bringing jazz music to France in the 1930s.

Tout va très bien, Madame la Marquise (Everything is Fine, Madame Marchioness) is one of Ventura’s most famous and most popular songs.

Its humorous lyrics tell the story of said marchioness who has been away for 2 weeks and who calls home to see how things are going.

On the other end of the telephone, her head servant James tries to convince her that everything is fine, despite a succession of events – such as the death of her horse…which died when the stables caught fire…as the whole chateau burned… – that point to the contrary.

Each of these disastrous events, the servant tries to pass off as un tout petit rien (nothing at all). The song is seen as a metaphor for the way France continued to ignore the escalating tensions that would soon lead to the outbreak of the Second World War. 

3. Le tourbillon de la vie – Jeanne Moreau

An actress, singer, songwriter and director, Jeanne Moreau was born in Paris in 1928. 

She began her career on the stage, and by the 1940s – when she was still only in her 20s – she was already making a name for herself. Subsequently, she began appearing in films, with her most prolific decade being the 1960s – although she continued to act into the 1980s.

Le tourbillon de la vie (the Whirlwind of Life) was a song she sang in the 1962 French romantic drama film Jules et Jim. 

The film, which is set before and after the First World War, tells the tale of the eponymous Jim, a Frenchman, and Jules, a shy Austrian writer.

The two are close friends, but they find themselves on opposing sides during the conflict – and they also love the same woman, the character played by Moreau.

The song is about a man who falls in love with a woman who he can’t have but who continues to torment him. This mirrors the experience of Jim in the film, adding an extra layer of pathos to Jim’s story.

4. La bohème – Charles Aznavour

Charles Aznavour was a French-Armenian singer, lyricist and actor who was also known for his political and civil activism.

He was possessed of a distinctive and powerful voice, and during his career of over 70 years, he recorded around 1,200 songs – of which, 1,000 were songs he wrote himself or wrote in collaboration with others.

Of these, La bohème (The Bohemian Lifestyle) was among his best-known and most loved. It is a nostalgic song in which a painter reminisces about his younger days as an aspiring artist, and through it, Aznavour recalls the final days of bohemian life in Montmartre.

To this day, the song is considered a classic of the French chanson genre.

5. L’idole des jeunes – Johnny Hallyday

Johhny Hallyday – known affectionately in the francophone world simply as “Johhny” – is the singer credited with bringing rock and roll to France.

His incredible career lasted 57 years and saw him record an astonishing 79 albums, singing more than 1,150 songs. 

He sold over 110 million records, which not only makes him one of the most successful francophone artists of all time but also one of the best-selling artists globally.

L’dole des jeunes (The Idol of the Young) was one of his earlier hits, clearly showing the influence of the likes of Elvis Presley that inspired the first part of his career.

Following the success of this and other tracks from the same period, his popularity never waned, and long before his death at the age of 74 in late 2017, he had achieved the status of French national treasure. 

Famous French Songs: Rock

6. L’homme pressé – Noir Désir

Noir Désir – meaning “Black Desire” – was a French rock band from Bordeaux that formed in 1980 when founding members Bertrand Cantat and Serge Teyssot-Gay were only 16 and 17 respectively.

Teyssot-Gay had some musical experience, having played guitar for around 10 years. However, neither Cantat, who became the lead singer, nor the drummer they took on, had any musical training.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, their first release, a mini-album, was not a huge success. However, it showed promise and sold more copies than expected, which was enough to convince their label to offer them a new deal.

Their second release and first full album was different. Critically acclaimed, it was certified gold in France, bringing their music to a much wider audience. 

In the decades that followed, they would go on to cement their place as one of the most popular rock bands that France has ever produced.

L’homme pressé (The Man in a Hurry) was taken from their 1996 album 666.667 Club, which went on to be certified double platinum. It is one of their most recognisable tracks and encapsulates the band’s typically raw sound along with the lead singer’s unrelenting delivery.

Noir Désir disbanded in 2010 although they still occasionally release new music – their latest single, Imbécile (Imbecile), came out in 2020.

7. Cendrillon – Téléphone

Cendrillon (Cinderella) is one of the most famous French songs by French rock band Téléphone who were active from 1976 to 1986. 

While they were together, they recorded five studio albums that sold a total of over 10 million copies, making them the best-selling French rock band of all time. At the height of their fame, they opened shows for The Rolling Stones.

The band temporarily reformed from 2015 to 2017 under the name Les Insus, which is short for Les Insupportables (The Unsufferables) – although they were not joined by the original bassist, which was why they chose a different name.

As Les Insus, they performed at live events and released a live album before disbanding again.

8. Une dernière danse – Kyo

A French band that first formed in 1997, Kyo is a French rock outfit that is responsible for seven studio albums including a number one and two number twos in the French charts.

Dernière danse (Last Dance) comes from their second album, the 2003 record entitled Le chemin (The Path). Reaching number six in France and number four in French-speaking Belgium, it is the band’s most successful single so far.

In 2005, the band took a break from making music, returning only in 2013. 

Despite the hiatus, the band was heavily involved in the 2006 single L’or de nos vies (The Gold of Our Lives), a collaboration with a large number of other artists to record a charity record in support of the fight against AIDS.

9. L’apologie – Matmatah

Formed in Brittany in 1995, Matmatah is a popular and influential rock band with a discography that includes seven studio albums.

After temporarily splitting up in 2008, they reformed in 2016 and remain active today – their latest album was released in 2023.

L’apologie (The Apology) was taken from their first album, La Ouache (ouache is a Breton word – avoir la ouache is the equivalent of the French idiom avoir la pêche, which roughly translates as “to be full of beans”).

This debut album eventually went on to sell 800,000 copies, laying the foundations for the band’s subsequent continued success.

Famous French Songs From Overseas Territories & Belgium

10. Le bal masqué – La Compagnie Créole

Although it’s sometimes easy to forget, France is more than just the mainland, also comprising a number of overseas regions and territories. See my post about French-speaking countries for more on this.

La Compagnie Créole is a pop group from French Guiana in South America that was formed in the 1970s. At first, they performed in the local creole language but quickly switched to French as their main language as they came to greater prominence.

Among their most recognisable songs is Le bal masqué (The Masked Ball), an uplifting track performed in their typical Caribbean style.

The band is still active today, and in 2020, they released a new version of this song entitled Sortons masqué (Let’s Go Out Wearing Masks) to encourage people to wear face masks during the covid pandemic.

11. Alors on danse – Stromae

Stromae is a Belgian rapper, songwriter and producer who shot to fame with this track, Alors on danse (So We Dance), a release that typifies his signature blending of rap and electronic music.

Born in Brussels to a Flemish Belgian mother and a Rwandan father, Stromae has since released a further two albums, with his most recent, Multitude, appearing in 2022.

His stage name comes from the inversion of the two syllables of the word “maestro”, which is an example of the French slang known as verlan where syllables are reversed to make new words.

12. Balance ton quoi – Angèle

Angèle, full name Angèle Van Laeken is a singer-songwriter from Belgium.

To date, she has two studio albums to her name, both of which topped the charts in French-speaking Belgium – her first album also reached number one in France, but her second offering just missed out, peaking at number two.

Balance ton quoi, which can be translated as “denounce your what”, was Angèle’s contribution to the #MeToo movement in France, which used the tagline balance ton porc (denounce your pig).

Typically spiky and combative, the song is scathing in its criticism of the sexism and misogyny found in modern society and advocates the use of education to eradicate the kind of ignorance that perpetuates these attitudes.

Famous French Songs By Talent Show Contestants

13. Ma philosophie – Amel Bent

Parisian Amel Bent first made her name as a contestant in the TV talent show Nouvelle Star (New Star), the French version of Pop Idol.

She didn’t win the competition, being eliminated in the semi-final. However, she was still offered a record deal, and her first album, Un jour d’été (A Day of Summer), went on to sell 550,000 copies in France, largely on the back of the single Ma philosophie (My Philosophy).

Bent, whose father is Algerian and whose mother is Moroccan, has released a total of eight studio albums, finally scoring her first number one in the French chart with her latest offering, Vivante (Alive), which came out in 2021.

14. Entre Nous – Chimène Badi

Chimène Badi’s path has many parallels with the experiences of Amel Bent. 

Also born in Paris with Algerian heritage, she entered the televised talent show Popstars – and despite failing to win, was still offered a contract by a record label.

Her first single, Entre Nous (Between Us) made it to number one in the French chart, and the album of the same name from which it was taken peaked at number four.

Her second album, Dis-moi que tu m’aimes (Tell Me That You Love Me) is her only album to date that reached number one in France – but several of the other seven albums she has subsequently released have broken into the top five or top ten.

15. Je vole – Louane

Like others on this list, Louane Emera (real name Anne Peichert and often known as just Louane) rose to prominence on the back of an appearance in a televised talent show.

In the 2013 season of The Voice: la plus belle voix, she reached the semi-finals – yet despite not winning the competition, she did enough to effectively launch her musical career.

In 2015, she released her first album, Chambre 12 (Bedroom 12), which made it to number one in the French charts. She followed this up with another number one-selling album entitled Louane and has since released two further albums.

Following her appearance on The Voice, she was also cast in the 2014 film La famille Bélier (The Bélier Family). 

In it, she plays the 16-year-old daughter of deaf parents who has a special talent for singing. 

The film sees her perform the song Je vole (I fly) at an audition that has the potential to grant her a place in college and allow her to seek a better life – but to do so, she has to leave her parents to make her own way in the world.

Famous French Songs: Jazz

16. J’aime plus Paris – Thomas Dutronc

One of the most recognisable French tracks from the 2000s, J’aime plus Paris (I don’t love Paris Anymore) was one of Thomas Dutronc’s biggest hits.

Born into a family of musicians – his mother was a singer, songwriter and guitarist while his father was a singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor – Dutronc is known for his jazz manouche or “gypsy jazz” style.

So far, he has eight albums to his name, scoring four top-five entries – including the 2020 album Frenchy, which reached number two and featured collaborations with Iggy Pop, Dianna Krall, Billy Gibbons and Rocky Gresset.

17. Je veux – Zaz

Zaz is the stage name of Isabelle Geffroy, a French singer known for incorporating elements of jazz, French variety, soul, acoustic and funk into her music.

She studied music at the Conservatoire de Tours in her hometown and started her musical career singing in several bands from 2001 on.

She released her first album as a solo artist in 2010, simply entitled Zaz – the outstanding track from the album was Je veux (I want), which is still the song she is best known for.

Blessed with an emotive and easily recognisable voice, she has sold over five million albums throughout her career. Of these, over two million were sold outside of France, a rare and impressive feat for a singer who performs almost exclusively in French.

Famous French Songs: Rap

18. Marly-Gomont – Kamini

France has a rich tradition of rap music, and Kamini is an artist who managed to cement his place in that tradition in a rather unconventional way.

Marly-Gomont was the name of his first single and also the village in the north of France where he grew up. In the song, he raps fondly about the place where he spent his childhood and also deals with the theme of belonging to the only black family living there.

He filmed the video for the song himself on a budget of only €100 and then emailed it to a list of record companies. Nobody offered him a deal, but the link to the song was shared online, and the video went viral – which led to him eventually being signed up by a record label.

Famous French Songs By Singer-Songwriters

19. Tous les cris de SOS – Daniel Balavoine

Singer-songwriter, musician and producer, Daniel Balavoine was a popular and influential French artist who was most active during the early 1980s.

Early on, after deciding to pursue a career in music, he found success hard to come by, especially when trying to make it as a solo artist. 

However, his breakthrough came when he was cast in Starmania, a rock opera and cultural phenomenon that was co-written by Michel Berger, with whom he afterwards formed a strong lifelong friendship.

His 1985 album Sauver l’amour (Save Love) was his most successful record and spawned a succession of hits. One of these was Tous les cris de SOS, a tortured song about loneliness and miscommunication.

20. Ça m’énnerve – Helmut Fritz

Helmut Fritz is a fictional character and an alias of the French singer-songwriter Éric Greff. The character was created by Greff to provide a backstory to his 2009 song Ça m’énnerve (It Annoys Me) about a rich German-born dandy living in Paris.

The humorous electro-house pop track – which, for me, has some distinct Gangnam Style vibes (a track it predates by three years) – reached number one in France as well as number three in the French-speaking part of Belgium.

Greff also released an album and two other singles under the same alias. He is also known by another alias, Géronimo.

21. Quand la musique est bonne – Jean-Jacques Goldman

Jean-Jacques Goldman is a retired French singer-songwriter who, as well as having an exceptionally successful career as an artist in his own right, also wrote many singles and albums for other artists.

Notably, he was behind Céline Dion’s D’eux, the best-selling French-language album of all time.

Goldman launched his career in 1975 as a member of progressive rock group Taï Phong, meaning “Typhoon” in Vietnamese.

The first three albums by this group were in English, but despite counting the likes of The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix among his early influences, Goldman had ambitions to sing in French. As a result, he decided to leave the band and embark on a solo career. 

Quand la musique est bonne (When the Music is Good) was taken from his untitled second album and was one of the tracks that saw him rise to fame (his first two albums were both untitled because the record label rejected the names he chose).

He stopped performing and releasing music as a solo artist in 2004, although he continues to write music for others. However, his 29 years as an active musician were enough to establish him as one of the bestselling French artists of all time.

22. Mistral gagnant – Renaud

Although not really known outside of the francophone world, Reneaud has been enduringly popular among French speakers since he launched his career in the 1970s.

Known for his typically Parisian turn of phrase and songs that deal with both light and serious issues, often with a wry sense of humour, Renaud has released 19 studio albums to date, scoring a succession of number ones in the French charts.

Mistral gagnant was the title track from his 1985 album of the same name. It is a bitter-sweet song about how time flies when he is with his young daughter, and he realises that too soon, she will grow up and those days will be lost forever. 

A mistral was a kind of sweet that used to be sold in France. Sometimes, they would come with a winning ticket that entitled the holder to another one for free – hence a mistral gagnant (winning mistral).

At the time the song was written, these sweets were already no longer available, adding a sense of nostalgic melancholy to the track.

23. Fils de France – Saez

Damien Saez, usually known simply as Saez, took an early interest in music, starting piano lessons at the age of eight before moving on to the guitar.

He began his career singing covers but was more interested in writing his own original material, which drove him to pursue a solo career.

His first album, Jours étranges (Strange Days, deliberately named after The Doors’ album Strange Days) was a huge success, going double platinum. He has since released a further 13 albums, scoring several entries in the French top five.

Fils de France (Son of France) is a particularly powerful and poignant song. It was written and recorded in only 10 hours as a protest against the far right after Jean-Marie Le Pen qualified for the second ballot in the 2002 presidential election.

The song was then posted on the Universal Music website for free. 

The issues he was addressing have not gone away – Le Pen’s daughter Marine Le Pen continues to champion similar far right causes today and has also challenged for the presidency.

24. Ma liberté de penser – Florent Pagny

Florent Pagny is a successful and influential French singer-songwriter who has also appeared in several films. Having sold over six million singles and 10 million albums, he is among the best-selling French recording artists of all time.

However, with his success came wealth – and this led him into conflict with the French treasury, which claimed he had hidden a certain proportion of his income. Ma liberté de penser (My Freedom to Think) is his response to this.

Some may see the song as an anthem of defiance against the authorities – it topped the charts in both France and French-speaking Belgium.

However, others might see it as the cynical response of a rich man who simply doesn’t want to pay his fair share of taxes.

In any case, as a result of the dispute with the tax office, Pagny left France and moved to Patagonia – and whether or not you have sympathy for his “plight”, this track remains among his most famous songs to date.

25. Je dis aime – -M-

 -M- is the alias of French multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Matthieu Chedid. Under this alias, Chedid blends the nouvelle chanson, electronic and rock genres to create his own distinctive sound.

Naturally shy, Chedid created the -M- character, a superhero noted for his eccentric and flamboyant costumes, to help give himself more confidence on stage.

His single Je dis aime (I Say Love) was taken from the album of the same name. The album sold over 500,000 copies and peaked at number 11 in the French charts, making it his most successful record to date.

The name of the album is a play on words with his alias due to the pronunciation of “M” and aime in French.

Famous French Songs FAQ

An Insight Into French Culture And A Language Boost

In this post, I’ve given you a broad selection of famous French songs by a range of artists performing in different genres, including pop, rock, rap and more.

The best thing to do is to start listening to these tracks simply for enjoyment and to discover some new French-speaking artists you might not have known about before.

However, if you then want to look up the lyrics and even learn to sing these famous French songs yourself, that’s a great way to pick up some advanced French vocabulary and French phrases in a way that fixes them effectively in your long-term memory. 

Another way to get French words to stick in your brain is to use the StoryLearning method where you learn through stories, not rules. The best way to try it is with my course, French Uncovered. If you’re ready to get started, click here for a 7-day FREE trial.

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.