With more than 3 billion playlists, it's safe to say that Spotify has a playlist for every occasion. So, of course, there are quite a few full of background music.

So, if you’re looking for music to play in the background at a social gathering, or music to help you study or work, then Spotify has your covered.

To help you sort the wheat from the chaff, we've found the best Spotify playlists to use as background music.

1. The Ultimate Background Music Playlist

The Ultimate Background Music Playlist lives up to its name. It’s a playlist of nearly 250 songs, with over 14 hours of play time. The songs are soft and instrumental, created using soothing instruments like guitar, piano, and violin.

It’s the perfect set-it-and-forget-it playlist suitable as background music for an office, home, or social gathering.

2. Lo-Fi Hip-Hop Playlist by Chilledcow

Chilledcow became popular with its 24-hour livestream of lo-fi hip-hop songs. Using this playlist, you can get a similar experience, but without the need to open YouTube.

This playlist is definitely more lo-fi beats than hip-hop but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a great playlist for working. The beats are quite consistent and the songs provide a bit of the variety which you will appreciate while you're trying to be productive.

3. Japanese Lo-Fi Hip-Hop

This is one of those delightful discoveries that the internet is now famous for. You wouldn’t think that Japanese, lo-fi, and hip-hop would go together. But it does, and how.

This playlist of 30 tracks will get your feet moving with the beats, but will still help you keep your focus on what you’re doing. If you like listening to game soundtracks, you should enjoy this playlist.

4. Pure Mellow Jazz

Jazz music is a good fit for work and study. But sometimes, jazz can go a bit over the top, and end up distracting you from the job at hand. This is where the Pure Mellow Jazz playlist comes in.

As the name suggests, mellowness in the music is a priority here. You’ll be able to enjoy the signature sounds of sweet jazz---piano, sax and drums---all while focusing on your work.

5. Lo-Fi Beats

Spotify’s own Lo-Fi Beats playlist is quite good. It’s a 99-song playlist that is designed to help you relax and focus. If you’re new to the lo-fi genre, this playlist is a good place to start.

The songs featured here have all the hallmark traits of a lo-fi song. The quality of production is lower than a mainstream song so you can hear the imperfections in the songs. As this is digitally generated music, you’ll find it similar to electronic and house music.

6. Instrumental Pop Covers

If you’re a fan of instrumental music and pop songs, you’ll enjoy this playlist. It has a huge collection of instrumental covers of popular pop songs. So there are songs you’re probably familiar with, but presented in an unfamiliar style.

7. Instrumental Study

If you find the instrumental pop songs distracting, try this Instrumental Study playlist from Spotify. It has a collection of smooth and mellow instrumental tracks designed to help you focus on the task at hand, whether it’s studying, writing, or working.

8. Deep House Relaxing Study Music

The Grand Sound makes some of the best mixtapes on YouTube, and this Spotify playlist is no exception. It’s a constantly updated list of 100 deep house songs that will help you focus and work.

Deep house is a subgenre of house music. If you’re new to electronic music, it can seem like all music is trance music. But there’s a huge variety there. Deep house is not your everyday DJ music. It is mellower, has lyrics, and there are no huge beat drops.

Oddly enough, this makes deep house the perfect music for both relaxation and concentration. You can play it at work or to relax when you finish for the day. For most people, deep house music can be a reliable and inspiring writing partner.

9. Classical Essentials

If you’re a fan of classical music, use this playlist as your background music when working or studying. The playlist features artists like Beethoven, Philip Glass, Charles Ives, and more.

10. Piano in the Background

Sometimes simplicity is all you need. This playlist is all about mellow piano tracks. Nothing fancy or over the top, just relaxing piano music that lasts for hours on end.

11. The Chillhop Cafe Playlist

This playlist of chill instrumental hip-hop beats merges classic jazz and instrumental sounds with modern electronic music. It’s designed to be played in cafes but it works great as background music for working and studying as well.

12. Ambient Relaxation

As the name suggests, this playlist is filled with ambient sounds. Simple yet larger-than-life notes stretched through time. If you’re looking to play something in the background at a low volume, this can be a good fit. It’s a noticeably marked contrast from the lo-fi hip-hop and deep house mixes featured above.

13. Peaceful Meditation

Just like these calming apps to relax you, this Spotify playlist is designed to help you meditate. If you can’t meditate in silence, this playlist can be the next best thing. It features calming songs and instrumentals. They give you a serene feeling. But for some, this playlist can also act as writing or studying music as well.

14. Girl Talk - All Day

Girl Talk - All Day is a mixtape created by sampling dozens of hip-hop and rap songs. If you’re looking for something upbeat, use this playlist which features multiple mixtape albums by Girl Talk.

15. Nature Sounds

This is the perfect playlist when you need to add a bit of calm to proceedings. You can forget about lo-fi beats and instrumentals, and play some nature sounds instead. This playlist features everything from rivers, forests, trees, birds, and more.

Master Spotify With Our Unofficial Guide

Listening to playlists created by other people is just a small part of the Spotify experience. You can also create your own playlists and collaborate on them with your friends, listen to artist radio, and listen to podcasts as well. Read all about it the many things you can do with Spotify in our unofficial guide to Spotify.