Bass. It’s the sonic foundation of music. The layer of sound that makes you tap your toe, nod your head and instantly recollect a song after only a few seconds. Musical bass notes can also reach below the threshold of human hearing (about 20Hz), like when a pipe organ or EDM bass drop hits that guttural tone. Below this frequency, sound is only perceived by the sense of touch. You’re literally feeling the music.

Not all bass is created equal though. To get the most out of your music, you need a quality format like CDs, high-res streaming or FLAC files and capable full-range speakers, or better yet, an SVS subwoofer, to re-create the full dynamic impact and extreme low frequency extension present in music. This post is about recommending and discussing great subwoofer test tracks, but if you are interested in learning how to evaluate low frequency sound and choosing a subwoofer based on your listening preferences, check out 5 Things to Listen For When Choosing a Subwoofer.

To create the list, we asked our social media community the following question:

“We’re writing a post about the best music to show off a subwoofer, what are your favorite albums or songs for chest-thumping, toe-tapping bass?

We organized the results by musical genre and gave credit to those who chimed in. By no means is this list complete, but it’s a great playlist of bass-friendly music and we look forward to growing it as new music emerges and your feedback flows in! On that note, please drop your favorite bass music test tracks and albums in the comments.

Unleash the subwoofers!

Subwoofer Test Track List

Techno / Electronic /EDM

Fakear, Daft Punk – Billy Alibluedy

Long Way Down, Bass Mekanik – Eric Hammond

Pink Froid, Infected Mushroom – Anders Steen

Computer Love, Techmaster P.E.B – Ian Smith

Lonewolf, Emdi x Coorby – Phill Robson

This Sound is for the Underground, Krome & Time – Aaron Hole

The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Underworld, The Orb – Mark Pavey

Under the Influence, The Chemical Brothers – Steve Bull

The Afterlife, Funki Porcini – Richard Somerville

Suntoucher, Groove Armada – Michael Bisceglia

Pulsating Reality, MantisMash – Chad Theofanopoulos

Butterfly, Bass Nectar – Darren Boxhall

The Hills are Alive, Coil – Hri Neil

Watermelon, Ed Rush + Optical – Kai Alvey

Cat Thruster, Deadmau5 – Alex Redman

Super Electric, Bomfunk MCs – Jordan Eves

Warrior’s Dance, Prodigy – Stephen Hayes

Walking with Elephants, Ten Walls – Terry Lowe

Leftfield, Phat Planet – Christian Holm

Fight Club Soundtrack, Fight Club (movie) - @subcrunk

Infinity, Guru Josh - @_neppp

Hear this Style, The Others - @victor_von_honiges

Pandorum - Punish, Code - @faezermusic

Still Standing, Headhunterz - @discostu121

Only You, Digital - @preservationbar

Hip-Hop, R&B and Funk

Worldwide Choppers, Tech N9n – Ben Farrell

License to Ill, Beastie Boys – Scott Capman

Partition, Beyonce – Warwick Brown

On My Level, Wiz Khalifa – Rich Prescott

Yeah, Usher – Bharath Spykee

Crucial Situation, Don Carlos – Thabo Buthelezi

Baduizm, Erykah Badu – Tau Danielsson

I Need a Freak, Too Short – Guy Faulkner

Rigomortis, Kendrick Lamar – Trevor Richardson

Funky Monkey, Mandrill – Henry Thompson

Fool for Your Stockings, ZZ Top – Russ Gladstone

Thug Motivation 101, Young Jeezy – Matt O’Hearn

Dope Man, N.W.A – Lonnie Murphy

Hail Mary, Tupac – Saman Vakili

Boom Boom Pow, Black Eyed Peas – Craig Lapp

Go Deep, Janet Jackson – Brian Abbott

Cherish the Day, Sade – Kirk Denetclaw

Ghostface, Schoolboy Q – Marc Jones

Criminal, Eminem – Nolan Naylor

2001, Dr. Dre – Dinki Beckwith

Maybac Music, Rick Ross – William Smith

The Dukey Stick, George Dukey – Paul Reed

No Type, Rae Srummord – Jay Bird

Shiftee, Onyx – Duane Morris

The Massacre, 50 Cent – Jimmy Blake

Together Again, Janet Jackson - @kirkleft

Magnolia, Playboi Carti - @sebastianlgabor

Low End Theory, A Tribe Called Quest - @djdextrous76

Regulate, Warren G. - @pyrrah_

Drop the Bass, Magic Mike - @joepete58

Magenta Riddim, DJ Snake and The Weekend - @nikhil1037

Let’s Groove, Earth, Wind & Fire - @jessesnyder6

Iced Out, Lil Pump - @kysfagboy123

Classic Rock

Sultans of Swing, Dire Straits – Eric Lapp

Diamonds in the Soles of Her Shoes, Paul Simon – Miguel Quinones

You Shook Me All Night Long, AC/DC – Adrian La Rocca

Pulse, Pink Floyd – Walter McGhee

Bad Sneakers, Steely Dan – Tom Mundal

Hotel California, Eric Clapton Version – Michael Shelton

Moby Dick, Led Zeppelin – Sean Hays

Inside Looking Out (Live), Grand Funk Railroad – William Chism

Echoes (Live in Gdansk), David Gilmour – Lea Newton

The God that Failed, Metallica – Weetam Cutchy

Witch Hunt, Rush – Daniel Wells

Los Endos, Genesis – Joe Bartiromo

It’s a Kind of Magic, Queen – Joe Wareing

Dirty Laundry, Don Henley - @_snapchad_

No More Tears, Ozzy Osbourne - @bluewaterchef

The Seventh Seal, Van Halen - @mcgavinj

Synchronicity (Live), The Police - @redsabound

Heavy Metal

New Elysium, CellDweller – Ben Farrell

Du Hast, Rammstein – Daniel Williamson

Freak on a Leash, Korn – David Smith

13 Steps, Pantera – Chris Ahven

11th Hour, Lamb of God – Christopher Leblanc

Sonder, Tessaract - @bdeelman

War, Mutemath - @justonai

Nothing Else Matters, Metallica – Nick Green

Jazz and Classical

Kites, Submotion Orchestra – Mark Ginsberg

Another Lifetime, Simon Phillips – Edwin Hurd

Ain’t No Sunshine, Boney James – Nick Cole

Jupiter, The Planets (Holst) – Andrew Coates

Toccata & Fugue D Minor, BWV. 565, Bach (Performed by Hannes Kastner) – Paul Taylor

Bachbusters, Don Dorsey – Mark Boyton

1812 Overture, Tchaikovsky - @ochto_neves

Into Darkness, Thomas Bergerson - @benbenkr

Fading Sun, Terje Isungset - @tluomaaho

Alternative/Other

Golden, Kylie Minogue – Erwin Michel Llano

Sail, AWOLNATION – Ross MacGarvey

Long After You’re Gone, Chris Jones – Rob Kingman

Electric Café, Kraftwerk – Travis Yarbrough

Post, Bjork – Dean Rosenberg

Walk on Water, 30 Seconds to Mars – Jack Rowbury

Limit Your Love, James Blake – Dmitryi Patsko

Decaf, White Clouds – Michael Shelton

Flight of the Cosmic Hippo, Bela Fleck & The Flecktones – Jeff Ritzema

The Package, A Perfect Circle – Greg Morrison

Lucky Star, Alex Lloyd – Leif Acworth

Islands, Sara Bareilles – Jeffrey Forner

Going Down to Boston, Dropkick Murphys – Mitchell Fournier

Journey to Arnhemland, Jamiroquai – Brett Hammond

Frankenstein, Edgar Winter – Rod Martinez

Set Me Free, Chris Rea – Kym Pridham

Live at the Dome, Human League – Mark Hinton

Splinter, Gary Numan – Steve Baret

Frogstomp, Silverchair - @william.stanton