Top 20 Most Beautiful French Songs of All Time

The raw description of Amsterdam harbor, the sailors and their longing builds to an insane climax. It's a vocal tour de force that no other artist has ever been able to match like this. Indestructible and forever linked to our own city.

If there's one song the world associates with France, it's this one. Piaf wrote the lyrics herself and gave a voice to hope after the dark war years. It's the dream of perfect love, wrapped in a voice that seems hewn from granite and velvet.

A drunk man wanders through the streets of Brussels; the music video was a sensation, but the song itself is even stronger. The play on words with 'formidable' (wonderful) and 'fort minable' (very pathetic) is brilliant. Stromae at his most vulnerable and genius.

Behind the catchy beat hides a deep trauma: the search for a father who was never there. Stromae weaved his personal history with the genocide in Rwanda into a song that is both painful and danceable. A modern masterpiece.

The ultimate statement of the "Little Sparrow." Piaf sings about her turbulent life with a force that stills you. No regrets, start everything from scratch. It's more than a song; it's the summary of a legendary and marked life.

Stromae combined heavy themes (unemployment, debt) with a beat that forced you to dance. It was the first French-language number 1 hit in years and set the Belgian superstar definitively on the world stage.

Brel doesn't sing about love, he begs not to be abandoned with an intensity that's almost uncomfortable to listen to. The regret about his own mistakes drips from every note. One of the most haunting and beautiful chansons ever created.

A chance encounter, a field in the middle of France and a love that ends as quickly as it began. Fugain paints a romantic picture here that has become the ultimate soundtrack to the French summer in the Netherlands.

A passionate cry to be carried away to distant, sunny shores. Aznavour sings with an urgency that touches you. The song builds beautifully and shows why he remained the absolute master of the chanson into his later years.

As soon as this song starts, you smell fresh croissants and see the Parisian boulevards before you. It's the ultimate vacation feeling captured in a song. Cheerful, uncomplicated and impossible not to hum softly.

Written by the brilliant Serge Gainsbourg, this song won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965. It's clever pop with a double bottom, delivered by the sparkling France Gall.

Although he also sang it in English, the French soul of Aznavour is felt in every note. He was the master of the small gesture and the big emotion. This song is an ode to the complexity of woman and remains one of the most played romantic tracks ever.

In the 1970s, Julien Clerc was a heartbreaker in the Netherlands. "This Melody" has that typical light French pop vibe that takes you directly to a terrace in Provence.

Zaz brought gypsy jazz and the atmosphere of Paris street musicians to the hit lists. "Je Veux" is a cheerful statement against consumerism and for love. Her rough, characteristic voice gave French pop music a much-needed fresh breeze around 2010.

Belgian Kate Ryan breathed new life into this Mylène Farmer classic with a pumping dance beat. It became a huge hit that proved that French-language music is also perfectly at home in the club. A vibrant update of a timeless song.

THE song for the melancholic teenager of the 1960s. Hardy captured the feeling of loneliness and longing perfectly. Her dreamy voice and simple melody make this a timeless monument of French yé-yé pop.

A curious case: a Frenchman singing about Irish lakes, and making one of the biggest party songs in the Netherlands. The epic build-up and bombastic finale make this the fixed closer of many student parties and weddings.

Don't be fooled by the cheerful children's voices; this is a razor-sharp protest song against war and injustice. In the 1970s these boys conquered the hearts of the Netherlands. The message that nothing has really changed despite all the fine words remains sadly current.

Bécaud, also known as 'Monsieur 100,000 Volts', sings here about a Russian guide in an ice-cold Moscow. The song breathes a cinematic atmosphere and the melancholic undertone about an impossible love during the Cold War makes it an absolute masterpiece.

Sometimes a song needs the energy of a live audience to really come alive. Bruel literally screams his frustration and passion here. The live version became much bigger than the original in the Netherlands and remains one of the most intense sing-alongs.

This debut song from Alizée was released in 2000 and is written by singer Mylène Farmer. The single reached the top ten in several European countries, including the Netherlands and Belgium.