1001 Albums
en
Create account

55 albums · 1956–2023

Music of Canada, from Félix Leclerc and Leonard Cohen to Rush, Arcade Fire, Drake and today

· 2 min read · by 1001 Albums

Leonard Cohen on stage with his hat in his hand
Les Cowboys Fringants on stage at the Métropolis in MontréalTanya Tagaq singing into a microphone
Leonard Cohen on stage in Geneva in 2008. Photo: Rama, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, via Wikimedia Commons. · Les Cowboys Fringants at the Métropolis in Montréal in 2016. Photo: 0x010C, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Tanya Tagaq at the Riddu Riđđu festival in 2019. Photo: Kimberli Mäkäräinen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Canada's popular music has two languages and a lot of country between them: the chanson of Québec in Félix Leclerc, Gilles Vigneault, Robert Charlebois, Beau Dommage and Harmonium, and later Jean Leloup, Les Cowboys Fringants and Cœur de pirate, the singer-songwriters Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot and Buffy Sainte-Marie, The Band, Rush and The Tragically Hip, the Montréal of Arcade Fire, the pop of Céline Dion, Shania Twain and Alanis Morissette, Toronto's Drake and The Weeknd, the fiddle of Cape Breton with Natalie MacMaster, the throat singing of Tanya Tagaq, Oscar Peterson's jazz and Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations for a nod to the concert hall. The list has 55 records from 1956 to 2023, one by each name and only a small part of what they made; Neil Young has a list of his own, and most of jazz and classical, country beyond a nod, the fiddle of the Maritimes beyond a few and the song of the North beyond Tagaq, Jeremy Dutcher and Elisapie are left for other lists. About 42 hours of music, 5 days of a few records each.

By genre

Rock 16%Pop 13%Folk & Country 11%Other 60%
  • Rock 16%
  • Pop 13%
  • Folk & Country 11%
  • Other 60%

The genres named most: canadian, québécois, pop, folk, rock, indie rock.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 1 country: Canada 55. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

The 1950s

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

More lists

Lists of Countries first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.