The harp is one of the most ancient musical instruments in the world - they have played an important part in human culture for at least 4,500 years.

If you’ve been having fun playing our online harp and are in need of some further inspiration of tunes to play, look no further - in this article we give you our top 10 favourite contemporary tunes featuring the harp.

10. There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart) by Eurythmics

Kicking us off in the number 10 position, is There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart) by the pop duo Eurythmics.

This song, released at the beginning of the 1990s is one of the most well known songs in this list, but one that you might not instantly associate with the harp.

However, the song does feature harp, which makes sense when you think about the subject matter of the song: angels. It’s in the form of a glissando - one of the most iconic ways of playing a harp. A glissando is a rich flourish of notes performed by sweeping the fingers across the strings of the harp in quick succession.

It’s just a few seconds, so blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, but listen closely at 01:08 and 02:17 in the song and you’ll hear angelic harp glissandos heralding the start of chorus.

9. Telephone - Lady Gaga

At number 9, we have Telephone by Lady Gaga from 2009, which is iconic for its stuttering vocals. A solo harp features prominently throughout the intro.

8. Brandy & Monica - The Boy Is Mine

The Grammy Award-winning The Boy Is Mine reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1998 and is a quintessential example of 1990s RnB.

The shimmering harp line that features throughout this song is synthesized, rather than a recording of a real acoustic harp, but nevertheless, we think this tune has a worthy place on our list.

7. Stevie Wonder - If It’s Magic

In the number 7 spot is If It’s Magic by Stevie Wonder, from his Grammy-Award winning 1976 album Songs in the Key of Life.

The prominent harp throughout this piece is played by renowned jazz harpist, Dorothy Ashby.

6. Alex Warren - Ordinary

Ordinary by Alex Warren was released in 2025 and became a huge hit, spending ten consecutive weeks at the top of the charts. The introduction features a harp playing triplet notes, first the notes of the E minor chord, followed by those of D major.

5. Lana Del Rey - Video Games

As a bonus, this song also features church bells, and pizzicato strings, so be sure to check out our Church Bells and Pizzicato Strings instruments if you would like to play along with those instruments too.

4. Florence + The Machine Cosmic Love

Cosmic Love from Florence Welch’s debut album Lungs (released in 2009) is underpinned by beautiful harp flourishes and sequences throughout.

Many of the other songs on this album prominently feature harp - Dog Days are over and You’ve Got The Love to name a couple which are well worth a listen.

3. Manic Street Preachers - Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky

Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky was written by Manic Street Preachers lyricist Richey Edwards after he was moved by a documentary highlighting the plight of animals living their lives in captivity.

The song begins with a beautiful harp and acoustic guitar duet, playing interweaving broken chords.

Not long after the song was written, Edwards went missing - he has not been seen since 1st February 1995, and was sadly declared presumed dead in 2008.

2. Bonobo - Break Apart

Bonobo is the stage name of English musician Si Green. There were two Bonobo tracks in contention for our list, the other one that nearly made the cut was Ketto which was featured in an advert for Citroën C4 Picasso in 2007. Ultimately, we went for Break Apart which features a driving harp arpeggio throughout.

As an added bonus, this song was featured in the Song Exploder podcast where you can hear from Bonobo himself as well as vocalist Rhye about what went into the production of the song.

"I love harps. I love sampling them, I love slowing them down, I love editing them."

Bonobo (Simon Green)

Listen to the full interview below.

1. Cinematic Orchestra - The Arrival of the Birds

This emotion filled piece of music was written by the Cinematic Orchestra for the 2008 nature documentary The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos.

Since then, this timeless piece has won widespread acclaim and has been featured in other media such as the soundtrack to the Theory of Everything (2014).

Now that you’re familiar with our 10 most favourite modern songs featuring the harp, don’t forget to try our free online harp which you can use to play these harp pieces, and many more, right now.

Do you know of any other good contemporary songs that feature the harp? Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below.