Mariachi
The 8 Best Mariachi
Tracks of All Time
Western Mexico's string band tradition, from the Jalisco countryside to the plazas of Mexico City, formalised in the twentieth century around violins, trumpets, vihuela and the great bellied guitarrón.
- Origin
- Jalisco, Mexico, 1900
- Tempo
- 90–160 BPM
- Also known as
- son jalisciense, ranchera, mariachi music
- Tracks
- 8
- Updated
- 2026-08-30
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Number 1: Quirino Mendoza y Cortés / Cielito Lindo
1882
A son written before mariachi had trumpets, and now the thing a stadium full of Mexicans sings without being asked. Dated to its composition; it predates the ensemble that owns it.
Number 2: José Alfredo Jiménez / El Rey
1971
A man with nothing insisting he is still the king. Jiménez could not read music and wrote a thousand songs; this is the one carved on his tomb.
Number 3: Rubén Fuentes / La Bikina
1964
Fuentes was the arranger who standardised the modern mariachi sound, and this is his best tune — a woman walking past, and a whole town watching.
Number 4: Vicente Fernández / Volver, Volver
1972 · CBS
The definitive ranchera performance. Fernández holds the last note past the point of comfort, which is the entire art form compressed into four seconds.
Number 5: Chavela Vargas / La Llorona
1993
Vargas sang rancheras in trousers, without a mariachi, and slower than anyone thought possible. She proved the songs survive being stripped of everything.
Number 6: Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán / Son de la Negra
1940
The unofficial anthem of the form, by the ensemble that effectively defined it. The trumpet figure at the top is what most of the world hears in its head when it hears the word.
Number 7: Lola Beltrán / Paloma Negra
1960
Beltrán at full power, jealous and furious and entirely in control. The counterweight to every claim that this is a men's tradition.
Number 8: José Alfredo Jiménez / Ella
1950
Drinking, dignity and a woman who left. Jiménez wrote the same song repeatedly for two decades and it was a very good song.