# The 8 Best Tango Tracks of All Time

The music of the Río de la Plata, assembled in the port districts of Buenos Aires and Montevideo from habanera, milonga and immigrant song. Defined by the bandoneón — a German church instrument that ended up in Argentina by accident.

- **Origin:** Buenos Aires and Montevideo, 1880
- **Tempo:** 50–130 BPM
- **Also known as:** tango argentino, tango nuevo, rioplatense
- **Tracks:** 8
- **Updated:** 2026-08-30
- **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/tango/

## The list

### 1. [Gerardo Matos Rodríguez](https://waxonia.com/artist/gerardo-matos-rodriguez/) — [La Cumparsita](https://waxonia.com/track/gerardo-matos-rodriguez--la-cumparsita/)

*1916*

Written by a Uruguayan student and now the tune every tango evening ends with, everywhere on earth. Its authorship was litigated for decades, which is very much in the spirit of the thing.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Gerardo%20Matos%20Rodr%C3%ADguez%20La%20Cumparsita) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvx4u4Zd7zQ)

### 2. [Ástor Piazzolla](https://waxonia.com/artist/astor-piazzolla/) — [Adiós Nonino](https://waxonia.com/track/astor-piazzolla--adios-nonino/)

*1959*

Written the day after his father died, in a hotel room in New York. Piazzolla was hated in Buenos Aires for what he did to tango, and this is the piece that eventually ended the argument.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/%C3%81stor%20Piazzolla%20Adi%C3%B3s%20Nonino) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=WWursLMsEHU)

### 3. [Ángel Villoldo](https://waxonia.com/artist/angel-villoldo/) — [El Choclo](https://waxonia.com/track/angel-villoldo--el-choclo/)

*1903*

From the guardia vieja, when tango was still disreputable and played in places respectable people did not go. Cheerful, filthy, and structurally the blueprint.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/%C3%81ngel%20Villoldo%20El%20Choclo) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zIOg7fDeQXM)

### 4. [Carlos Gardel](https://waxonia.com/artist/carlos-gardel/) — [Volver](https://waxonia.com/track/carlos-gardel--volver/)

*1935 · Odeon*

Gardel died in a plane crash months after recording it, which has not helped anyone hear it clearly. Strip the myth away and the phrasing is still unmatched.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Carlos%20Gardel%20Volver) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MCwtzp8b8uk)

### 5. [Ástor Piazzolla](https://waxonia.com/artist/astor-piazzolla/) — [Libertango](https://waxonia.com/track/astor-piazzolla--libertango/)

*1974 · Carosello*

A riff rather than a song, and the most covered thing he wrote. Tango nuevo at its most exportable, and it lost him the last of the traditionalists.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/%C3%81stor%20Piazzolla%20Libertango) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=8UNtQpMMSEM)

### 6. [Osvaldo Pugliese](https://waxonia.com/artist/osvaldo-pugliese/) — [La Yumba](https://waxonia.com/track/osvaldo-pugliese--la-yumba/)

*1946*

Pugliese's orchestra played with a lurch — heavy on the first beat, dragging the second — that dancers still call by his name. Rhythm as a signature.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Osvaldo%20Pugliese%20La%20Yumba) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lHbWqiVaUHY)

### 7. [Carlos Gardel](https://waxonia.com/artist/carlos-gardel/) — [El Día Que Me Quieras](https://waxonia.com/track/carlos-gardel--el-dia-que-me-quieras/)

*1935 · Odeon*

The other side of Gardel: no irony, no port-district hardness, just a tune of enormous warmth. Written with Alfredo Le Pera, who died in the same crash.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Carlos%20Gardel%20El%20D%C3%ADa%20Que%20Me%20Quieras) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ubvfktaFkJ8)

### 8. [Ástor Piazzolla](https://waxonia.com/artist/astor-piazzolla/) — [Balada para un Loco](https://waxonia.com/track/astor-piazzolla--balada-para-un-loco/)

*1969*

Half spoken, half sung, and booed at the festival where it premiered before becoming a standard. Horacio Ferrer's lyric is deranged in the best way.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/%C3%81stor%20Piazzolla%20Balada%20para%20un%20Loco) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=8t8VaVgSDfc)

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