Fortnite, Epic Games’ wildly popular battle royale, has been a platform for music streaming for quite some time now. Recently, it even launched its own built-in rhythm game, Fortnite Festival, which has been headlined by icons like Lady Gaga, The Weeknd, and most recently, Billie Eilish.
But what’s even more impressive is the sheer amount of original music Epic Games has created for Fortnite, and how that music spans dozens of genres, from K-pop to country to grime. The lobby music, as it’s more commonly known, is often made up of instrumental scores that are season or character-specific, but there’s also a lengthy track list of songs that sound like they belong on your local pop radio station.
Interestingly, only some of these songs can be traced back to a real-life artist, which begs the question: how is Epic making all of this music? (Stay tuned, we’re investigating.)
We asked Epic to send us a list of Fortnite’s original music, then went through and manually eliminated any song that was more score than radio single, leaving a whopping 50 songs. Then, we ranked them from worst to best. Click through to see how they measure up.
50. “Axe To Grind”
I hate this sharp-toothed bunny man and I hate this forced edge lord song.
49. “Flake That”
This is one of those loud, irritating reminders that Fortnite is largely meant to appeal to children, but why is this about…eating unicorn feet? I’m so disgusted by this.
48. “Lil Whip”
This is one of those songs that an army of bratty little boys with popsicle mouths would yell on the playground. I hate it.
47. “Welcome to the Split Show”
Make it stop.
46. “Chewer’s Choice”
I do not like any of the food-themed songs in Fortnite, if you haven’t already noticed that pattern.
45. “Pop It”
Songs like this seem to want to evoke the Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse soundtrack but they fall so, so short.
44. “Dark Nights/Red Lights”
This song starts off strong with a great beat, but once those vocals come in I want to jab pencils in my ears.
43. “Orbital Overload”
I am 90% positive this song gave me a migraine.
42. “Batter Up Buddies”
This is giving knock-off, sanitized Ke$ha.
41. “Frosty Serenade”
There’s only one really good holiday-themed Fortnite song, and this isn’t it.
40. “Infinite Hype”
This starts off like a Chris Daughtry song before becoming something like one of those new, young, whiny rap/sing artists’ tracks. I do not feel Infinite Hype from this.
39. “When the Wind Blows”
Again just largely not a fan of these weird Christmas-adjacent songs, unless they’re really good.
38. “Hungry for the Chase”
This is about pizza, and it sounds fake.
37. “Origin’s Anthem”
Fortnite has a lot of music that’s either very meta or focused on minor characters, and they can get tiring. This is one of the weaker ones.
36. “Fortnitemares 2020″
I like Halloween songs, but this doesn’t nail it.
35. “Winterfest Wish”
This is…fine.
34. “Underfox”
A strong opening, undermined by more goofy vocals.
33. “Not Without a Fight”
“Broken my strings they fell with peace.” I like the bridge, though.
32. “Run It”
Fake-ass Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping song.
31. “The Ballad of Lil Grriz”
This is very unnerving. I don’t like the lyric “’til my Slurp Suit ends you,” but I can’t deny the catchiness.
30. “Brace for Chaos”
Reddit seems to think the vocals are Faouzia, a Moroccan-Canadian singer, but ya know, it could also be a robot.
29. “Race to the Horizon”
The super ‘80s beat is promising, but then the vocals are too soft/breathy, I need them to hit harder.
28. “The Hunting Ground”
The lyrics are apparently in Greek, which is cool. It’s giving siren song.
27. “Take Me Higher”
This song is not beating the AI allegations, but it’s catchy.
26. “Boss Battle”
It starts like a Travis Scott song and then the lyrics are complete gibberish—hilarious, no notes.
25. “Queen’s Anthem”
Okay, evil Disney villain!
24. “Space Chimp”
The monkey sounds in between the verses, I’m yelling. This is one of those character-driven songs that actually feels like they put effort into it.
23. “Meet Me in the Sticks”
I don’t want to like this song, but the Miami Beach energy and ridiculous lyrics sold it for me.
22. “The Loveless Bandit”
This is almost very good, kicking off with cool sirens and a modern Bond-movie energy. Then you hear the lyrics.
21. “Swim Free”
Poseidon is so cute and this song is very fun.
20. “Redline Cruise”
I almost didn’t include this song because there’s not a ton of lyrics and it leans closer to some of the instrumental-only Fortnite music, but then I remembered this was the only shit I listened to in college and threw it in.
19. “Vital”
Have you ever heard of our problematic queen, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Erika Jayne? This sounds suspiciously like one of her songs.
18. “Streets Ignite”
If you’re a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan you can appreciate this, even if some of the lyrics are a little sus.
17. “I’m a Cat”
I have three cats, I’m biased, this has been stuck in my head for days.
16. “Crashed In and Lights Out”
This is the pop song a TikToker makes that goes briefly viral, and it’s pretty good!
15. “You’re All Mine”
It’s a cleaner, child-friendlier version of punk rap duo H09909 or even Death Grips. Pretty rad song for Fortnite’s Greek mythology season.
14. “Make It Known”
This song is like if Run The Jewels had to make a Kidz Bop track. It’s catchy!
13. “Thunder Roll”
Shao Dow is a rapper and manga artists who spits bars in both English and Japanese, and “Thunder Roll” is a great example of how well those two languages meld. It’s both fun and hard as fuck, a tough balance to strike.
12. “Say It Proud”
This feels like a pop punk song ripped straight from 2004. It’s got shades of the All-American Rejects, but gayer! We love to see it. It’s probably AI!
11. “Call It Bad Luck”
Okay Catriana Grande, I see you! I love the pop icon energy here, but I especially love that if you listen to the lyrics it’s literally a cat singing about Fortnite, which is just wild.
10. “Return of the Tiger”
This is a crunchy, intense grime (a genre originated in the United Kingdom influenced by dancehall, drum and bass, hip hop and more) song. It would feel right at home on a Skepta or Stormzy record.
9. “Loot in the Mountains”
The only good Fortnite holiday song. It’s catchy, it’s fun, it’s meta. Brilliant.
8. “Seize the Future”
The beat driving through this song is so good it makes you feel like you can’t die. Then add some incredible high notes and a sick breakdown, and you’ve got a track that makes waiting for a match thoroughly enjoyable.
7. “I Just Wanna Fight”
Hell yeah, a Riot Grrrl song in Fortnite. If you like this track, you’ll love my curated bad bitch playlist of music made by real people.
6. “Butter Barn Hoedown”
Maybe it’s because I just came back from visiting Austin, Texas, but I love me some “Butter Barn Hoedown.” Yeehaw.
5. “Show Them Who We Are”
It’s unclear how much of Fortnite’s music was made by established artists and how much were just bands/singers created just for the game (Epic Games declined to give details on its music curation processes), but this one is especially interesting as it appears to have been on Spotify at least briefly under the artist name “Showsplash.” It’s not there anymore, but you can enjoy it here—it’s got a really great, poppy chorus reminiscent of The Weeknd with a raspy-voiced rapper dropping bars.
4. “High Stakes Club”
This song was made by Japanese metal artist DEATHNYANN, and it is easily one of the better songs in the game. Try not to headbang to it. Go ahead.
3. “Mecha Power”
“Mecha Power” is a guitar-heavy, heart-popping banger from Japanese-born, UK-based artist MYLK. It could easily be the opening song for a kickass girlypop anime, and it’s a great track to sprint on the treadmill to.
2. “You Don’t Know Me”
Another song from Hoshikuma Minami, the person behind DEATHNYANN. Fortnite hit the lottery bagging her for these tracks.
1. “Sunny’s Song”
My bias is showing with my choice for best original Fortnite song: in my youth, I’d frequent basement ska shows. But even if you take my affinity for skanking out of the equation, you can’t deny that “Sunny’s Song” is just really, really good. It captures the genre perfectly, the vocals are sharp and crisp (the song is credited to artist Nina Smith, and is on Spotify, but appears to be listed separately from another artist called Nina Smith, so I’m confused), and the beat is infectious.
There you have it, 50 of Fortnite’s original songs, ranked. Disagree? Argue amongst yourselves.
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