No tune, no words, no dancing: why white noise is the music industry’s newest hit

The sounds of bonfires, waves and rainfall are helping us relax – and making millions

There’s no tune, no lyrics and you can’t dance to it. Don’t let that put you off: white noise is the music industry’s next big thing. Streaming services have seen an explosion of tracks in the last year consisting entirely of hissing, humming, fizzing and other varieties of radio static, as well as recordings of rainfall, ocean waves and crackling bonfires.

Some of the recordings have earned their creators millions of pounds. Record companies and tech firms have taken notice. Apple is including background noise as an option in its next Mac operating system, and TikTok influencers have been promoting pink noise and brown noise – sounds with lower frequencies that sound like wind or rustling leaves – as an aid to concentration for students at the start of the school year.