16 Books About Music | PS Books

While each product featured is independently selected by our editors, we may include paid promotion. If you buy something through our links, we may earn commission. Read more about our Product Review Guidelines here.

Whether you need a unique gift for the punk rocker in your life or you've listened to Dolly Parton's entire discography one too many times, sometimes you have to hit pause on the Spotify playlist and shift mediums altogether. Lucky for you, there are endless great books about music to turn to when you want to immerse yourself in the glory of your favorite artists but need to give your precious ears a rest.

As for genres, books about music come in all shapes and sizes. There's the always popular musician memoir, road-tested by many of pop's heaviest hitters like Mariah Carey, Brittney Spears, Alicia Keys, and Jennifer Lopez, who each have published one. But there are also biographies, photo collections, and works of fiction that will satisfy your musical curiosity.

Below, we've curated a tight list of some of the best books about music, published mostly within the last decade, with a few notable outliers. (Because who can resist autobiographies from Nina Simone, Patti Smith, and Billie Holliday?)