Bruce Springsteen reads his own memoir, from a New Jersey boyhood and the early bar bands to the E Street Band and the work of writing songs. It rates 4.8 stars from about 11,090 listeners.

Mariah Carey tells her own story in a candid, funny voice, from her childhood and the climb to the top of the charts to the decades since. She narrates. It rates 4.8 stars from about 13,890 listeners.

Elton John tells his story in a frank, funny voice, with Taron Egerton, who played him in Rocketman, sharing the narration. It rates 4.8 stars from about 8,360 listeners.

Bono’s memoir is built around 40 songs, and the audiobook includes unreleased music. It won the 2024 Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year. He narrates, and it rates 4.8 stars from about 5,310 listeners.

Patti Smith’s memoir of her friendship with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe in 1970s New York won the 2010 National Book Award for nonfiction. She reads it herself. It rates 4.6 stars from about 5,450 listeners.

Keith Richards tells the Rolling Stones’ story and his own in a rambling, funny voice. Johnny Depp, Joe Hurley and Richards share the narration. It rates 4.3 stars from about 5,860 listeners.

Dolly Parton reads the stories behind the songs she wrote and the life that inspired them, in her own warm voice. It rates 4.6 stars from about 4,580 listeners.

Mötley Crüe’s loud, outrageous tell-all, told in the four members’ own voices and read by a full cast. It is the rock memoir as pure entertainment. It rates 4.8 stars from about 4,070 listeners.

Dave Grohl tells stories from his childhood and punk-show years through Nirvana and the Foo Fighters in a warm, funny voice. It rates 4.8 stars from about 1,230 listeners.

Ozzy Osbourne tells the Black Sabbath and solo years in his rambling, profane and often hilarious voice. It rates 4.9 stars from about 1,510 listeners.

The first volume of Mark Lewisohn’s definitive Beatles biography follows the band from Liverpool childhoods to the edge of fame in remarkable detail. It is enormous, and Clive Mantle’s narration makes every hour feel earned. It rates 4.8 stars from about 1,650 listeners.

Published in the UK as One Two Three Four, Craig Brown’s playful take on the Beatles tells the story in 150 short chapters from many angles, and it won the 2020 Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction. Brown shares the narration with Kate Robbins and Mark McGann.

Philip Norman follows Paul McCartney from Liverpool through the Beatles and his long career afterward, with the music always at the center. Jonathan Keeble narrates. It rates 4.7 stars from about 735 listeners.

Peter Guralnick’s life of the young Elvis Presley follows a poor Tupelo kid through Sun Records and into superstardom. It is the book that rescued Elvis from caricature, and Kevin Stillwell narrates. It rates 4.6 stars from about 780 listeners.

Bob Spitz’s big biography covers Led Zeppelin from its formation through the albums, the tours and the myths that grew around them. Rob Shapiro narrates. It rates 4.7 stars from about 780 listeners.

Dennis McNally, the Grateful Dead’s official biographer, tells the band’s whole story from 1960s San Francisco through the years of constant touring. Sean Runnette narrates. It rates 4.8 stars from about 605 listeners.

Elijah Wald uses Bob Dylan’s famous 1965 Newport Folk Festival set to explain the clash between folk purists and rock, and how it changed American music. Sean Runnette narrates.

Charles Cross draws on interviews and Kurt Cobain’s own journals to follow him from Aberdeen, Washington, to Nirvana’s worldwide fame. Lloyd James narrates. It rates 4.6 stars from about 1,270 listeners.

Michael Azerrad’s history of the American indie underground of the 1980s, from Black Flag and Minutemen to Sonic Youth and Fugazi. A rotating cast of musicians narrates, which suits a scene built on bands that did everything themselves. It rates 4.6 stars.

An oral history of New York rock in the early 2000s, when the Strokes, Interpol, LCD Soundsystem and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs turned a few downtown clubs into a movement. Told in the voices of the people who were there. It rates 4.5 stars from about 670 listeners.

The story of MTV’s early years, told by the artists, executives and VJs who built the channel and watched it change pop music. Luke Daniels narrates. It rates 4.4 stars from about 1,110 listeners.

Bob Dylan’s essays on 66 songs by other artists, from blues and country to rock and pop. The audiobook is read by an all-star cast of actors, which turns it into something between a book and a radio play.

Ed Ward’s history begins with the blues, country and gospel roots and follows rock and roll’s rise through the early 1960s, one artist and record at a time. David Colacci narrates.

David Hepworth makes the case that 1971 was rock’s richest year, with landmark albums from David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, the Who, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. He reads his own tour of that single year with a critic’s wit.

John Seabrook traces how a small group of Swedish and American songwriters and producers built the modern pop hit, with Max Martin at the center. Dion Graham narrates. It rates 4.5 stars from about 840 listeners.

Derek Thompson looks at why some songs, films and ideas spread while equally good ones vanish, with a lot to say about how familiarity and surprise combine in a hit. He reads it himself. It rates 4.5 stars from about 1,960 listeners.

Stephen Witt tells the story of the MP3 like a thriller: a German engineer, a CD-plant worker who leaked albums for years and the record executives who misread it all. He narrates. It rates 4.6 stars from about 520 listeners.

Dan Charnas tells the life of J Dilla, the producer whose off-kilter drumming reshaped hip-hop, R&B and jazz. It won the 2023 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography, and the author reads it. It rates 4.9 stars from about 760 listeners.

Jeff Chang’s history of hip-hop starts in the Bronx of the 1970s and ties the music to the social and political forces that produced it. Mirron Willis narrates this essential foundation.

Ben Westhoff covers the rise of West Coast gangsta rap and the people around Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Tupac and Suge Knight. J. D. Jackson narrates. It rates 4.7 stars from about 790 listeners.

Dan Charnas follows the money behind hip-hop, from the first rap records and Def Jam to the moguls who turned a street culture into a global industry. Kevin R. Free narrates a very long, very thorough listen.

Questlove walks through fifty years, one year at a time, linking songs to the events and moods of the moment. It is part memoir, part history and part playlist, and he reads it himself.

The companion to Ken Burns’s documentary series traces country music from its folk and blues roots through honky-tonk and the Nashville sound to today. It rates 4.8 stars.

Robert Hilburn’s biography, built on years of interviews, follows Johnny Cash from the Arkansas cotton fields through Sun Records and Folsom Prison to his late-career comeback. Charles Pittard narrates. It rates 4.7 stars from about 590 listeners.

Ted Gioia’s history of the Mississippi Delta blues covers the players who shaped it and the myths that grew up around them, including Robert Johnson. Chris Abernathy narrates.

Ted Gioia’s one-volume history follows jazz from its New Orleans roots through swing, bebop and the avant-garde. Bob Souer reads this updated second edition. It rates 4.6 stars.

Alex Ross tells the story of twentieth-century music through its composers and the wars, politics and technologies that shaped them. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism and was a Pulitzer finalist. Grover Gardner narrates.

This Great Courses lecture series by Robert Greenberg teaches you what to listen for in classical music, with no need to read a note. It rates 4.7 stars from about 3,620 listeners.

Another Great Courses series from Robert Greenberg, this one connecting composers and their music to the wars, politics and ideas of their eras. It rates 4.7 stars from about 1,320 listeners.

Ted Gioia retells the history of music through its outsiders, outlaws and rebels instead of the usual canon of great composers, from ancient rituals to hip-hop. Jamie Renell narrates.

Daniel Levitin, a neuroscientist and former record producer, explains how the brain makes sense of rhythm, melody and the songs we love. This is the author-read edition.

Oliver Sacks collects stories of how music affects, and sometimes survives in, the brain, from musical obsession to memory and healing. John Lee narrates. It rates 4.1 stars from about 1,110 listeners.

The Talking Heads frontman looks at how venues, technology and money shape music as much as talent does. Andrew Garman and Byrne share the narration.

Susan Rogers, the engineer on Prince’s Purple Rain who became a cognitive scientist, explains why we each hear music differently and uses her own career as a guide. She narrates.

Told as an oral history, this novel follows a 1970s rock band and its two charismatic lead singers from their start to their sudden breakup. The full cast makes the interviews feel real. Rated 5 on Audible.

In 1970s New York, Black singer Opal and her partner Nev become a punk duo, and a journalist later pieces their story together through interviews. The editor’s notes and full cast make it feel like a real music documentary. Rated 4 on Audible.

Musician Warren Ellis builds his story around a piece of chewing gum Nina Simone left behind, which became a kind of talisman. It reads more like song lyrics than a standard memoir, with Nick Cave among the voices.