Music emojis are the note emojis (🎵 🎶 🎼), the audio-gear emojis (🎤 🎧 🎙️), and the instrument emojis (🎸 🎹 🎷 🎺 🎻 🥁) people use to talk about songs, listening, and performing. Unlike heart emojis, they are mostly literal: 🎸 means a guitar, 🎧 means listening.
There are now 13 instrument emojis, the newest being harp and trombone, so many older lists are out of date. Below you’ll find every music emoji with its official name, a “which one should I use?” guide, the few figurative meanings worth knowing, and combinations you can copy.
Copy and paste:
🎵 🎶 🎼 🎤 🎧 🎙️ 🎚️ 🎛️ 📻 🎸 🎹 🎷 🎺 🎻 🥁 🪘 🪗 🪕 🪇 🪈
All Music Emojis at a Glance
Names below are the official Unicode character names, with the common short name in brackets where it differs.
| Emoji | Official name | Use it for | Added |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🎵 | Musical Note | A song, a lyric, a light “music” mention | Unicode 6.0 (2010) |
| 🎶 | Multiple Musical Notes | Ongoing music, singing, a good mood | Unicode 6.0 (2010) |
| 🎼 | Musical Score | Sheet music, composing, classical music | Unicode 6.0 (2010) |
| 🎤 | Microphone | Singing, karaoke, performing, speaking on stage | Unicode 6.0 (2010) |
| 🎙️ | Studio Microphone | Podcasts, recording, radio, interviews | Unicode 7.0 (2014) |
| 🎧 | Headphone | Listening, focus time, audiobooks, podcasts | Unicode 6.0 (2010) |
| 🎚️ | Level Slider | Mixing, audio levels | Unicode 7.0 (2014) |
| 🎛️ | Control Knobs | Music production, DJ gear, synths | Unicode 7.0 (2014) |
| 📻 | Radio | Radio broadcasts, old-school listening | Unicode 6.0 (2010) |
| 🎸 | Guitar | Rock, guitar playing, bands | Unicode 6.0 (2010) |
| 🎹 | Musical Keyboard | Piano, keyboards, synths | Unicode 6.0 (2010) |
| 🎷 | Saxophone | Jazz, blues, smooth music | Unicode 6.0 (2010) |
| 🎺 | Trumpet | Fanfares, jazz, marching bands | Unicode 6.0 (2010) |
| 🎻 | Violin | Classical music, orchestras, sarcastic sympathy | Unicode 6.0 (2010) |
| 🥁 | Drum with Drumsticks [drum] | Drum rolls, rhythm, bands | Unicode 9.0 (2016) |
| 🪘 | Long Drum | Hand drums such as conga or djembe | Unicode 13.0 (2020) |
| 🪗 | Accordion | Folk music, polka, street performers | Unicode 13.0 (2020) |
| 🪕 | Banjo | Country, bluegrass, folk | Unicode 13.0 (2020) |
| 🪇 | Maracas | Latin music, shakers, parties | Unicode 15.0 (2022) |
| 🪈 | Flute | Flutes, woodwinds, marching band | Unicode 15.0 (2022) |
| | Harp | Harps, orchestras, gentle or “heavenly” music | Emoji 16.0 (2024) |
| | Trombone | Brass bands, jazz, “sad trombone” jokes | Emoji 17.0 (2025) |
The Unicode Consortium assigns the names and code points. It does not define slang or social meanings, so everything in the “Use it for” column reflects how people commonly use these emojis, not an official rule.
Which Music Emoji Should You Use?
Most confusion comes from picking between near-identical options. This table settles the common ones.
| You want to say… | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| “I’m listening to music” | 🎧 | Headphones signal the act of listening |
| “Here’s a song / lyric” | 🎵 | A single note works as a light caption |
| “The music is playing / great vibes” | 🎶 | Several notes suggest continuous sound |
| “I sang / I’m doing karaoke” | 🎤 | A handheld mic suggests performing |
| “My podcast is out” | 🎙️ | The studio mic suggests recording |
| “I write or read music” | 🎼 | The staff and clef suggest notation |
| “Rock concert” | 🎸 | The most recognisable band instrument |
| “Waiting for the big reveal…” | 🥁 | Drum roll |
| “Jazz night” | 🎷 | Strongly tied to jazz in everyday use |
Musical Notes: 🎵 vs 🎶 vs 🎼
Three emojis cover “music” in general, and they differ in tone more than meaning.
- 🎵 Musical Note is a quiet, compact marker. People add it after a lyric, beside a song title, or when mentioning they’re humming something.
- 🎶 Multiple Musical Notes feels livelier. It suits a party, a good mood, or singing along. Its official name is “multiple musical notes”, and many keyboards label it simply “musical notes”.
- 🎼 Musical Score is the only note emoji about written music. It fits composing, music lessons, orchestras, and songwriting, not just listening.
Example
Noor: Drive to the lake is 3 hours. Playlist ready?
Hamza: Obviously. Windows down, volume up 🎶
What it suggests: Hamza uses 🎶 for music happening right now and the mood that comes with it. 🎵 would also be understood, but would feel slightly more like a label than an atmosphere.
A teasing use: a sing-song message like “Somebody has a date tonight 🎶” borrows the notes to suggest a teasing, sung tone. That meaning comes entirely from the words around it.
Singing, Listening, and Recording: 🎤 🎙️ 🎧 📻 🎚️ 🎛️
🎤 Microphone vs 🎙️ Studio Microphone
These two are confused all the time. 🎤 is the handheld stage microphone, so it points to singing, karaoke, rapping, and public speaking. 🎙️ is the studio microphone, so it points to podcasts, voice recording, and radio. “Mic drop” jokes use 🎤, while “new episode out now” posts use 🎙️.
Example
Leila: Episode 40 goes live tomorrow 🎙️
Omar: And I’m finally doing karaoke at Dana’s party 🎤 God help us.
What it suggests: Leila’s emoji marks recording work, Omar’s marks performing. Swapping them would still be understood, but would blur the point.
🎧 Headphone
🎧 covers music, podcasts, audiobooks, and gaming audio. It also works as a do-not-disturb signal: “Deadline mode 🎧” tells people you are focused. That is a light social convention, not proof that someone is ignoring you.
📻 Radio, 🎚️ Level Slider, and 🎛️ Control Knobs
📻 suggests broadcasts and a retro feel. 🎚️ and 🎛️ belong mostly to music production and DJ talk; 🎛️ also appears for general “settings and controls” jokes outside music.
Instrument Emojis
Strings and keys: 🎸 🎹 🎻 🪕 🪗
- 🎸 Guitar works for rock, bands, and learning guitar. Its design differs by platform, so don’t assume a specific guitar style is shown.
- 🎹 Musical Keyboard covers pianos and synths.
- 🎻 Violin is classical music in its plainest form. It also carries a well-known sarcastic meaning: the “world’s smallest violin” joke, used to mock a complaint that doesn’t deserve sympathy.
- 🪕 Banjo and 🪗 Accordion (both added in 2020) point to folk traditions: banjo to country and bluegrass, accordion to polka, folk music, and street performers.
- Harp is new, covered in the next section.
Example
Sara: I have to wake up at 6 a.m. for a free breakfast. My life is so hard.
Ben: Wow 🎻
What it suggests: Ben isn’t talking about music. The violin sends the sarcastic “my heart bleeds for you” message. Without a complaint to react to, 🎻 would be read as a literal violin.
Brass and woodwinds: 🎷 🎺 🪈
- 🎷 Saxophone leans heavily toward jazz and “smooth” music.
- 🎺 Trumpet suggests fanfare, so “Sound the trumpets 🎺” works for announcements and wins.
- Trombone covers brass bands and jazz, and it has a built-in joke: the “sad trombone” (the wah-wah sound used when something goes wrong). “Missed the train again ” lands because readers can hear it.
- 🪈 Flute is Unicode’s emoji for flutes and related woodwinds. Its keywords include fife, pipe, and recorder.
Drums and percussion: 🥁 🪘 🪇
- 🥁 Drum doubles as suspense. “Drum roll please 🥁” before a reveal is its most common figurative use, often repeated: 🥁🥁🥁.
- 🪘 Long Drum represents tall hand drums. Unicode’s keywords include “conga”, and the emoji is commonly read as a conga or djembe-style drum.
- 🪇 Maracas (added in 2022) cover shakers and rattles. Its keywords include “dance” and “party”, so it often shows up in festive, Latin-music, and celebration contexts.
The Newest Music Emojis: Harp and Trombone
Many “complete” music emoji lists stop at the 2022 additions, so they miss two instruments:
- Harp was approved in Emoji 16.0 in 2024.
- Trombone was approved in Emoji 17.0 in September 2025.
New emojis reach phones in stages. Apple’s 2026 support for Unicode 17 arrived with iOS 26.4, and WhatsApp for Android added Emoji 17.0 designs in 2026 builds. If someone sees a blank box or question mark where you sent , their device or app doesn’t support the emoji yet. When it matters, add a word: “Sad trombone ” still works if the symbol fails.
Do Music Emojis Have Hidden Meanings?
Rarely. Most are literal, and the figurative uses are few:
| Emoji | Literal meaning | Common figurative use |
|---|---|---|
| 🎻 | Violin | Sarcastic sympathy |
| | Trombone | “Sad trombone” failure joke |
| 🥁 | Drum | Suspense before a reveal |
| 🎤 | Microphone | “Mic drop” confidence, stage moments |
| 🎧 | Headphone | “Leave me alone, I’m focusing” |
| 🎶 | Notes | A sing-song or teasing tone |
What you can’t conclude from one music emoji: that someone is distracted, flirting, or bragging. A 🎧 in a reply may just mean they’re listening to a podcast. For tone, read the words around the emoji, not the emoji alone.
Music Emoji Combinations You Can Copy
These are suggested combinations, not official or universal codes. They work because each emoji keeps its normal meaning.
| Combination | Reads as | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 🎧🎶 | Listening to music | “New playlist on repeat 🎧🎶” |
| 🎤🎶 | Singing / karaoke | “Karaoke night 🎤🎶” |
| 🎙️🎧 | Podcast listening or recording | “Binge-listening this series 🎙️🎧” |
| 🎹🎼 | Playing or composing | “Practising the new piece 🎹🎼” |
| 🎸🤘 | Rock or metal | “Soundcheck done 🎸🤘” |
| 🥁🥁🥁 | Building suspense | “Results are out… 🥁🥁🥁” |
| 🎟️🎤 | Concert tickets | “Got tickets!!! 🎟️🎤” |
| 🪇🎉 | Festive, Latin-style party | “Fiesta this weekend 🪇🎉” |
| 🎷🌙 | Late-night jazz | “Jazz club after dinner 🎷🌙” |
| 🪩🕺 | Dance night | “Disco birthday 🪩🕺” |
Music-Adjacent Emojis Worth Knowing
These aren’t in Unicode’s music group but appear in the same conversations.
| Emoji | Name | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 🪩 | Mirror Ball | Disco, dance floors, parties |
| 🕺 💃 | Man Dancing / Woman Dancing | Dancing to music |
| 🧑🎤 | Singer | A performer or rock-star look; has skin-tone options |
| 🎟️ | Admission Tickets | Concerts and events |
| 🔊 | Speaker with Three Sound Waves | Volume, sound on |
| 🤘 | Sign of the Horns | Rock and metal |
♪ ♫ ♬: Music Symbols That Aren’t Emojis
You may see ♪, ♫, and ♬ on “music symbol” lists. These are ordinary Unicode text symbols (eighth note, beamed eighth notes, beamed sixteenth notes), not emojis. They follow your font and text colour instead of showing as a coloured picture, which makes them handy for lyric formatting and bios where you want a cleaner look. Use 🎵 or 🎶 when you want the emoji version.
Using Music Emojis on Social Media and Streaming Apps
- Captions: a single 🎵 after a lyric or song title is the least cluttered option.
- Playlist titles: 🎧 or 🎶 in a title signals the vibe quickly, and the emoji adds a visual marker in a long list.
- Stories and bios: 🎸 🎹 🥁 work as quick “I play…” labels.
- YouTube Music search: the app has accepted emojis as search input, so a 📞 returns the song “Telephone” by Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. It’s a fun trick for guessing songs from emoji clues.
FAQ
What is the music emoji?
There isn’t one. 🎵 (musical note) and 🎶 (multiple musical notes) are the most general, but 🎧, 🎤, and the instruments all count as music emojis.
How many music emojis are there?
This guide covers 22 core ones: 3 note emojis, 6 audio-gear emojis, and 13 instruments. The exact number depends on whether you count related emojis like 🪩 or 🎟️.
What is the newest music emoji?
trombone, from Emoji 17.0 (2025), is the newest. harp (Emoji 16.0, 2024) came just before it.
What’s the difference between 🎵 and 🎶?
Both mean music. 🎵 is a single note and feels lighter; 🎶 is several notes and suggests ongoing sound or a lively mood.
What’s the difference between 🎤 and 🎙️?
🎤 is a handheld stage microphone for singing and live performing. 🎙️ is a studio microphone for podcasts and recording.
Is 🎻 always sarcastic?
No. Without a complaint or a sympathy-seeking message to respond to, 🎻 just means violin or classical music. The sarcasm comes from context.
Do music emojis have skin tones?
No. None of the instrument or note emojis have skin-tone variants. The singer emoji (🧑🎤) is a person emoji and does.
Why does an emoji look different on my friend’s phone?
Apple, Google, Samsung, and other platforms draw their own versions of the same Unicode character, so guitars, notes, and drums vary in style. Very new emojis, like , may not appear at all on older software.
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Shahzad
Hi, I’m the creator behind EmojiNova, a passionate emoji enthusiast who loves exploring the fun and creative world of digital communication. I enjoy helping people discover emoji meanings, understand emoji symbols, and find the perfect emojis to express their feelings.
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