A good road-trip song has a particular job.

It needs to sound good loud, survive repeated plays and somehow make the landscape outside the window feel more cinematic than it did five minutes earlier.

The perfect summer road-trip playlist also needs variety. If every track is maximum-energy dance music, you will be exhausted before the second fuel stop. You need singalongs, indie, dance, classics and a few slower songs for the long stretch home.

Here are 30 tracks to start with.

1. Fleetwood Mac – Dreams

Warm, effortless and almost impossible to overplay. Dreams is ideal for the point where the journey has properly started and nobody is in a rush.

2. Avicii – The Nights

Few tracks fit the idea of going somewhere and making memories better than The Nights.

3. Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream

Dreamy electronic pop that makes almost any sunny landscape look better through a car window.

4. The Killers – Mr. Brightside

There comes a point on every long drive when everybody needs to know the words. This handles that job.

5. Calvin Harris – Feel So Close

Bright, simple and built for warm weather. It still sounds like the beginning of a good night.

6. Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run

Few songs understand the romance of leaving somewhere behind quite like this one.

7. Tame Impala – The Less I Know the Better

That bassline sounds excellent in a car, and the track has enough groove to keep things moving without becoming exhausting.

8. M83 – Midnight City

Perfect for the moment when daylight disappears and the motorway lights start taking over.

9. Harry Styles – Golden

The clue is in the title. Golden feels built around sunlight, movement and optimism.

10. Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams – Get Lucky

A road-trip playlist needs songs everyone can tolerate. Get Lucky is polished, relaxed and almost universally familiar.

11. Tom Petty – Free Fallin’

Classic American road music with enough space in the arrangement to let the scenery do some of the work.

12. The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition

One of those songs that can make an ordinary journey suddenly feel like the ending of a film.

13. Florence + the Machine – Dog Days Are Over

The gradual explosion of energy makes it perfect for dragging a tired car back into life.

14. MGMT – Electric Feel

Loose, psychedelic and ideal for the more relaxed middle section of the playlist.

15. Oasis – Don’t Look Back in Anger

If there are multiple people in the car, somebody will eventually start singing the chorus. Accept it.

16. Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.

A great driving bassline and enough weirdness to stop the playlist becoming predictable.

17. Dua Lipa – Levitating

Clean modern disco-pop with a rhythm that makes the miles disappear more quickly.

18. The Strokes – Someday

It already sounds nostalgic even when you hear it for the first time, which makes it ideal for summer travel.

19. Coldplay – Adventure of a Lifetime

Bright guitars, a steady groove and enough energy for a windows-down stretch of road.

20. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication

Slower than many obvious road-trip choices, but perfect when the journey settles into a long, hypnotic section.

21. Kings of Leon – Sex on Fire

Big guitars, immediate chorus, no complicated instructions required.

22. Miley Cyrus – Flowers

Confident, breezy pop that works especially well in daylight.

23. Swedish House Mafia – Don’t You Worry Child

Save this for when everybody needs waking up. The chorus was built for shared singing.

24. Weezer – Island in the Sun

Almost comically suitable for a summer playlist, and that is exactly why it works.

25. Vance Joy – Riptide

Light, acoustic and easy to sing without turning the car into a full nightclub.

26. The Weeknd – Blinding Lights

One of the best night-driving pop songs of recent years. The rhythm seems to make road lights move faster.

27. Modjo – Lady (Hear Me Tonight)

Smooth French house is ideal for the late-afternoon section when nobody wants the trip to end yet.

28. Paolo Nutini – Pencil Full of Lead

A playful change of pace that can reset a playlist after too much electronic music or indie rock.

29. RÜFÜS DU SOL – Sundream

Atmospheric electronic music for the golden-hour part of the journey.

30. Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now

Put this near the end. By that point nobody needs musical subtlety. They need Freddie Mercury.

How to build the perfect road-trip playlist

Do not simply choose 100 songs you like and press shuffle.

Think about energy.

Start with something optimistic but not exhausting. Let the playlist get bigger as the journey settles in. Use familiar singalongs when attention begins to dip. Add slower music around sunset or during long motorway sections, then keep a handful of ridiculous crowd-pleasers available when everybody is tired.

Also remember who is in the car.

The best road-trip playlist is not the one that proves you have the best music taste. It is the one everyone enjoys.

How long should a road-trip playlist be?

Longer than the journey.

If you are driving for four hours, build at least six hours of music. That reduces repetition and gives you enough room to skip tracks without eventually running out.

And download the playlist before you leave.

Nothing kills the cinematic open-road moment quite like losing mobile signal halfway through the chorus.