Piano Rock
Piano rock is rock music in which the piano, not the guitar, is the lead instrument.
The pianist is often also the singer and songwriter, and the piano carries the riffs, chords and solos that a guitar would normally play. The approach goes back to 1950s rock and roll and was popular in the 1970s and again in the 2000s. It tends to be more melodic and closer to pop than guitar-led rock.
Artists it is known for: Elton John, Billy Joel, Ben Folds.
- Family
- Rock
- On Spotify
- No longer returned by Spotify’s API
- What it is
- A genre
- From
- United States, 1950s
- Trackify listeners who play it
- 8%
About 6,500 of 83,000 Trackify listeners with public profiles have piano rock among their top artists of the last four weeks. Rounded; updated 13 November 2026.
Piano Rock artists
Billy Joel
Elton John
OneRepublic
Fiona Apple
The Fray
Kate Bush
Keane
Supertramp
PJ Harvey
The BrobecksThe piano rock artists most Trackify listeners have in their top fifty. Each opens on Spotify.
Sources
The definition is written for this site from open sources, and was checked against them on 13 November 2026.