New Romantic emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a flamboyant reaction against punk's austerity, fusing the synthesizer-driven textures of synthpop and new wave with theatrical visual extravagance borrowed from glam rock and Roxy Music's art-school sophistication. Centered around London's Blitz Club scene, the movement prioritized lush production, soaring melodrama, and aspirational lyrics about nightlife, romance, and escapism—often delivered over crisp drum machines, sequenced basslines, and cascading synth arrangements. Acts like Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, and Visage wrapped their electronic experimentation in sharp tailoring and androgynous fashion, transforming pop music into a multimedia spectacle that dominated MTV's early era.
What distinguishes New Romantic from neighboring electronic genres is its unapologetic romanticism and cinematic grandeur. While post-punk explored anxiety and deconstruction, New Romantic leaned into opulence and aspiration; where synthpop often favored minimalist precision, these artists layered orchestral synth pads, saxophone flourishes, and funk-inflected rhythms into sweeping anthems. The genre's debt to art rock is evident in Japan's refined exoticism and Ultravox's prog-tinged drama, yet it always retained radio-friendly hooks and a hedonistic, optimistic spirit absent from darker electronic contemporaries.
For anyone captivated by the collision of high fashion and high-tech innovation, New Romantic offers pop music at its most unabashedly glamorous—a soundtrack to neon-lit dancefloors where style and synthesizers reigned supreme.
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List updated:
| #50 | ByBryan Ferry | Released:1977-02-01 | |||
| #89 | ByRemote Remote | Released:1977-05-13 | |||
| #27 | ByJapan | Released:1980-01-04 | |||
| #37 | ByJohn Foxx | Released:1980-01-17 | |||
| #12 | ByVisage | Released:1980-11-10 | |||
| #11 | ByJapan | Released:1980-11-15 | |||
| #30 | ByHeaven 17 | Released:1981-01-01 | |||
| #97 | ByHenry Badowski | Released:1981-01-01 | |||
| #17 | ByUltravox | Released:1981-01-15 | |||
| #91 | ByGary Numan | Released:1981-04-01 | new wavenew romantic | ||
| #65 | ByLandscape | Released:1981-05-30 | |||
| #45 | ByUltravox | Released:1981-09-11 | |||
| #6 | ByThe Human League | Released:1981-10-16 | |||
| #18 | ByThe Human League | Released:1981-10-16 | |||
| #8 | ByJapan | Released:1981-11-28 | |||
| #24 | ByTalk Talk | Released:1982-01-01 | |||
| #34 | ByVisage | Released:1982-03-28 | |||
| #4 | ByRoxy Music | Released:1982-05-28 | |||
| #43 | ByABC | Released:1982-05 | |||
| #7 | ByABC | Released:1982-06-21 | |||
| #60 | By高橋幸宏 | Released:1982-06-21 | new romantic | ||
| #20 | ByCulture Club | Released:1982-09-24 | |||
| #35 | ByUltravox | Released:1982-10-15 | |||
| #59 | ByUltravox | Released:1982-10-15 | electronicnew romantic | ||
| #2 | ByA Flock of Seagulls | Released:1982 | |||
| #16 | ByMecano | Released:1982 | |||
| #56 | BySpandau Ballet | Released:1982 | |||
| #73 | ByRubi | Released:1982 | synthpopnew romantic | ||
| #32 | ByHeaven 17 | Released:1983-01-01 | |||
| #52 | ByFreur | Released:1983-01-01 | |||
| #21 | BySpandau Ballet | Released:1983-03-04 | |||
| #76 | ByUltravox | Released:1983-03-11 | |||
| #64 | ByJapan | Released:1983-06-05 | |||
| #100 | ByAltered Images | Released:1983-06-20 | |||
| #25 | ByDepeche Mode | Released:1983-08-22 | |||
| #10 | ByCulture Club | Released:1983-10-10 | |||
| #87 | ByAdam and the Ants | Released:1983 | |||
| #86 | ByCee Farrow | Released:1983 | |||
| #99 | ByTomo Akikawabaya | Released:1983 | |||
| #3 | ByTalk Talk | Released:1984-01-03 | |||
| #36 | ByThompson Twins | Released:1984-02-17 | |||
| #26 | ByUltravox | Released:1984-11-02 | |||
| #74 | ByDuran Duran | Released:1984-12-21 | new romantic | ||
| #51 | ByTino Casal | Released:1984 | glam rocknew romantic | ||
| #85 | ByUltravox | Released:1984 | |||
| #42 | ByYukihiro Takahashi | Released:1985-04-25 | |||
| #47 | ByYukihiro Takahashi | Released:1985-04-25 | |||
| #1 | Bya-ha | Released:1985-06-01 | |||
| #40 | BySpandau Ballet | Released:1985 | new romantic | ||
| #68 | ByTomo Akikawabaya | Released:1985 | |||
| #19 | ByTalk Talk | Released:1986-01-01 | |||
| #28 | ByOrchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | Released:1988-03-12 | |||
| #54 | ByThe Associates | Released:1988-09-15 | new romantic | ||
| #33 | ByThe Human League | Released:1988-11-07 | |||
| #22 | ByVisage | Released:1988 | |||
| #96 | ByGlamour | Released:1988 | new romantic | ||
| #94 | ByDuran Duran | Released:1989-09-27 | |||
| #15 | ByThe Blue Nile | Released:1989-10-09 | |||
| #29 | ByAdam Ant | Released:1990-10-23 | |||
| #71 | ByDuran Duran | Released:1990 | new romanticnew wave | ||
| #62 | ByThe Reds | Released:1992-02-02 | new wavenew romantic | ||
| #57 | ByVisage | Released:1992-07-30 | new romantic | ||
| #92 | ByChina Crisis | Released:1992 | |||
| #46 | ByDuran Duran | Released:1993-02-11 | |||
| #75 | ByJohn Foxx | Released:1993-04-19 | new romantic | ||
| #77 | ByPink_Noise | Released:1994 | new romantic | ||
| #83 | ByABC | Released:1996-04-16 | new romantic | ||
| #9 | ByDuran Duran | Released:1998-11-03 | |||
| #14 | BySpandau Ballet | Released:2000-09-15 | |||
| #70 | ByHeróis Do Mar | Released:2001-01-01 | new romanticnew wave | ||
| #69 | ByСкрябін | Released:2001 | |||
| #93 | ByBoa | Released:2002-07-15 | |||
| #58 | ByThompson Twins | Released:2003-04-04 | |||
| #44 | ByUltravox | Released:2003-12-09 | |||
| #48 | ByScarlet Soho | Released:2004-11-04 | new wavenew romantic | ||
| #98 | ByDuran Duran | Released:2005-01-24 | new romanticnew wave | ||
| #39 | ByABC | Released:2005 | new romanticnew wave | ||
| #81 | ByJohn Foxx | Released:2006-11-06 | |||
| #63 | ByViena | Released:2006 | |||
| #49 | ByDada Dumdums | Released:2007-06-08 | new romanticcoldwave | ||
| #88 | ByThe Thought Criminals | Released:2009-08-03 | electropunknew romantic | ||
| #78 | ByMezzamo | Released:2010-01-07 | |||
| #38 | ByAlphaville | Released:2010-11-16 | |||
| #13 | BySpandau Ballet | Released:2011-10-21 | new romantic | ||
| #31 | ByDepeche Mode | Released:2013-08-05 | |||
| #79 | ByNightrun87 | Released:2015-03-20 | |||
| #95 | ByTHE NEUROMANTIC BOYS | Released:2015-04-30 | |||
| #72 | ByNightrun87 | Released:2016-02-05 | |||
| #5 | BySimple Minds | Released:2016-07-15 | |||
| #84 | ByNightrun87 | Released:2016 | |||
| #53 | ByWingtips | Released:2019-08-23 | |||
| #41 | ByRiki | Released:2020-02-14 | |||
| #82 | ByNite | Released:2020-04-17 | |||
| #80 | ByWingtips | Released:2021-09-03 | |||
| #61 | ByNuovo Testamento | Released:2021-11-19 | |||
| #66 | BySacred Skin | Released:2022-05-27 | |||
| #23 | ByChoir Boy | Released:2022 | |||
| #55 | ByBody of Light | Released:2023-06-30 | |||
| #67 | ByTomo Akikawabaya | Released:2024-01-19 | |||
| #90 | ByThe Game | Released:2025-11-18 | new romanticnew wave |