Even in a world of Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud, torrenting is still a fantastic option for finding and collecting tracks, albums, and artists. Through torrent websites, users can download a mass of music files in any format for free. No subscriptions, no ads, and no restrictions. Additionally, if obscure and rare tracks are hard to find on music streaming services, then torrenting is your best option. You can even download an entire artist’s discography with a single click through a torrent site. Of course, if you want to support a music artist, then you can pay for their album or singles through official sources.
Whatever your reason for torrenting music is, you need to do it safely. Since torrent sites are a target for cybercriminals, you need to ensure that your chosen website has at least some sort of anti-malware system. Furthermore, the ideal torrent site will have a huge database of music and a terrific seeder-to-leecher ratio, so you can quickly download every song you’re after. Keep reading to discover what to look out for when choosing a torrent site and find out the best torrent websites for music in 2022!
The best torrent websites for music quick guide
- ThePirateBay – Best overall choice
- 1337x – Perfect for privacy
- RARBG – User-friendly interface
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What to look for when choosing a torrent site for music
Choosing the best torrent site for your needs is arguably the hardest part of torrenting. You don’t want to head to any random site as it could have a limited database, few seeders, and even be loaded with malware-ridden torrents. Therefore, you should take some time to understand what you need to look for when choosing a torrent website.
Most importantly, your chosen torrent website needs to be safe and trustworthy, so that you don’t come into contact with any cyber threats. Cybercriminals tend to target torrent websites and hide types of malware such as spyware and trojans in files and then wait for users to unknowingly infect their devices. If you accidentally download a file that’s packed with malware then you’re at risk of your files being deleted, financial information stolen, and even having your activity spied on.
Don’t let this put you off torrenting, though! As many reputable torrent sites have systems in place that filter out malicious uploads and encourage users to upload secure and safe files. Of course, all torrent sites come with security threats, but if you take the proper precautions then you can avoid these risks. For a start, you can check the comments of any files you want to download. Most of the time, torrent websites have a comments section that allows users to discuss and review each upload. If a user has found something malicious on a file that they’ve downloaded, then they’re likely to warn other users.
After safety, the next most important factor to consider when choosing a torrent site is its popularity. The more popular and well-known torrent websites are going to have many more visitors and a large community backing them. This leads to bigger databases that are packed with even the most obscure and almost forgotten music tracks, artists, and albums, ensuring that you’ll always find what you’re looking for.
Additionally, more visitors to a site typically translates to a better seeder-top-leecher ratio. If you’re unfamiliar with these terms, a seeder is a user who has downloaded a file from a torrent website and is sharing (seeding) it with other users. On the other hand, leechers are users who have downloaded a file but have chosen not to share (seed) it. All torrent websites will have a summary next to each upload which includes exactly how many seeders and leechers it has. Typically, your best bet is to always opt for a torrent file that has many more seeders than leechers (assuming it’s the music file you’re after) to ensure that you can download it quickly.
Finally, it’s a huge bonus if your chosen torrent website has a user-friendly and accessible interface, so you can efficiently browse and select your desired music torrents without any extra hassle. Some torrent sites have various categories to choose from to help narrow down searches in addition to detailed descriptions on every file, making it easier than ever to find the exact track, album, or artist you’re looking for. All in all, when torrenting music, you need to choose a torrent website that is secure, popular, has a large database, and is easy to navigate!
Our top recommended best torrent sites for music in 2022
With the above factors in mind, we’re carefully researched and handpicked the best torrent sites for music. These choices are all trustworthy and have large content databases with plenty of visitors to ensure the best seeder-to-leecher ratios. No matter what type of music you enjoy or how obscure your favourite tracks are, we’re sure that you can find high-quality files of exactly what you’re looking for through each of these three torrent sites. So, let’s dive into the best torrent websites for music in 2022 –
- ThePirateBay
ThePirateBay is one of the oldest and most notorious sites in the torrenting industry. This torrent website has survived numerous shutdowns and controversy whilst accumulating a supportive and loyal user base. ThePirateBay now has a massive database of music uploads (among other media content) including rare and older music tracks and albums, making it our best overall torrent website for music.
Since ThePirateBay is incredibly popular among the torrent community, the site gets millions of visitors every week. This has led to superb seeder-to-leecher ratios, meaning that you can download even large music files in record time. Additionally, the site’s interface, although not exactly flashy, is fairly clean and easy to navigate. You can check out recent uploads, the top 100 torrents, or just search your desired file directly. There are millions of uploads to choose from, so even lesser-known music will still likely be listed. All ThePirateBay files have a description section that can include information such as the file format, file size, artist, release date, and genre. For albums, there is usually a full tracklist included in the description too.
If you’re concerned about malware-ridden files, then ThePirateBay is also a good choice for you. This site has a reputation system in place which encourages users to provide safe and malware-free uploads. When using ThePirateBay, on most files, you’ll see a skull icon. The colour of this skull indicates how trustworthy the user who uploaded the file is, so you’ll be able to avoid accidentally downloading malware. If you see a green or pink skull, then the file you’re about to download is probably safe. ThePirateBay also regularly monitors and filters out malware-infected files and has a comments section on each upload so users can warn each other if a file contains malicious content.
- 1337x
1337X first gained traction when KickassTorrents was shut down and is one of the world’s most popular and beloved torrent sites. With a dedication to user privacy, an enormous music database, and an intuitive interface, 1337x is a close second on our list of the best torrent sites for music.
Finding music is a breeze with this site as you can browse through subcategories such as ‘concerts’, ‘albums’, ‘boxsets’, ‘radio’, ‘video’, ‘single’, ‘MP3’, ‘DVD’, and ‘discography’. All uploads include helpful information such as the file size, format language, and upload date, whilst most uploaders include additional details such as the artist, genre, tracklist, date of release, and even images. You can also see the download count for every upload as well as a seeder and leecher count.
As 1337x has such a large and dedicated community, its main form of funding comes from crypto donations. As a result, the site is moderated daily and there is a very limited number of ads shown, making the site’s interface clean, practical, and user friendly. This interface was once criticised for being clumpy and difficult to navigate so it was revamped with a redesign and added functionalities in 2016, showing that those at 1337x are keen to improve their user experience and make it easier than ever to torrent media such as music.
- RARBG
RARBG is another terrific torrent site that makes it easier than ever to browse and find music torrents. With a huge content library, an appealing interface, millions of monthly visitors, and a highly active community, RARBG is a great runner-up torrent website for music.
This torrent website is ideal for anyone who is more interested in browsing through different uploads rather than searching for a specific music file. RARBG’s interface is clean and incredibly easy to navigate, so if you’re new to the torrenting world then this site is likely best for you. You can check out the top music torrents or newest uploads, and even have a read of the latest torrent updates on RARBG’s ‘news’ section.
Each upload features important information such as the file size, date added, category, and included tracks. There’s a ‘comments’ section available for users to review uploads and also a rating system where users can rate each file out of five stars. Since RARBG is one of the more popular torrent websites, it receives a ton of visitors each day, which typically means that the majority of uploads will have plenty of seeders.
RARBG is fairly secure, as torrent websites go, and its community regularly highlights the website’s safety in various online forums. One drawback of RARBG is that it displays more ads compared to our other recommended torrent websites, making it slightly harder to navigate. To speed up your browsing experience and avoid accidentally clicking any malicious ad files, we recommend that you use a VPN with a built-in ad blocker when using this site.
Stay protected when using torrent websites for music
As we’ve already mentioned, several risks come with using torrenting websites. Not only can torrent files be loaded with spyware, trojans, and other types of malware, but criminals can also track you through sensitive information such as your download history and IP address. Additionally, since your ISP can monitor what you’re doing online, you may be targeted and have your bandwidth throttled when torrenting. This will result in reduced connection speeds, making torrent files take much longer to download.
To prevent falling victim to malware, being tracked online, and having your bandwidth throttled when torrenting, you need a VPN. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) encrypts user traffic and routes it through a remote server which conceals your online activity and hides your IP address. As a result, cybercriminals can no longer track you and your ISP cannot spy on your activity and throttle your bandwidth.
Additionally, many VPNs come with additional security tools such as built-in threat protection which automatically scans all downloaded files and removes any that are infected with malware. Also, if your VPN has ad-blocking technology, then you can reduce your chances of accidentally opening a malicious pop-up ad on a torrent website.
Overall, using a VPN is the best way to stay protected when using torrent websites for music. If you do choose to use a torrent site for music, then we highly recommend using a VPN. If you want to discover the other benefits of using a VPN when torrenting, or you just want to know which provider to use, then check out our best VPNs for torrenting in 2022 article!