Top 10 Best Ghazal Singers

Jagjit Singh

Jagjit Singh is a prominent Indian ghazal singer, songwriter, and musician. Known as the "Ghazal King", he gained acclaim together with his wife, another renowned Indian ghazal singer Chitra Singh, in the 1970s and 1980s. Their combination album comprising music from the films Arth and Saath Saath is HMV's largest-selling combination album of all time.

No one has chosen, composed, and sung as well as him in the history of ghazal singing in the Indian subcontinent. There are so many other towering figures like Begum Akhtar and Mehdi Hassan, but no one is as versatile.

Ghulam Ali

The kind of singing he has done, no one would ever be able to reach nearer to that. He is a singer of style and variety. He inspires me to always go for the harder path. He is the Dare-Devil as well as Michael Angelo of singing.

Considered one of the best ghazal singers of his era. His style and variations in singing ghazals have been noted as unique, as he blended Hindustani classical music with ghazals, unlike any other ghazal singer. Many of his hit ghazals have been used in Bollywood movies.

Ghulam Ali's compositions are inimitable. That's the reason there will never be a Ghulam Ali sing-alike ever. His singing is so crafty that he has transcended his own Gharana and created his own class.

Mehdi Hassan

The softness of his voice, as well as his perfect singing, definitely makes him the top choice for a singer. His ghazals surely touch the heart. While Jagjit Singh made ghazals famous among the present generation, he cannot be classified as a better "singer" than Mehdi Hassan or Ghulam Ali for that matter.

Mehdi Hassan is the top ghazal singer of the world without any doubt. Listen to him quietly and deeply, and you will understand why he is the best. He sings classical music which touches your heart even if you don't know classical ragas. Above all, he has sung superb shayar's extraordinary ghazals.

Hariharan

Hariharan Anantha Subramani (born April 3, 1955) is an Indian playback, bhajan, and ghazal singer who predominantly performs in Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada, and Telugu. He has recorded over 15,000 songs in more than ten languages, including Marathi, Bhojpuri, Odia, Bengali, Gujarati, and English... read more

Hariharan is an Indian playback singer who has sung for Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Bhojpuri and Telugu films. He is an established ghazal singer and one of the pioneers of Indian fusion music. His melody is strongly appreciated by the film fraternity. In 2004, he was honored with the Padma Shri by the Government of India and is a two-time National Award winner.

Legendary, versatile singer.
Amazing voice.
Unique singing styles.
Unique and soulful songs.

His songs are amazing and versatile. He sings very well in a number of different languages.

Adithya Srinivasan

One of India's best ghazal singers and arguably the youngest ghazal singer in the world. His recent work 'Gham-e-Duniya' was downloaded extensively on Apple iTunes and topped many world music charts. He is considered to be one of the most soothing voices in the music fraternity by his fans.

This boy is a revolution. He sounds like he's been singing for decades though he's just a little over two decades old. A legend in the making.

Undoubtedly a prodigy. His taans are more intricate and accurate than those of more seasoned singers. Adithya definitely has a long way to go.

Shishir Parkhie

Shishir Ji has been singing ghazals throughout the period when ghazals were not as popular among the masses as they used to be in the '70s and '80s. All the legends we have are from that golden period only.
Though he was nominated twice for GiMA awards, wonderful compositions from his albums have not been promoted well even by big music labels. Else, his popularity would have been at a different level. He has a perfect voice suitable for ghazals, soulful singing, and wonderful compositions.

He easily understands the mood of the audience and selects his ghazals beautifully. He has a melodious voice and sings with heart and emotions instead of making singing a grammatical show. That is probably the reason why he is so much liked by the audience.

Pankaj Udhas

Indian singer credited in the Indian music industry, along with other musicians like Jagjit Singh and Talat Aziz, with bringing the ghazal style to the realm of popular music. He rose to fame for singing in the 1986 film "Naam," in which his song "Chitthi Aayee Hai" became an instant hit.

Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali, Hariharan, and everybody else are brilliant, no doubt about it. But he has the best control over his voice. His voice is so soothing, relaxing, and melodious. I think that the level of talent which he has is practically impossible to match.

Runa Laila

Runa Laila is a Bangladeshi singer who started her career in the Pakistan film industry and also sings ghazals. She made a pair with singer Ahmed Rushdi after replacing Mala. She has done playbacks for movies in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan during the late '60s, '70s, and the early '80s. Her best-known number is Dama Dam Mast Qalandar.

Talat Aziz

Talat Aziz is a popular ghazal singer from Hyderabad, India. His first major performance was in Hyderabad at a place called King Kothi. He sang before a crowd of over 5,000. He sang Kaise Sukoon Paoon and some ghazals by noted Shayars of Hyderabad. Though he was nervous at his first performance in front of an audience, yet he performed well.

He has a unique voice and is also a handsome singer.

Talat Aziz is an authentic ghazal singer.

Begum Akhtar

Hi, I think Begum Akhtar was the greatest ghazal singer of all time. I think she should be number one because she was the first to spread ghazals in India. Jagjit Singh, Pankaj Udhas, and all others are below her because the difficulties she faced, no one faced because they came after her. If you like my point, please vote.

She is the best in my opinion. She has sung different ghazals in different manners. With her soulful, classical voice, even those songs have become alive which sound dead flat in the voices of other singers.

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Jitesh Sundaram

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Ustad Amanat Ali Khan

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a Pakistani singer of qawwali, the devotional music of the Sufis. He was widely regarded as one of the greatest voices ever recorded, with an extraordinary vocal range and the ability to perform with high intensity for several hours. He introduced qawwali to international audiences... read more

Father of all kinds of ghazal music tunes. Inspired the whole world. Heavenly voice. Master of his days. One of the top singers of all time.

He was my best. No one can ever take his place. I have no words for him. He is the master of masters.

He, along with his team, produced magic.

Anup Jalota

Anup Jalota is the only modern Indian singer who really sings ghazals in the ghazal style. He applies different classical music surs. I can compare him with Ghulam Ali and Mehdi Hasan. Other popular singers like Jagjit and Pankaj simply sing the ghazals like ordinary songs. They don't qualify as ghazal singers.

Anup Jalota is best known for his performances in the Hindu devotional music bhajan and the Urdu form of poetry, ghazal. He is popularly known as the "Bhajan Samraat" (Emperor of Bhajans). The Padma Shri for 2012 has been conferred upon him in the field of Art-Indian Classical Music- Vocal by the Government of India.

Lily Chakraborty

Chandan Dass

Mohammed Rafi

Mohammed Rafi was an Indian playback singer who played a major role in shaping the music of Hindi cinema. He is widely considered one of the greatest and most versatile vocalists in the history of Indian music. Rafi recorded thousands of songs across a range of genres, earning immense respect and admiration... read more

People tend to forget that Rafi Sahab was also a great ghazal singer.

Pervez Mehdi

Maestro Parvaiz Mehdi Sab is the only singer who sings from the innermost core of the heart. He can be called the "Soul Khan Saab" or "Pt Aatma Raam Jiji." If you listen to him for a week, you will come to know what he is.

Asad Amanat Ali Khan

Abida Parveen

She is one of the best ghazal maestros of the modern era.

Ashok Khosla

Jaspreet "Jazim" Sharma

He sings so calmly that everyone wants to listen to him one more time.

He is one of the best Ghazal singers. His voice gives so much relaxation to the ears.

Yateesh Acharya

Yateesh Acharya stands as one of the best ghazal singers of India. His voice and singing are mesmerizing. I've always loved listening to Yateesh. He is one of the best for me.

His voice and compositions touch the heart. He also has a unique style of singing which has impressions of Mehndi Hassan Sahib and Jagjit Ji.

Yateesh is definitely one of the versatile singers in the current generation. He has an amazing voice quality.

Talat Mahmood

He is the one and only all-time great, Talat Mahmood, who first introduced semi-classical songs in Hindi films in the early '50s. Apart from his very popular movie songs like Jayen to Jayen Kaha, Chal Udd Ja Re Panchi, Jalte Hay Jiske Liye, Ham Dard Ke Maro, Meri Yaad Mein Tum Na, Bechain Nazar Betab Jigaar, etc., with his distinguished velvet voice, he has a vast collection of private ghazals that he sang in a very classical mood. That's one of the reasons he is truly termed as the King of Ghazal.

Sonu Nigam

Sonu Nigam, born on July 30, 1973, is an Indian playback singer, music director, dubbing artist, live performer, host, and actor. He is best known for his work in Hindi and Kannada films. Over the course of his career, he has recorded more than 6,000 songs in over 30 languages.

Chitra Singh

Arijit Singh

Arijit Singh is an Indian playback singer and music programmer from West Bengal who sings in Bengali, Hindi, and several other Indian languages. He gained widespread recognition with the song Tum Hi Ho from the film Aashiqui 2. Singh is known for his emotive voice and versatility across music genres... read more