What is a good song for a birthday slideshow?
Their favourite song, if you know it. Otherwise something upbeat like “Celebration” for a party, or something gentle like “In My Life” for a life in photos.
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Songs for a birthday slideshow
Ideas for every kind of birthday video, from a first birthday to an 80th, and the honest bit about which music you can use when you post it.
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The best birthday slideshow song is one the birthday person already loves: the record they play in the kitchen, their wedding song, the anthem of their school years. Failing that, choose by mood: something bright for a party, something gentle for a slideshow of old photos, and one track around three minutes long for fifteen to thirty photos.
The lists below are ideas, not downloads. To put a song under a video you need the file and, for anything you post publicly, the right to use it. The simplest way round that is a Happy Birthday tune: the arrangements in the editor’s Add music panel are free to use, and the Happy Birthday song download page explains them.
Start from one of these
How to put a song under a birthday slideshow
Open a photo template
Press Make a slideshow with a tune above; the editor opens on the photo templates with the music panel ready.
Choose the music
In Add music, pick a Happy Birthday tune, or add a song file from your device such as an MP3 or M4A.
Add the photos
Press Add photos and clips and choose them in order, oldest first. Type the Name and Age for the opening card.
Export
Press Export video, then Download video or Share.
Song ideas by occasion
Upbeat, for a party screen
- “Celebration”, Kool & the Gang
- “Happy”, Pharrell Williams
- “September”, Earth, Wind & Fire
- “Dancing Queen”, ABBA
- “Birthday”, The Beatles
Sentimental, for a life in photos
- “In My Life”, The Beatles
- “What a Wonderful World”, Louis Armstrong
- “Forever Young”, Rod Stewart
- “Lovely Day”, Bill Withers
For a first birthday or young children
- “Here Comes the Sun”, The Beatles
- “Three Little Birds”, Bob Marley & The Wailers
- “Better Together”, Jack Johnson
- “Count on Me”, Bruno Mars
For a partner
- “Just the Way You Are”, Bruno Mars
- “Thinking Out Loud”, Ed Sheeran
- “Can’t Help Falling in Love”, Elvis Presley
For a parent’s milestone
- “Isn’t She Lovely”, Stevie Wonder
- “Father and Son”, Cat Stevens
- A number one from the year they were born, or from the summer they turned eighteen
Which music you can actually use
A video sent privately to Grandma is one thing; a public post is another. Social networks scan uploads, and a commercial recording you don’t have rights to can get the video muted or blocked. Three safe choices:
- A Happy Birthday tune from Add music: arrangements of a public-domain melody made for this site and free to use (why it is public domain).
- The app’s own sound library: post without music, then add a track inside Instagram or TikTok, which handles the licence for its library.
- Your own recording: the family singing, a grandchild on the piano.
Songs inside streaming apps such as Spotify or Apple Music are protected and can’t be added to a video file; Add music needs a song file saved on your device.
Matching the song to the photos
- Length: a three-minute song suits fifteen to thirty photos; a long life story may need two songs, or a birthday video with photos and music that mixes clips in.
- Mood shift: start gentle for baby photos, end on something brighter for the present day.
- End on a face: finish the slideshow on a recent photo of everyone together as the song closes.
Birthday slideshow songs: questions
Can I use a Spotify or Apple Music song?
No. Streaming songs are protected and can’t be added to a video file. Add music takes song files saved on your device, or offers the site’s free Happy Birthday tunes.
Will my slideshow be muted on Instagram?
It can be if it uses a commercial recording. The Happy Birthday tunes are free to use; or post without music and add a track from the app’s library.
How many photos for one song?
About fifteen to thirty for a three-minute song, at a few seconds each.
Can I use a recording of us singing?
Yes. Record it on your phone, save the audio file, and add it with Add music. It is your own recording, so it is yours to share.