Tenor Vocal Range: Notes, Famous Singers & Karaoke Songs
The notes a tenor typically sings, C3 to C5, on a piano keyboard, plus karaoke songs that fit the voice as written.
Are you a tenor? Sing into your mic and find out in about a minute.
Test your vocal rangeThe typical tenor vocal range runs from C3 to C5, two full octaves. Highest male voice type in the modal (chest) register. On the keyboard above, the green band is the tenor range, lined up with the keys it covers, and the grey bands are the other male voice types (baritone, A2–A4; bass, E2–E4) for comparison.
What is a tenor?
Tenor is the highest common male voice type, and the highest male voice in the regular (modal) register. A typical tenor sings from C3, one octave below middle C, up to C5, one octave above it. Opera splits tenors into seven subtypes, from light, agile voices to big dramatic ones. Only the countertenor, who sings mostly in falsetto, goes higher.
The tenor range is where a huge share of rock and pop hits live. Those big, ringing choruses on classic rock songs that make a bar go wild? Mostly tenor territory, often right at the top of it. That's why tenors get the showstoppers at karaoke, and why everyone else is jealous.
Karaoke tips for tenors
Having the range for the big songs doesn't mean every big song is a good idea at 11pm after two drinks. A few pointers:
- Warm up before the high stuff. The top of a tenor range is the first thing to go when your voice is cold or tired. Sing an easier song first.
- Watch the ceiling. Plenty of rock anthems peak right at the top of a tenor range, or past it. The songs below stay inside the typical range as written, so you won't hit a wall in the last chorus.
- Pick songs with a crowd chorus. If the big note slips, a room singing along covers you.
- Try songs by women an octave down. Many female pop songs sit nicely in a tenor voice when you take them down an octave.
How to tell if you're a tenor
Your voice type comes from more than your top and bottom notes. Voice teachers also listen for your tessitura (where your voice is most comfortable), your timbre and the spots where your voice shifts gears. Range on its own doesn't decide it. Still, range is the easiest place to start, and it's all you need to pick better karaoke songs.
- Measure your range. The free vocal range test listens through your mic while you slide from your lowest comfortable note to your highest. It takes about a minute and your audio never leaves your device.
- Compare it with C3–C5. If your range covers most of the tenor band and lines up with it better than with baritone or bass, tenor is your closest match. Once you've taken the test, your range shows up on the chart above as a dashed band, with how many semitones you share.
- Check where it feels good. Sing a song from the list below. If the verses feel easy and the chorus doesn't strain, you're in the right zone. If everything feels like a stretch, try the songs on the baritone page or the bass page instead.
One more thing: the tenor range is exactly one octave below the soprano range (C4–C6). On average a man's top notes sit about half as high in frequency as a woman's, which is one octave.
Famous tenors
We only list a singer when a source we trust states their range, and we never guess one. The singer vocal range pages are where those sourced ranges live, and tenors will show up here as their pages go up.
Karaoke songs for tenors
These are the songs from our karaoke lists whose published range fits inside C3–C5 as written, so you can sing them in the original key. The ones with the most room to spare at both ends come first. Each one links to its write-up, with the range source.
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Want more? The Best karaoke songs for men list has more picks for every kind of voice, with range and difficulty for each song. Songs slightly outside your range still work with a key change, and the karaoke song list lets you filter every song by range.
All six voice types compared
| Voice type | Typical range | Voice | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soprano | C4–C6 | Female | [1] |
| Mezzo-soprano | A3–A5 | Female | [1] |
| Alto | F3–F5 | Female | [1] |
| Tenor | C3–C5 | Male | [1] |
| Baritone | A2–A4 | Male | [1] |
| Bass | E2–E4 | Male | [1] |
Ranges: Wikipedia, "Voice type", which follows the classification in McKinney's The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults. Alto is listed there as contralto.
See them all on one keyboard on the vocal range chart.