Five Nova playlists for a working day, from the first coffee to the last email

Most people who listen while they work do one of two things: put on the same playlist every day until it stops working, or spend ten minutes choosing and then change their mind at eleven. Here is a third way. Five public playlists on Nova, in the order they fit a working day, each with a job to do. Nothing to build, nothing to maintain; switch when the day changes.

8:30, settling in: Cozy Work

Cozy Work is nine tracks, which is the point. It is short enough to be a ritual rather than a soundtrack: enough time to open the laptop, read the overnight messages and decide what the morning is for. The music is soft lo-fi and warm synths, mostly from Nova Sounds' Lo-fi Sessions, with nothing that asks for attention. When it ends, you are in.

9:00 to 11:00, the deep block: Chill

Chill is twelve tracks of exactly what the name says, and it is slightly more spacious than Cozy Work, which suits the first real stretch of concentration. If you need longer than the list, let the app continue; Up Next will carry on in the same vein. This is also the slot where an album can replace a playlist, and our article on lo-fi music for focus and study suggests which ones.

11:00 to 13:00, the busy hours: Coffee Shop Lo-Fi - R&B

By late morning there are calls, interruptions and a little more energy in the room, and the music can afford a little lift. Coffee Shop Lo-Fi - R&B is the largest public playlist on Nova, 58 tracks, and it mixes lo-fi beats with soft R&B grooves. It has voices here and there, which is fine for the kind of work that is mostly talking and reacting, and less fine for writing; if the afternoon turns into a document, go back to Chill.

14:00 to 16:00, the long afternoon: Elegant Coffee

Elegant Coffee, 41 tracks, is a jazz-leaning list, piano, strings and saxophone, with Nova Sounds' Elegant Strings and Bossa Atmosphere well represented. It changes the colour of the afternoon without changing its pace, and it is the list most often borrowed by cafés and restaurants for the same hours. If you work from a café yourself, there is a fair chance you have heard it already.

16:00 onward, finishing: Summit

Summit is 25 tracks and the most varied of the five, with more energy than the others. It is the list for the last push: clearing the inbox, finishing the thing you promised, tidying up. It runs long enough to see most people out of the door.

Why a sequence works better than one list

Your attention changes across a day, and music that matched it at nine will fight it at three. A sequence of short lists gives you a change of scene at the moments you need one, and each switch is a small signal to yourself that the day has moved on. It also keeps the music fresh; five lists in rotation take much longer to wear out than one list on repeat.

Making it your own

None of this is fixed. Like the tracks that stand out over a couple of weeks, and when you have enough, make a working list of your own from the likes; the playlists guide shows how. The two most common edits people make are to swap Coffee Shop Lo-Fi for Lo-Fi FM, the station, when they want a change they did not plan, and to end the day with Jazz FM instead of Summit.

For offices and co-working spaces

If the office plays music for everyone, the same five lists work through a shared speaker, with two adjustments: skip the lists with vocals during the quiet hours and keep the volume under conversation. A personal account cannot be used for this; an office needs Nova Business, which includes the public performance licence and lets every device in the space play the same music in sync. The office page has the details.

If you work in the evening

The same sequence shifts for a late shift. Start with Chill instead of Cozy Work, because the room is already quiet; move to Elegant Coffee for the middle hours; and finish with Jazz FM, whose late programme slows with the clock. Skip Coffee Shop Lo-Fi after nine, when its vocals start to feel like company you did not invite. For a night that runs past midnight, Night Works by Nova Sounds was made for exactly that hour.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Nova playlist for working? Cozy Work to start, Chill for deep concentration, and Coffee Shop Lo-Fi - R&B when the day gets busier.

How long are these playlists? Cozy Work has 9 tracks, Chill 12, Summit 25, Elegant Coffee 41 and Coffee Shop Lo-Fi - R&B 58. The app continues with similar music when a list ends.

Can I play these playlists in my office? For everyone in the space, you need Nova Business, which includes the licence for public playback. Personal accounts are for personal listening.

Do the playlists change? Public playlists are curated by Nova and are updated from time to time. Your own playlists only change when you change them.