Types of House Music: The Subgenres Explained

House is the biggest family in electronic music, and "house" alone barely tells you anything, because deep house, tech house and afro house do completely different jobs on a dancefloor. They all share the four-on-the-floor root that started in Chicago in the 1980s, but each subgenre has its own BPM, feel, scene and Beatport chart. Here is the house family mapped clearly, so you can place any track and know where it belongs. It is a deeper branch of our full types of electronic music guide.

Every house subgenre is built on the same foundation: a steady four-on-the-floor kick, off-beat hi-hats, a groove you move to, and a tempo roughly between 115 and 130 BPM. It grew out of Chicago's club scene in the early 1980s, evolving from disco into a DJ-built dance sound, then spread worldwide and branched into more commercially distinct subgenres than any other family. What changes between subgenres is the energy, the sound palette and the floor it is built for, not the underlying heartbeat.

Here is the working map most DJs and labels use:

• Deep house (around 118-124 BPM): warm, soulful, moody, with rich chords and pads. Built for warmups, after-hours and listening.
• Tech house (around 122-126): house groove with techno's drive and stripped drums. One of the most-booked peak-time club sounds. We compared the two in tech house vs deep house.
• Melodic house (around 120-124): emotional, melody-led, atmospheric, big in the festival-and-club crossover (close cousin of melodic techno).
• Afro house (around 120-125): percussion-driven and organic, built on African rhythms and chant vocals, surging globally. Full breakdown in what is afro house.
• Progressive house (around 124-128): longer builds, layered, hypnotic and festival-leaning.
• Soulful / funky house (around 120-125): disco and soul DNA, vocal-led, warm and uplifting.
• Future house and bass house (around 124-128): bigger, bass-forward, club-and-festival energy.
• Classic / Chicago and acid house (around 120-128): the originals, raw drum-machine grooves and the squelchy TB-303 acid sound.
• Disco and nu-disco (around 115-125): the genre's roots, filtered loops and live-feeling grooves.

Most working artists live in one of the first four, since deep, tech, melodic and afro house dominate the current clubs and charts.

The point of the map is not trivia, it is positioning. Your house subgenre decides your Beatport chart, the promo list of DJs who will play you, the labels you fit and the rooms you get booked in. A deep house track and a tech house track reach completely different DJs even though both are "house." So when you finish a track, place it precisely, then target that subgenre's chart, DJs and labels rather than aiming at "house" in general.

That precision is the whole game in a family this crowded. We covered how to work the chart in how to promote music on Beatport, the full release campaign in music promotion for electronic artists, and the path to a label in how to get signed to a record label.

How many types of house music are there? There is no fixed count, but the working map includes around ten major subgenres: deep, tech, melodic, afro, progressive, soulful/funky, future/bass, classic/Chicago, acid, and disco/nu-disco. Deep, tech, melodic and afro house dominate the current scene.

What BPM is house music? The house family runs roughly 115 to 130 BPM. Within it, deep house sits around 118-124, tech house 122-126, and progressive house 124-128.

What is the most popular type of house music? Tech house is currently one of the most-booked and most commercially competitive club sounds, with afro house surging fast and melodic house strong in the festival crossover.

What is the difference between deep house and tech house? Deep house is warm, soulful and moody, built for warmups and after-hours; tech house is stripped, driving and functional, built for peak-time. Same family, opposite energy. Full comparison in our tech house vs deep house guide.

Which type of house music is easiest to start with? Tech house's stripped, functional structure is an approachable entry point, while deep house and melodic house demand more harmonic and emotional craft. Make the one whose scene you actually want to be part of.

Once you know exactly which house subgenre your track is, getting it to the right DJs is the next move. PromoLink sends your release to the promo list that matches your subgenre in scheduled cascades, and shows you who genuinely supports it with per-contact Trust Scores. Explore the full types of electronic music map, then start free on PromoLink and put your track in front of the right room.