Banda is a brass-based form of traditional Mexican music. Bandas play a wide variety of songs, including rancheras, corridos, cumbias, baladas, and boleros. Band are most widely known for their rancheras, but they also play modern Mexican pop, rock, and cumbias. Most Banda music is very clearly a dialect of polka and will seem familiar and appealing to fans of polka or traditional German and Polish music.

The late Jenni Rivera years' long career included such honors as 20 million albums sold, making her the highest earning banda singer of all time. She is also responsible for bringing a female perspective to what had historically been a male-dominated genre. La Banda El Recodo, Banda Machos, Banda Maguey, La Arrolladora Banda El Limón, La Original Banda El Limón, Banda Valle Alegre, Banda MS, Banda Cuisillos, Banda Jerez, and Banda Los Recoditos are some of the most famous banda groups. Despite banda being a male-dominated genre, there are a few female soloist banda-singers such as Ana Gabriel, Carmen Jara, Shaila Durcal, and Ana Bárbara. There's also a handful all-female bandas such as Banda Las Soñadoras and Banda Las Tapatias, both from Guadalajara, Jalisco. Jenni Rivera, the highest earning banda singer of all-time