Wave can be used in different ways to mean different things.

1.) The most common use of ' wave music' is to refer to a genre of electronic dance music and a visual art style that emerged in the early 2010s in online communities. It is characterised by atmospheric melodies and harmonies, melodic and heavy bass such as reese, modern trap drums, chopped vocal samples processed with reverb and delay, and arpeggiators. Visually, it incorporates computer-generated imagery and animation, and imagery from video games and cartoons.

Wave music originated on online music platforms from a small group of DIY artists. Since then, wave music uploaded to streaming platforms such as YouTube has gathered millions of plays, which is partially attributable to the genre's broad influences. Since 2016, the wave scene has experienced an increase in physical events. From 2017 onward, the genre further incorporated elements of trance and hardstyle, leading to the emergence of the hardwave subgenre

2.) A tag used by indifferent to actual genres people, usually meaning Dark Wave or New Wave.