In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or element of a new recording. This is typically done with a sampler, which can be a piece of hardware or a computer program on a digital computer. Sampling is also possible with tape loops or with vinyl records on a phonograph.

Often "samples" consist of one part of a song, such as a break, used in another, for instance the use of the drum introduction from Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" in songs by the Beastie Boys, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mike Oldfield, Rob Dougan and Erasure, and the guitar riffs from Foreigner's "Hot Blooded" in Tone-Loc's "Funky Cold Medina". "Samples" in this sense occur often in industrial music, often using spoken words from movies and TV shows, as well as electronic music (which developed out of the musique concrète style, based almost entirely on samples and sample-like parts), hip hop, developed from DJs repeating the breaks from songs (Schloss 2004, p.36), and Contemporary R&B, but are becoming more common in other music as well, such as by Slipknot's sample player Craig Jones.

In 2005, music blog Library of Vinyl Experience compiled sample frequency data obtained from the sample database The Sample FAQ. The goal was to determine what year was “The Funkiest Year Ever” by counting the number of times samples from a particular year were used in hip hop songs. The bulk of the samples used in hip hop were from the years 1970-1975, the most being 872 different songs from 1973, making it “The Funkiest Year Ever”. Some of 1973s most sampled songs include: The Incredible Bongo Band’s “Apache”, which was sampled 45 times, Barry White’s “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More, Babe”, which was sampled 33 times, Kool and the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie”, which was sampled 45 times, and The Honey Drippers' “Impeach the President”, which was sampled 115 times.