Kraftwerk (lit. "power station") is a German electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered the innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the genre. The group began as part of Germany's experimental krautrock scene in the early 1970s before fully embracing electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers, drum machines, and vocoders. Wolfgang Flür joined the band in 1974 and Karl Bartos in 1975, expanding the band to a quartet.
On commercially successful albums such as Autobahn (1974), Trans-Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978), and Computer World (1981), Kraftwerk developed a self-described "robot pop" style that combined electronic music with pop melodies, sparse arrangements, and repetitive rhythms, while adopting a stylized image including matching suits. In the 1980s, they were one of the ''Big Four'' acts of the German Incursion, along with Klaus Nomi, Nina Hagen and Dieter Bohlen.
The band's work has influenced a diverse range of artists and many genres of modern music, including synthpop, hip-hop, post-punk, techno, house music, ambient, and club music. In 2014, the Recording Academy honoured Kraftwerk with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. They later won the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album with their live album 3-D The Catalogue (2017) at the 2018 ceremony. In 2021, Kraftwerk was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the early influence category. As of 2022, the band continues to tour, with the members' live performances celebrating Kraftwerk's fiftieth anniversary.
Kraftwerk are one of the best-selling music acts of all time, having sold over 100 million records worldwide, and have been nominated for one Grammy Award.