Since 1961 she has been continuously performing at concerts, recording songs and albums, making media appearances, participating in television programs, and filming music videos.

She achieved recognition in 1963 as a singer with the variété show at Ambassador Hotel and the Constantin Tanase Music Hall Theatre in Bucharest.

During these years she recorded several albums: "Warning" and the German "Kein Film War Schoner“ in 1981, "A Cricket" in 1982, the duo with Asen Gargov "The Heart Chose You" in 1983.

Her music from the 1960s and 1970s was marked by complex and rich orchestrations, dramatic transitions between quiet and loud moments, often played with a brass band, string orchestra and electric guitars, with accents of piano or Hammond organ, backing vocals (sometimes choral) and a reverberation to the voice of the performer.

Throughout her career she has shown interest in experimenting with new sounds and has expanded her repertoire with compositions in rock, soul, rhythm and blues, Balkan ethno and jazz.

Ivanova has recorded and released 35 albums and 29 singles altogether in Bulgaria, USSR, Romania, Turkey, Germany, Spain and other countries.

However, due to the Socialist system in Bulgaria, she has never received any income from the sales of the records, beside a monthly salary equal for all famous singers at that time.

She has also performed in Germany, Cuba, Japan, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Poland, Greece, Portugal, Brazil, etc.

[7] She is also the first Bulgarian performer with a concert in the newly built Armeets Arena in Sofia, gathering 15,000 people (the venue normally can hold up to 14,000) on November 22, 2012.

[8] Lili Ivanova became the first person to perform in the brand new Bulstrad Arena sports hall in Ruse, Bulgaria with a concert on July 23, 2015.