If your Spotify ‘sex playlist’ has a suspiciously heavy rotation of one artist, you’re not alone — new data confirms The Weeknd is the most streamed-for-seduction act in the game, and it’s not particularly close.
A fresh study analysing 12,356 public Spotify playlists tagged around sex and intimacy — spanning more than 2.8 million individual tracks — has crowned The Weeknd the most popular “bedroom artist,” with his 2014 Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack cut “Earned It” landing as the single most common song across all the playlists studied.
The research was conducted by adult services platform AdultWork, which combed through playlists carrying titles like “sex playlist,” “lovemaking,” and “intimate playlist” to see which artists and songs listeners actually reach for when the lights go down.
The Weeknd’s bedroom domination
The numbers aren’t subtle. The Weeknd racked up 3,195 total playlist appearances across 20 different songs — making him the only artist in the study to clear the 3,000 mark, and putting him nearly three times ahead of his closest competitor. “Earned It” alone appears on 541 playlists, a track that’s since amassed over 2.2 billion streams on Spotify and peaked at number six in the UK charts — proof that a song written for a movie soundtrack can take on a life entirely its own in listeners’ personal playlists.
He doesn’t stop at one hit, either. “Often” lands at third overall with 481 playlist appearances, “The Hills” sits at seventh with 383, and “Call Out My Name” rounds out his top-10 presence in eighth place with 379 appearances — meaning four of the ten most popular “bedroom songs” in the entire study belong to a single artist.
Who’s chasing him
Second place goes to Two Feet (Bill Dess), whose moody, guitar-inflected R&B has clearly found its niche: six of his songs appear across 1,174 playlists, making him the only other artist to break the 1,000-appearance threshold. His breakout track “Love Is A Bitch” is the second most popular song overall with 488 playlist appearances, while “I Feel Like I’m Drowning” also cracks the top 10 songs list in ninth.
USHER takes third overall, with 13 different songs spread across 703 playlists — a testament to the sheer depth of his back catalogue rather than one dominant single. His signature slow jam “Nice & Slow” is his top performer, appearing on 280 playlists. Jeremih (688 appearances, led by “Birthday Sex” on 290 playlists) and Chris Brown (685 appearances, with “Under The Influence” at 417) round out the top five.
Top 10 bedroom artists (based on no. of playlist appearances)
- The Weeknd – 3,195
- Two Feet – 1,174
- USHER – 703
- Jeremih – 688
- Chris Brown – 685
- Bryson Tiller – 670
- Rihanna – 660
- Chase Atlantic – 621
- Doja Cat – 608
- Ginuwine – 582
The 2010s: music’s sexiest decade
Looking at the release years behind the top 200 songs, one decade stands head and shoulders above the rest: the 2010s account for 105 of the top 200 tracks — a full 52.5% — dwarfing the 1990s (18.5%) and 2000s (17.5%). The 1980s, by contrast, barely register, contributing just 1.5% of the list — so if you’re building a playlist inspired by yacht-rock era slow jams, the data suggests you’re in the minority.
Genre-wise, R&B is the undisputed sound of intimacy, claiming 106 of the top 200 songs, with pop (49) and alternative (31) trailing well behind.
Why this matters
Commenting on the findings, an AdultWork spokesperson noted that the research highlights just how central music is to people’s private lives, saying listeners’ tastes range from “chilled-out R&B” to “upbeat pop” and “cool and grungey alternative,” and that the sheer variety across the top 200 songs is “always worth celebrating.”
For readers building their own playlist, the data offers a pretty clear starting point: lead with The Weeknd, layer in some Two Feet and USHER, and lean R&B if you want to stay on-trend with what the rest of the country is apparently listening to.
