The best and worst songs for sex right now: Science

To set the mood in the bedroom, you need to play some hits in the bedroom – but researchers say most people are choosing the wrong tunes.

Experts analysed current pop playlists on Spotify that included keywords such as “romantic”, “sexy”, “sensual” and “intimate” to determine which strictly sensual songs met the required tempo for sex, which science has determined to be 119 beats per minute.

It turns out we were wrong, according to the pros at Dating Scout, who uncovered some of the worst offenders – a long list of unintentionally unsexy shames, with Jeremy’s “birthday sex” ironically topping the list.

The R&B singer’s 60 BPM track was voted the worst song to play during sex, despite appearing on about 121 playlists.

Other hits like Arctic Monkeys’ “I Wanna Be Yours” and Daniel Caesar’s “Get You (ft. Kali Uchis)” also ranked low.

We found that several songs by The Weeknd have lower BPMs, such as “High for This”.

Despite the sexually suggestive lyrics, the song has a tempo of just 75 BPM – which professionals consider substandard. The study revealed that they were dismayed to find the song on 146 boudoir music playlists, 31 of which had the word “sex” in the title.

Rihanna also has several songs that are considered inappropriate for singing in the bedroom, such as “Needed Me” and “Sex With Me”.

Researchers also analysed the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the best songs to listen to during sex, with a track by Post Malone coming out on top.

The track “Pour Me A Drink (ft. Blake Shelton)” is the most danceable song at 119 BPM, while chart-toppers like Dominic Fike’s “Misses” (119.9 BPM) and Eminem’s “Brand New Dance” (120 BPM) are in second place.

Past research has shown that when you want to stay in the bedroom longer, the best songs to listen to are those that hip-hop fans play for an average of 31.5 minutes.