The most popular songs to work to - from in the office to working from home

Finding the right soundtrack - whether you’re working from home, or in the office (or maybe, a bit of both) - is key for a productive day's work. Studies have shown that music improves both productivity and cognitive performance, especially in adults. Music streaming services such as Spotify are therefore filled with motivational playlists for office and home workers alike.

 

With the social pressures and office politics forgotten, remote working has allowed people to enjoy listening to their guilty pleasure songs that they may not be comfortable playing in the office.  

 

Whether it’s working in the office with colleagues, at home alone, or a hybrid of the two - we wanted to find out the world's most popular songs and artists people love to listen to whilst they work. To do this, we analysed over 69,000 songs from 832 ‘work’ playlists on Spotify to reveal the most played tracks that keep us entertained throughout the working day.

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Listen to all three playlists in full on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/user/3wzx7y795uii97cxhhtybx9vg

 

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The top 20 most popular songs amongst those working from home

The top 20 most popular songs amongst those working from home

With 178 playlist features, ‘STAY’ (with Justin Bieber) by The Kid LAROI came first in the rankings of the most popular songs for remote workers. 

 

Olivia Rodrigo featured heavily in the top 10 for remote working playlists (‘déjà vu’, ‘drivers license’, ‘good 4 u’ featured in 7th, 8th and 9th positions, respectively). Olivia Rodrigo’s songs, all from album Sour, generally feature around the theme of breakups and are the perfect song for belting out while at home — away from the eyes (and ears) of your colleagues.

 

Songs ranking in positions 11 -20 included hits from popular artists such as Dua Lipa, Lewis Capaldi and Doja Cat, each with between 80 and 100 working from home playlist features. 

 

Our top playlist for working from home - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5obfhTAF0QrC14yOAAanS3?si=8f06df3b0227476a

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Rank

Track and artist

Number of playlist features

1

STAY (with Justin Bieber) - The Kid LAROI

178

2

Heat Waves - Glass Animals

155

3

Peaches (feat. Daniel Caesar & Giveon) - Justin Bieber

137

4

Blinding Lights - The Weeknd

132

5

Watermelon Sugar - Harry Styles

129

6

Easy On Me - Adele

128

7

deja vu - Olivia Rodrigo

128

8

drivers license - Olivia Rodrigo

124

9

good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo

118

10

Dreams - 2004 Remaster Fleetwood Mac

110

11

Circles - Post Malone

105

12

Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran

104

13

Levitating (feat. DaBaby) - Dua Lipa

102

14

Kiss Me More (feat. SZA) - Doja Cat

101

15

Work from Home (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) - Fifth Harmony

98

16

Stuck with U (with Justin Bieber) - Ariana Grande

88

17

Someone You Loved - Lewis Capaldi

87

18

Leave The Door Open - Bruno Mars

85

19

Shivers - Ed Sheeran

83

20

Golden - Harry Styles

83

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The top 20 most popular songs amongst office workers

The Chainsmokers hit featuring Halsey: ‘Closer’, is the most popular song for office workers, featuring in more office-related playlists than any other track, with Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ following close behind with 40 playlist features. 

 

Ed Sheeran places multiple times in the top five - ranking in fourth place with a second track: ‘Thinking out Loud’. Both of these songs have low BPMs compared to other songs featured in the top ten, showing that office workers may prefer slower songs to help keep them concentrating and doing their best work in the office. 

 

‘Happier’ by Marshmello, and the classic ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey ranked third and fifth respectively for the most popular office songs. 

 

The top 50 most popular songs to listen to while office working averaged a BPM of 110, with more ‘classic’ artists including Fleetwood Mac, Van Morrison and Journey featuring in the list.  

 

Our top playlist for working in the office - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3lptrRjr3h51PNCgHAANvZ?si=f3c9bf4700a04038

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Rank

Track and artist

Number of playlist features

1

Closer - The Chainsmokers

42

2

Shape of You - Ed Sheeran

40

3

Happier - Marshmello

40

4

Thinking out Loud - Ed Sheeran

38

5

Don't Stop Believin' - Journey

38

6

How to Save a Life - The Fray

36

7

Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me) - Train

36

8

Hey, Soul Sister - Train

36

9

Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison

36

10

Memories - Maroon 5

34

11

Sunflower - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Post Malone

34

12

Sucker - Jonas Brothers

34

13

Shut Up and Dance - WALK THE MOON

34

14

Watermelon Sugar - Harry Styles

32

15

Dancing With A Stranger (with Normani) - Sam Smith

32

16

The Middle - Zedd

32

17

Love Song - Sara Bareilles

32

18

Riptide - Vance Joy

32

19

no tears left to cry - Ariana Grande

32

20

I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

30

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The top 20 most popular songs amongst hybrid workers

Using data from the ‘remote’ and ‘office’ playlists, we were also able to identify the most popular songs for the modern hybrid worker. 

 

‘STAY’ emerged as the overall most popular song for workers, with featuring artist Justin Bieber ranking as the third most popular hybrid artist. Harry Styles’ ‘Watermelon Sugar’ and The Weekend’s ‘Blinding Lights’ also made the overall top five, each with over 160 features across both working from home and office playlists. 

 

The average BPM of this combined playlist was unsurprisingly midway between both playlists at 115.

 

Our top playlist for hybrid working  - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3VIeCeeBaBUNlHFFlgLk8u?si=071a12b7a9144ce3

 

 

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Rank

Track and artist

Number of playlist features

1

STAY (with Justin Bieber) The Kid LAROI

178

2

Save Your Tears (with Ariana Grande) (Remix) The Weeknd

162

3

Watermelon Sugar - Harry Styles

161

4

Blinding Lights - The Weeknd

160

5

Heat Waves - Glass Animals

155

6

Peaches (feat. Daniel Caesar & Giveon) - Justin Bieber

137

7

deja vu - Olivia Rodrigo

128

8

Easy On Me - Adele

128

9

drivers license - Olivia Rodrigo

124

10

Closer - The Chainsmokers

118

11

good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo

118

12

Dreams - 2004 Remaster Fleetwood Mac

110

13

Sunflower - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Post Malone

108

14

Adore You - Harry Styles

107

15

Circles - Post Malone

105

16

Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran

104

17

Levitating (feat. DaBaby) - Dua Lipa

102

18

I Like Me Better - Lauv

101

19

Kiss Me More (feat. SZA) - Doja Cat

101

20

Memories - Maroon 5

100

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Top 15 most popular artists amongst those working from home

Taylor Swift came out on top as the most popular artist featuring in remote working playlists, with more than double the number of features compared to artists Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber who ranked in second and third place.

 

BTS and Ariana Grande made up the top five most popular artists amongst home workers, while The Weeknd, Drake, Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and Maroon 5 completed the top ten most popular artists to listen to while working from home.

 

With four songs featuring in the top 50 most popular working from home songs, Olivia Rodrigo ranked in 11th position. 

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Rank

Artist

Number of playlist features

1

Taylor Swift

2,044

2

Ed Sheeran

983

3

Justin Bieber

965

4

BTS

906

5

Ariana Grande

901

6

The Weeknd

698

7

Drake

623

8

Billie Eilish

619

9

Harry Styles

618

10

Maroon 5

597

11

Olivia Rodrigo

594

12

Dua Lipa

542

13

John Mayer

537

14

Bruno Mars

492

15

Coldplay

486

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Top 15 most popular artists amongst office workers

When looking at which artists are featured the most in office-related playlists on Spotify, Ed Sheeran takes the top spot with 320 of his tracks appearing across office working playlists with Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift placing in second and third place respectively, each with over 220 features.

 

Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars and Coldplay all had their tracks appearing in 162 playlists, while the artist of the number one most popular song for office workers - The Chainsmokers - ranked in 12th position with 128 playlist features. John Mayer and The Beatles completed the top 15 most popular artists, each with 126 features in office working playlists.

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Rank

Artist

Number of playlist features

1

Ed Sheeran

320

2

Maroon 5

248

3

Taylor Swift

220

4

Shawn Mendes

198

5

Justin Bieber

162

6

Bruno Mars

162

7

Coldplay

162

8

Ariana Grande

158

9

OneRepublic

140

10

Sam Smith

138

11

Katy Perry

134

12

The Chainsmokers

128

13

Khalid

128

14

John Mayer

126

15

The Beatles

126

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Top 15 most popular artists amongst hybrid workers

Taylor Swift was revealed as the most popular artist for all workers with a whopping 2,264 features across both office and working from home playlists. T-Swift (as she’s known to fans) was followed by Ed Sheeran (1,303 features) and Justin Bieber (1,127 features), with Ariana Grande and BTS making up the top five artists for the hybrid worker. 

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Rank

Artist

Number of playlist features 

1

Taylor Swift

2264

2

Ed Sheeran

1303

3

Justin Bieber

1127

4

Ariana Grande

1059

5

BTS

906

6

Maroon 5

845

7

The Weeknd

804

8

Harry Styles

720

9

Billie Eilish

705

10

Drake

699

11

John Mayer

663

12

Bruno Mars

654

13

Dua Lipa

650

14

Coldplay

648

15

Olivia Rodrigo

594

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Whether you’re listening to Spotify while working from home, commuting to the office or planning a work trip to another city, Business Booker makes business travel a breeze.

 

Listen to all three of our Spotify playlists - https://open.spotify.com/user/3wzx7y795uii97cxhhtybx9vg

 

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Take a look at the top 50 songs for working in the office, working from home and for hybrid working here.

Methodology

Most popular artists and songs were calculated by scraping the song data of playlists containing “office” and “work from home” keywords, and the top 50 most common songs in both WFH and office playlists were combined to reveal the most popular hybrid artists.

 

All results are based on Spotify data correct as of December 2021.

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