Three quarters of Brits shower too much according to a YouGov survey. While reasons for this can vary, it might just come down to the fact that they do not want to cut their shower song short, but what songs are keeping people in the shower?
New research by UK Radiators has revealed the most beloved shower songs worldwide. The data also reveals the top genres and artists that people choose to play to enhance their shower experience.
To find out who the most popular artist to listen to in the shower was, we tallied how many songs different artists had in the top 50 most liked shower playlists on Spotify. Here is what we found:
The most beloved shower artist was undeniably Taylor Swift with 168 songs featured in the top 50 shower playlists. With over 66 million Spotify plays and her most recent album occupying all top 10 positions in the music charts, it seems like the Swifties love listening to their favourite artist in and out of the shower.
In second place we have One Direction. Although the band has been on a hiatus since 2015, their songs are evidently still popular. The boy band were included in the top 50 shower playlists 119 times. In close third, with 116 song inclusions, was Bruno Mars. Ariana Grande respectively ranked fourth on the list with 78 song features, and Rihanna came in fifth position with 72 song features.
To find the top shower songs, we analysed all the songs in the top 50 most liked shower playlists on Spotify. These were the results:
Full List:
| Track Name | Album Name | Artist Name(s) | Number of Inclusions |
| TiK ToK | Animal (Expanded Edition) | Kesha | 10 |
| This Is What You Came For | This Is What You Came For | Calvin Harris,Rihanna | 6 |
| Sure Thing | All I Want Is You | Miguel | 6 |
| Drive By | California 37 | Train | 6 |
| That’s What I Like | 24K Magic | Bruno Mars | 6 |
| Bored | Bored | Billie Eilish | 5 |
| Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High? | AM | Arctic Monkeys | 5 |
| Low (feat. T-Pain) | Mail on Sunday | Flo Rida,T-Pain | 5 |
| sex money feelings die – slowed version | sex money feelings die (slowed version) | Lykke Li | 5 |
| You Right | Planet Her | Doja Cat,The Weeknd | 5 |
| Versace on the Floor | 24K Magic | Bruno Mars | 5 |
| Love You Like A Love Song | When The Sun Goes Down | Selena Gomez & The Scene | 5 |
| The Middle | The Middle | Zedd,Maren Morris,Grey | 4 |
| Call Out My Name | My Dear Melancholy, | The Weeknd | 4 |
| Only Girl (In The World) | Loud | Rihanna | 4 |
| Boo’d Up | READY | Ella Mai | 4 |
| THATS WHAT I WANT | MONTERO | Lil Nas X | 4 |
| A Sky Full of Stars | Ghost Stories | Coldplay | 4 |
| Stay | Unapologetic (Deluxe) | Rihanna,Mikky Ekko | 4 |
| Tongue Tied | Never Trust a Happy Song | Grouplove | 4 |
| Hotel | Hotel | Montell Fish | 4 |
| It Will Rain | It Will Rain | Bruno Mars | 4 |
| Collide (feat. Tyga) | Collide (feat. Tyga) | Justine Skye,Tyga | 4 |
| Take My Breath – Single Version | Take My Breath | The Weeknd | 4 |
The most listened to song in the shower according to our research is ‘TikTok’ by Kesha! It might be the iconic opening line of the song, the catchy energetic beat, or simply due to the immense impact TikTok has had on the music industry.
Bruno Mars is the only artist to feature twice in the top 10 with ‘That’s What I Like’ (included in six different playlists) and ‘Versace on the Floor’ (included in five different Playlists) from his hit album 24k Magic.
To find the most loved shower genre, we tallied the number of songs each genre had in the top 50 Spotify shower playlists. Here is what we found:
Many of us want to gain a different feeling from our showers, some want to feel energetic and be woken up, whilst others want to relax and reflect on our thoughts. It makes sense that our research showed a range of genres featuring in the top shower playlists, but we can see that the the pop genre was the most popular based on the list of top songs.
Unsurprisingly, the top five shower genres are all pop or sub categories of pop. The most beloved shower genre is ‘Dance Pop’ with 398 songs included in the top 50 playlists. ‘Pop’ is the second most popular, followed by ‘Boy Band Pop’. These findings definitely explain why artists such as Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars and One Direction are so high up in our artists list, and why iconic pop songs such as ‘TikTok’ and ‘Drive By’ are amongst the most popular shower songs.
To create the ultimate shower playlist, we analysed all 7251 songs to find out the different criteria for the most popular songs, such as speed, danceability, energy, and more. These were the average song criteria from the top 50 shower playlists:
| Song Criteria | Maximum Value | Average Value | Minimum Value |
| Duration (mins) | 10.2 | 3.6 | 1.0 |
| Popularity | 97.0 | 62.0 | 0.0 |
| Danceability | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 |
| Energy | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
| Key | 11.0 | 5.2 | 0.0 |
| Loudness | -1.2 | -6.6 | -25.6 |
| Mode | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
| Speechiness | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Acousticness | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Instrumentalness | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Liveness | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Valence | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| Tempo | 210.9 | 119.7 | 43.5 |
| Time Signature | 5.0 | 3.9 | 1.0 |
Using the averages we were able to find the perfect shower song which was the classic All Star by Smash mouth.
We also used the data to generate the ultimate shower playlist to make every shower more enjoyable!
https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/12l4T0Jd2phsfpmyDBdGOE?utm_source=generator
Methodology
We gathered data from Spotify’s top 50 most liked playlists that include the word shower in them. We then exported the data into a spreadsheet where we analysed all 7251 songs to find the outcome of the study.