The best songs to cook to, according to Spotify
This is the most popular music to cook to
This research was compiled by food waste disposer manufacturers Insinkerator.
There’s a reason why you’ll always find me in the kitchen at parties: kitchens today are a social hub at the heart of our homes, where we dine together, catch up, and make memories. And whether you want to recreate the latest TikTok food trend or meal prep for a healthier lifestyle, interest in home cooking is higher than ever.
Cooking is a stress-reliever for some, but for those of us who are not so skilled in the kitchen, it can be tiresome. That’s why having the perfect playlist to soundtrack your culinary endeavours can make a huge difference. Whether you enjoy cooking or not, dancing along and singing out loud to your favourite tracks can be a real mood booster!
In fact, studies have proven that music affects our mood. Some experiments found that music does this by changing the way we see things in a positive or negative light, depending on the music. Music also triggers memories and emotions, for example when you play tunes that you would listen to growing up when cooking or eating with your family. What’s more, the beat of the music can affect our heart rate and encourage us to move and tap our feet to the rhythm — all leading to more positive emotions.
We wanted to investigate which tunes people listen to the most whilst cooking. In order to find out, we analysed over 115 playlists and over 14000 songs from ‘cooking’ and ‘kitchen’ playlists on Spotify to discover the favourite songs and artists that people across the world like to listen to whilst cooking.
The most popular songs to cook to
The data reveals that the catchy ‘Put Your Records On’ by Corinne Bailey Rae is the most popular song to cook to. It’s easy to see why. The words of the song tell us to cast worry aside, because life is better spent with your hair down, listening to records. Play this positive and uplifting tune and you’ll be swaying along while you sauté your potatoes to perfection without a care in the world!
Second place goes to Earth, Wind & Fire’s groovy bop ‘September’ to get your toes tapping at the stove, followed by upbeat anthem ‘You Make My Dreams (Come True)’ by Daryl Hall and John Oates — we challenge you not to jig your hips along to this classic as you cook (it’s surely impossible).
The average Beats Per Minute (BPM) across the top 20 is 126 which is classified as allegro (fast). It seems that many people enjoy a fast tempo for their kitchen disco, to energise their mood, boost their confidence and encourage them to be more bold with their cooking!
The most popular genre is soul music (9 out of the top 20). Famous for intense vocals, strong emotions, meaningful lyrics and not forgetting the famous rhythm. Soul music is ideal to cook to as you sing along and clap (and for some impromptu break-out dance moves in between stirring the pan).
The most common decade of release is the 1960s (8 out of the top 20). 1960s music has some timeless singalong examples that the whole family can join in. This is a decade of music which transcends the generations.
The most popular artists to cook to
All artists in the top 20 (apart from Amy Winehouse) were at the height of their careers pre- 1990. Here’s the interesting bit: there's a psychological reason for it. It’s feel-good music because it’s familiar. Scientific studies have shown that people gain positive feelings when they listen to music that they have heard before. And listening to a song from childhood with positive memories entwined makes us feel great. There’s nothing like a good nostalgic music session rediscovering all the tunes from when you were growing up. For many people, it’s the music they love the most.
You can see from the list of artists above that people might listen to the Beatles, Queen or Fleetwood Mac when they are cooking because that’s what their parents listened to. And these artists continue to influence music to this day.
We hope we have inspired you: get the ingredients ready, turn up the volume and enjoy!
Methodology
All results are based on Spotify data correct as of 28th October 2021.
Using Spotify, we searched for playlists with the terms ‘cooking’ and ‘kitchen’ in their name, and looked at 115 playlists containing 14,269 in total. We compiled the song and artist names to find the number of times each appeared across all these playlists, to give us the most popular.
