black and gray cassette tape leaned on wall

Spotify data uncovers the ultimate commuting playlist

Research has recently revealed that listening to music whilst driving can have a positive effect on mood, which in turn can influence driving behaviour. 

With this in mind, Uswitch.com/car-insurance set out to uncover the ultimate commuting playlist. By analysing 45,000 songs from 200 different commuting playlists on Spotify, they evaluated the popularity of each tune based on the streaming platform’s own popularity score, plus the number of appearances each song had in the playlists, to then determine an overall ranking.

This research is part of a wider study into the most popular albums, artists and songs on commuting playlists. If you wish to use the data a link to https://www.uswitch.com/car-insurance/guides/ultimate-commuting-playlist/ must be provided.  

THE RESULTS

SongArtistPopularity score / 100
Bad HabitsEd Sheeran100
Don’t Start NowDua Lipa99.997
good 4 uOlivia Rodrigo99.995
Kiss Me MoreDoja Cat (feat. SZA)99.993
Someone You LovedLewis Capaldi99.991
Blinding LightsThe Weeknd99.989
bad guyBillie Eilish99.987
PeachesJustin Bieber (feat. Daniel Caesar & Giveon)99.984
High HopesPanic! At The Disco99.982
Shut Up and DanceWALK THE MOON99.980
Viva La VidaColdplay99.976
Leave The Door OpenBruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic99.976
LevitatingDua Lipa (feat.DaBaby)99.974
Highway to HellAC/DC99.972
I Write Sins Not TragediesPanic! At The Disco99.969
I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVEMåneskin99.967
Shape of YouEd Sheeran99.965
ShotgunGeorge Ezra99.963
Save Your Tears (Remix)The Weeknd (with Ariana Grande)99.961
WAPCardi B  (feat. Megan Thee Stallion)99.959
Watermelon SugarHarry Styles99.956
Mr. Blue SkyElectric Light Orchestra99.954
CirclesPost Malone99.952
Heat WavesGlass Animals99.948
Rain On MeLady Gaga (with Ariana Grande)99.948

Ed Sheeran’s ‘Bad Habits’ is currently the world’s most popular commuting song, with a perfect popularity score of 100 out of 100. Streamed over 457,512,174 number of times on Spotify, the track also appears in over 10% of the playlists analysed (22/200), the third highest of all songs analysed.

Dua Lipa’s ‘Don’t Start Now’ comes in second with a score of 99.997. ‘Don’t Start Now’ beats Dua Lipa’s second song in the playlist, ‘Levitating’ by 0.023, due to making nine more appearances in the 200 playlists analysed. 

With a popularity score of 99.995 out of 100, Olivia Rodrigo takes third place with ‘good 4 u’. Despite just turning 18, the American pop singer beat more established artists such as Coldplay and Justin Bieber, due to having the joint third highest number of appearances in the playlists analysed (22/200). 

‘Kiss Me More’ by Doja Cat (feat. SZA) is the world’s fourth most popular commuting song, beating other female rappers such as Cardi B (feat. Megan Thee Stallion) and ‘WAP’ due to the almost perfect Spotify popularity ranking of 92/100, the fifth highest of all songs analysed.  

The most popular commuting albums 

ArtistAlbumPopularity score / 100 
Ed Sheeran÷ (Deluxe)100
Billie EilishWHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?99.996
Taylor SwiftLover99.993
Harry StylesFine Line99.990
Taylor Swiftfolklore99.987

Ed Sheeran takes top spot for the most popular commuting album, with songs from his ‘Divide’ album appearing 68 times in the 200 playlists analysed, resulting in a perfect 100 popularity score.   

This is followed by Billie Eilish’s ‘WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?’ with a 99.996 popularity score, and besides not being in any of the top 25 songs, 2 of the top 5 most popular commuting albums go to Taylor Swift.

Leave a Reply