The 10 sexiest songs of all time, according to science
Like musical taste, sexuality is a broad and colourful spectrum: one man’s ‘Sexual Healing’ is another man’s ‘Bat Out of Hell’ just as one man’s Marvin Gaye is another’s Meat Loaf. Unless you’re Calvin Harris, who seems to “get all the girls”, you likely have a specific taste when it comes to picking out a sexual partner. Often, this will translate into your musical taste somewhat.
Those on the more aggressive end of the sexual spectrum might prefer partners of the devil-may-care persuasion with plenty of stamina and a collection of thrash metal records. Conversely, the reserved and sensitive lover will find a more sexually compatible rhythm in Elvis Costello’s ‘Alison’ and an armoury of scented candles.
What I’m getting at, in a roundabout way, is that one’s favourite music for getting in a coital mood is a matter of subjectivity. However, striking a hard average between the poles are highly associated grooves like Marvin Gaye’s sex-mix staples, ‘Sexual Healing’ and ‘Let’s Get It On’.
In fact, soul music appears to be the genre most commonly associated with sex: most pornography and strip-tease parodies tend to feature songs by Hot Chocolate or the intro to David Bowie’s ‘Fame’. But what is the sexiest song of all time?
Naturally, this question is unanswerable due to the aforementioned subjectivity, but we have something in the way of an answer thanks to our good old friend, science. When you have something undefinable, disordered and qualitative, you can always trust the scientists to contrive a degree of order with tedious, inescapable mathematics.
In 2012, Spotify commissioned a study at Goldsmiths University of London to find the most sexually charged song of all. The research team questioned 2,000 people about the songs that would ordinarily get their juices flowing. The recurring songs and genres were then analysed for common traits.
As you might have guessed, Gaye’s ‘Sexual Healing’ came in first, with ‘Let’s Get It On’ coming in second. Meanwhile, Barry White received an inevitably phallic bronze trophy for his vast selection of de-clothing ditties, and Serge Gainsbourg took a respectable fourth place for ‘Je T’Aime’.
The University of London music psychologist Dr Daniel Mullensiefen revealed that 40 per cent of those who participated said the anticipatory effect of the music was more arousing than the real lover’s touch.
“It is no surprise that so many respondents claimed to find music arousing in the bedroom,” Dr Mullensiefen stated at the time of the study. “From neuro-scientific research, we know that music can activate the same pleasure centres of the brain that also respond to much less abstract rewards such as food, drugs or indeed sex.”
“The study also unveiled that the best tracks for seduction in the bedroom – essentially what gets us in the mood – all possess the same qualities, including a greater dynamic range, more use of the high chest voice, more raspiness in the voice and less use of vocal vibrato,” he added.
See the full top ten list below and follow our sex-mix playlist if you like what you see.
The top 10 sexiest songs of all time:
- Marvin Gaye – ‘Sexual Healing’
- Marvin Gaye – ‘Let’s Get It On’
- Barry White – Anything by the artist
- Serge Gainsbourg – ‘Je T’aime’
- Kings of Leon – ‘Sex on Fire’
- Hot Chocolate – ‘You Sexy Thing’
- Ravel – ‘Bolero’
- Boyz To Men – ‘I’ll Make Love To You’
- Chris de Burgh – ‘The Lady in Red’
- R Kelly – ‘Bump & Grind’
