The most popular working from home songs

While a huge number of the UK’s population is facing a new way of working as they set up home offices and create DIY working spaces from dining rooms, bedrooms and living rooms, many are facing the challenge of staying motivated as they work from home. 

For some people, finding the right soundtrack for the day is the perfect way to get into the right headspace for work. This means that music streaming services are awash with motivational playlists to encourage people who are getting used to a whole new working environment.

We at Business Comparison decided to find out which songs are the most popular for those who are now working from home by searching for these playlists on Spotify and collating all of the songs which appear in multiple playlists across the platform. 

The Top 3 Working From Home Songs

Listen to them here

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

• Blinding Lights - The Weeknd

• 9 to 5 - Dolly Parton

The Most Popular Songs Overall

Featuring in 54 of playlists we looked at, Fifth Harmony’s very appropriate, ‘Work From Home’ tops the list, boasting more than a billion plays on Spotify. This track is followed by ‘Blinding Lights’ by The Weeknd which features on 47 playlists and has over 673 million plays. Last in the top three is Dolly Parton’s classic, ‘9 to 5’ with over 204 million listens.

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

2. Blinding Lights - The Weeknd

3. 9 to 5 - Dolly Parton

4. Mr. Brightside - The Killers

5. 4.Don’t Stand So Close To Me - The Police

6. Don’t Start Now - Dua Lipa

7. Adore You - Harry Styles

8. Toxic - Britney Spears

9. U Can’t Touch This - MC Hammer

10. Don’t Stop Believin’ - Journey

11. It’s The End Of The World As We Know It - R.E.M.

12. Say So - Doja Cat

13. Watermelon Sugar - Harry Styles

14. I’m Still Standing - Elton John

15. Everything i wanted - Billie Eilish

16. Survivor - Destiny’s Child

17. Stupid Love - Lady Gaga

18. What A Man Gotta Do - Jonas Brothers

19. Stayin’ Alive - Bee Gees

20. Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra

21. Circles - Post Malone

The Top Artists Getting Us Through Working From Home

While the list of top artists features some of today’s chart-toppers, there are a few surprises in the lineup, with 17th-century composer, Johann Sebastian Bach topping the list, with his songs appearing 218 times. Bach is closely followed by an entirely different artist, Taylor Swift who appears 217 times and Fleetwood Mac, who feature 204 times.

1. Johann Sebastian Bach

2. Taylor Swift

3. Fleetwood Mac

4. Queen

5. The Beatles

6. Ed Sheeran

7. Native American Flute

8. Elton John

9. Gabriel Yared

10. The Weeknd

11. Coldplay

12. Post Malone

13. Kanye West

14. Arctic Monkeys

15. Lady Gaga

16. The Killers

17. Oasis

18. Tame Impala

19. P!nk

20. Billie Eilish

The Pandemic Playlist

While plenty of the songs featured were great motivational tracks or popular hits from today, some seemed to be more of a reminder of why so many of us are hunkering down indoors. Here are the top tracks which seem wholly appropriate for these times:

1. Don’t Stand So Close To Me - The Police

2. Toxic - Britney Spears

3. U Can’t Touch This - MC Hammer

4. Fever - Peggy Lee

5. All By Myself - Celine Dion

6. Hands Clean - Alanis Morissette

7. Stuck in the Middle With You - Steelers Wheel

8. I Think We’re Alone Now - Tiffany

9. I Want To Break Free - Queen

10. In My Room - Frank Ocean

The Big Brands Getting Involved

While the majority of the playlists we looked at were created by average Spotify users, there were a number which were put together by some household names, including:

• Pretty Little Thing

• Universal

• Boohoo

• Glossier

• Time Out London

• My Protein

• Filtr

Methodology

We collated a list of 50,000 songs by using 393 playlists created by users and by Spotify that had a reference to ‘working from home’ in their titles. We searched for playlists using the words ‘working from home’, ‘home working’, and ‘WFH’ variations. 

This gave us a total of 393 playlists from which we compiled a list of songs. Counting and ranking the songs from each of these playlists, we were able to find which songs and artists featured in the largest number of playlists, allowing us to discover which songs and artists are the most popular to listen to while working from home.