What the world is listening to during their home workouts

Posted on 01 November 2023

We know how important music is when working out. In fact, science has actually proven that listening to music when exercising can help improve endurance and your mood. So, it's understandable that lots of people can spend hours curating the perfect playlist for their workout.

With that in mind, and as many people around the world had to adjust their fitness plans in March 2020 and adopt a home exercise routine, we analysed the songs added to home workout playlists on Spotify the most. In turn providing anyone struggling to get in the mood for a workout, a sure-fire hit of a playlist, sourced directly from the song choices of those keeping fit at home.

Now we're almost a year removed from when the first lockdown restrictions were imposed, and many are in the midst of yet another lockdown. This time in the winter and after a difficult year, re-capturing the motivation can be tough, and after so many home workout sessions, our playlists could all probably do with a bit of a refresh! So we've looked back at the data to see what's changed, and created a new 2021 edition of our PureGym Home Workout playlist. Give it a listen here:

As before, this new playlist combines 50 of the most popular workout songs, so you have plenty of music to tune into and help keep you motivated and energised when working out at home.

To find out the most popular songs to soundtrack a home workout, we looked at Spotify data, analysing over 145,000 songs found in playlists with the words ‘home workout’ and ‘workout at home’ in the name. This alone puts into perspective just how many people are working out at home now, as when we first looked at the data around this, there was only 27,000 songs in our research!

Most popular home workout songs - 2021 edition

The most notable change in our chart rankings, is that Dua Lipa and her song Don't Start Now has been knocked off the top spot by SAINt JHN's Roses (the Imanbek remix), which has moved up from 6th! Elsewhere, London's own Joel Corry and his tune Head & Heart is a new entrant at fourth, alongside the likes of Turn Me On by Riton, the Newcastle born DJ and producer.

Song and artist

1.       Roses - Imanbek Remix - SAINt JHN

2.       Blinding Lights - The Weeknd

3.       Don't Start Now - Dua Lipa

4.       Head & Heart (feat. MNEK) – Joel Corry

5.       Physical - Dua Lipa

6.       Lose Control - MEDUZA

7.       Boss B*tch - Doja Cat

8.       Dance Monkey - Tones and I

9.       Breaking Me - Topic

10.     'Till I Collapse - Eminem

11.     Rain On Me (with Ariana Grande) - Lady Gaga

12.     POWER - Kanye West

13.     Stronger - Kanye West

14.     Ride It - Regard

15.     Higher Love - Kygo

16.     Turn Me On (feat. Vula) - Riton

17.     Stupid Love - Lady Gaga

18.     Say So - Doja Cat

19.     Mood (feat. iann dior) - 24kGoldn

20.     Savage Remix (feat. Beyonce) - Megan Thee Stallion

The Most popular home workout artists - 2021 edition

It’s not all bad news for Dua Lipa though, as the impressive amount of times her music is featured in home workout playlists, has helped her to claim the crown of the most popular artist for home workouts. Previously number one, Eminem drops to third, while top artists such as Justin Bieber and Travis Scott drop out of the top 20 altogether, with newer names like Megan Thee Stallion taking their spot!

Artist

1.     Dua Lipa

2.     Drake

3.     Eminem

4.     Kanye West

5.     David Guetta

6.     Tiesto

7.     The Weeknd

8.     Calvin Harris

9.     Megan Thee Stallion

10.   Ariana Grande

11.   Beyonce

12.   Lady Gaga

13.   Rihanna

14.   Doja Cat

15.   JAY-Z

16.   Post Malone

17.   Kygo

18.   SAINt JHN

19.   MEDUZA

20.   Lizzo

The most popular home workout songs - 2020 edition

If you want to compare our new findings from January 2021 to what we previously found when we first researched the most popular home workout songs when lockdown hit in Spring 2020, take a look at the most popular songs and artists from that period below!

Song and artist

1.       Don't Start Now - Dua Lipa

2.       Blinding Lights - The Weeknd

3.       Stupid Love - Lady Gaga

4.       Physical - Dua Lipa

5.       Dance Monkey - Tones and I

6.       Roses - Imanbek Remix - SAINt JHN

7.       The Box - Roddy Rich

8.       Lose Control - MEDUZA

9.       ROXANNE - Arizona Zervas

10.     'Till I Collapse - Eminem

10.     RITMO (Bad Boys For Life) - Black Eyed Peas

11.     Higher Love - Kygo

12.     POWER - Kanye West

13.     Boss B*tch - Doja Cat

13.     Can't Hold Us - feat. Ray Dalton - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

13.     SICKO MODE - Travis Scott

14.     Godzilla (feat. Juice WRLD) - Eminem

15.     Life Is Good (feat. Drake) - Future

16.     Say So - Doja Cat

17.     I Like It - Cardi B

18.     Motivation - Normani

18.     Juice - Lizzo

19.     Stronger - Kanye West

19.     High Hopes - Panic! At The Disco

19.     Piece Of Your Heart - MEDUZA

20.     Ni**as In Paris - JAY-Z 

20.     bad guy - Billie Eilish

Most popular home workout artists - 2020 edition:

Artist

1.     Eminem

2.     Dua Lipa

3.     Kanye West

4.     Drake

5.     Beyonce

6.     David Guetta

7.     The Weeknd

8.     Calvin Harris

8.     Lady Gaga

9.     Rihanna

10.   Ariana Grande

11.   Lizzo

12.   Bad Bunny

13.   Post Malone

14.   Ed Sheeran

15.   Justin Bieber

16.   Doja Cat

17.   Travis Scott

18.   Tiësto

19.   J Balvin

20.   Britney Spears

More than enough music to get you in the mood for a workout, however if you're stuck for a workout routine to do at home, we have a huge range to choose from -- just head over to our home workout section, check out these free workouts, or for ultimate ease from your phone, download our free PureGym app -- this features over 400 workouts from the PureGym pros!