The Best Songs for Work Productivity

Introduction

Whether you’re in the office or working from home, listening to music can help us get in the zone while we power through our to-do lists. But sometimes we might find ourselves getting lost in the beat, subconsciously performing at our own concert before we’re hit with the realization of deadlines. 

With work-themed playlists offering a variety of songs and genres, Business Name Generator decided to find out what we should be listening to while working or studying by revealing the best and worst songs to work and study along to. 

Top Songs to Listen

Maroon 5’s ‘Memories’ is the best song to listen to while working

Looking at fifteen playlists with over 1,700 tracks in total, we’ve taken the most popular songs and put them to the test, scoring based on words typed per minute, accuracy percentage, and the time it took to complete a written task. 

These are the top songs to add to your work playlist: 

Totalling 91 beats per minute, the track ‘Memories’ by Maroon 5 proved to aid people when completing a work-related task, with the average accuracy score being the highest at 96% overall. It took participants 3 minutes and 47 seconds to finish the task, averaging 67 words per minute – the highest in the ranking. 

The catchy and four-time platinum single ‘Bad Habits’ by Ed Sheeran performed well and takes the second spot, averaging 3 minutes and 55 seconds to complete the task with 96% accuracy. Following in third is the catchy track ‘Sucker’ by Jonas Brothers, their first single together following their six-year hiatus. At 138 beats per minute, participants were able to complete the task in 4 minutes on average at 64 words per minute. 

Top Songs to Avoid

Hailee Steinfield’s ‘Let Me Go’ is the top song to avoid while working, followed by Vance Joy’s ‘Riptide’ 

‘Let Me Go’ by Hailee Steinfield proved to be the most difficult to complete a work-related task, with accuracy being the lowest in the ranking at 84% overall. It took participants nearly five minutes (04.56) on average to complete the task at 49 words per minute. While it may not be the best song to play while working, you could always add it to your cooking or cleaning playlist! 

These are the songs you should avoid while working:

Released nearly 10 years ago in 2013, ‘Riptide’ by Vance Joy is the second song to avoid while working. The indie-folk pop track achieved an average accuracy score of 93% at 50 words per minute. Following closely in third is the heart-rending ‘Someone You Loved’ by Lewis Capaldi at 110 BPM. The emotional song slowed respondents down, with the time spent completing the written task taking 5 minutes and 11 seconds on average (the longest in the ranking). 

Dua Lipa, one of the most popular artists to feature in work-related playlists, takes the fifth spot with her track ‘Levitating’. With an accuracy score of 94%, the pop hit achieved the lowest words per minute score across the board at 48 on average. However, Dua’s track ‘Don’t Start Now’ delivered the highest accuracy score in the study at 97.3% on average. 

Although not all songs are perfect to listen to while working or studying, they could be suitable for other situations, from your morning workouts to winding down in the evening after work.

Artists Popular for Work-Related Playlists

Ed Sheeran and Harry Styles are the most popular artists to feature on work-related playlists

British artist Ed Sheeran appears in work-related playlists the most, with tracks including ‘Bad Habits’, ‘Shape of You’ and ‘Shivers’. 

Harry Styles follows in second with 33 mentions for his hits ‘Watermelon Sugar’, ‘As It Was’ and ‘Late Night Talking’. When put to the test, his latest single ‘As It Was’ (which has the highest BPM at 174) positions as the ninth most distracting song. The number one hit received a 95% accuracy score, ahead of ‘Watermelon Sugar’ at 94% on average. 

Does Music Really Help Productivity?

As well as testing people against popular hits featuring on work-related playlists, we also tested people against the most common ‘focus’ track on Spotify. The results found, on average, people completed the task in 4 minutes and 28 seconds at 56 words per minute with 96% accuracy. 

If we compare this to when no music was played, it took participants 20 seconds longer to complete the task at a slower pace of 53 words per minute with 96% accuracy. 

What is your go-to playlist for work or study?

Methodology

We analyzed a seedlist of the most mentioned songs compiled from 15 work-related playlists on Spotify. From this, we looked at the top 30 songs and tested how distracting they are when completing a written task. The task measured timing, words per minute, and accuracy. We then scored these to give an overall distraction score to reveal the most distracting songs. Participants were also asked to complete the task with no music, and the most common ‘focus’ (lyricless) track featured in playlists on Spotify.