Brand new research by PassMeFast reveals the 50 most dangerous songs to listen to whilst driving, according to an in-depth analysis of Spotify’s 20 most popular car playlists.
With close to 40 million registered vehicles in the UK and around 1 in 4 drivers (24%) using their car every day, were a nation that spends a lot of time on the road. Distraction is a known cause of road accidents. Under rule 148 of the Highway Code, playing loud music is recognised as an impairment that could land you with a £100 fine and three points on your license. In extreme cases, this can rise to £5,000 and a driving ban. But what if the songs themselves are deemed dangerous to listen to in your vehicle at all?
The popular pop song Hey Ya! by Outkast has been crowned as the most dangerous driving song of all, with a distraction score of 72.6%. Second place is awarded to the Alternative Rock floor filler Mr. Brightside by The Killers (69.6%), whilst third place goes to the Hip hop entry Empire State of Mind by JAY-Z (69.5%).
You can discover the 50 most distracting, 50 least distracting (which is available to download as a Spotify playlist), and winter safety driving tips from PassMeFast here – https://www.passmefast.co.uk/most-distracting-driving-songs
Top 10 Dangerous Driving Songs
Using Spotify data, PassMeFast analysed the 20 most popular driving playlists (combining 1,485 songs) and scored them in terms of danceability, high energy, and how emotionally charged they are. Those with a high distraction percentage score are energetic, emotionally charged but with low danceability. The last factor means it has an irregular beat or tempo. These scores were then averaged together to create an overall distraction score for each song. Using the Spotify API’s popularity score, only the songs with a popularity of 80+ were included to pull the top 50 results. This means only the most played songs were included.
| Rank | Song Name | Artist | Distraction Score |
| 1 | Hey Ya! | Outkast | 72.6% |
| 2 | Mr. Brightside | The Killers | 69.6% |
| 3 | Empire State of Mind | JAY-Z | 69.5% |
| 4 | Take on Me | a-ha | 69.4% |
| 5 | Can’t Stop | Red Hot Chili Peppers | 69.0% |
| 6 | Feel So Close – Radio Edit | Calvin Harris | 68.5% |
| 7 | You Give Love A Bad Name | Calvin Harris | 68.5% |
| 8 | Bring Me To Life | Evanescence | 67.3% |
| 9 | Levitating | Dua Lipa | 67.2% |
| 10 | Dusk Till Dawn – Radio Edit | ZAYN | 66.2% |
Top 10 Safest Driving Songs
| Rank | Song Name | Artist | Distraction Score |
| 1 | bad guy | Billie Eilish | 8.1% |
| 2 | July | Noah Cyrus | 9.3% |
| 3 | Bruises | Lewis Capaldi | 10.2% |
| 4 | When I Was Your Man | Bruno Mars | 10.3% |
| 5 | Love Yourself | Justin Bieber | 10.4% |
| 6 | Dancing on my Own | Calum Scott | 11.5% |
| 7 | 7 rings | Ariana Grande | 11.6% |
| 8 | enough for you | Olivia Rodrigo | 12.2% |
| 9 | Mr. Blue Sky | Electric Light Orchestra | 12.3% |
| 10 | All of Me | John Legend | 13.4% |
It’s good news for avid Billie Eilish fans as her runaway hit Bad Guy which was the best performing global single of 2019, proves to be the least distracting and therefore safest popular song to listen to whilst driving.
