As the wedding industry continues to bounce back from two years of impacted weddings, experts at one of the UK’s leading wedding destinations, Hitched.co.uk have delved deep into Spotify’s millions of playlists to uncover which songs newlyweds will be bopping away to on the dancefloor this year.
To do this, Hitched used Spotify’s Playlist Miner to search for the most popular songs from the most popular public playlists that used the terms “weddings” and “first dance” within them, and can reveal that the most popular wedding song for 2022 is Perfect Duet by Ed Sheeran featuring Beyoncé.
Most Popular Wedding and First Dance Songs
| # | TITLE | TOTAL COUNT OF TRACK* | ARTIST |
| 1 | Perfect Duet (Ed Sheeran & Beyoncé) | 351 | Ed Sheeran |
| =2 | Can’t Help Falling in Love | 313 | Haley Reinhart |
| =2 | Can’t Help Falling in Love | 313 | Elvis Presley |
| =2 | Can’t Help Falling In Love | 313 | Kina Grannis |
| 3 | Thinking out Loud | 254 | Ed Sheeran |
| 4 | Marry You | 230 | Bruno Mars |
| =5 | Better Together | 211 | Jack Johnson |
| =5 | Better Together | 211 | Luke Combs |
| 6 | All of Me | 208 | John Legend |
| 7 | I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) | 207 | Whitney Houston |
| 8 | This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) | 185 | Natalie Cole |
| 9 | A Thousand Years | 180 | Christina Perri |
| 10 | At Last | 174 | Etta James |
| *Total no of times the TRACK features across all playlists analysed featuring key words “FIRST DANCE” or “WEDDING” |
Perfect Duet features on more than 350 public playlists with the name “wedding” or “first dance” in the title, making it the most popular song to play at weddings this year. Ed Sheeran is also the most popular artist to feature on these public playlists, with his songs appearing over 689 times.
Following Perfect Duet is the song Can’t Help Falling in Love. Originally by Elvis Presley, three versions of this song feature in the top 100 wedding songs, proving how much of a favourite it is. The song features 313 times across the playlists analysed, including versions by Haley Reinhart (113 times) and Kina Grannis (48 times), though it’s Elvis’ original version that appears the most; 152 times.
The third-most popular wedding song is another by Ed Sheeran. Thinking Out Loud features 254 times across the playlists analysed. Rounding out the top five most popular songs are Marry You by Bruno Mars which appears 230 times, and Better Together by Jack Johnson which features 211 times. This is another track that has multiple versions in the top 100; while Jack Johnson’s original appears 167 times, a second version by Luke Combs also features in 44 playlists.
Most Popular Artists
| # | ARTIST | TOTAL COUNT OF ARTIST** | TRACK | TOTAL COUNT OF TRACK* |
| 1 | Ed Sheeran | 689 | Perfect Duet (Ed Sheeran & Beyoncé) | 351 |
| 2 | Bruno Mars | 311 | Marry You | 230 |
| 3 | Beyoncé | 307 | Crazy In Love (feat. Jay-Z) | 146 |
| 4 | John Legend | 264 | All of Me | 208 |
| 5 | Dan + Shay | 224 | From the Ground Up | 85 |
| 6 | Jason Mraz | 222 | I’m Yours | 100 |
| 7 | James Arthur | 183 | Say You Won’t Let Go | 150 |
| 8 | Christina Perri | 180 | A Thousand Years | 180 |
| 9 | Chris Stapleton | 179 | Tennessee Whiskey | 108 |
| 10 | Elton John | 172 | Your Song | 133 |
Appearing on over 680 wedding-related playlists is Ed Sheeran. While Perfect Duet is clearly the favourite, other songs by Sheeran featured within the top 100 include Thinking Out Loud (features 254 times), Tenerife Sea (48 times) and Shape of You (36 times). Following Ed is Bruno Mars with his songs appearing on over 311 playlists, and Beyoncé whose incredible catalogue of work features on more than 307 wedding playlists.
Iconic Elton John is the longest-serving crooner on the list, with his songs appearing more than 170 times. Your Song is Elton’s most popular song, which features on 133 playlists. X Factor winner James Arthur is the third Brit to feature on the list, with his songs appearing on 183 wedding playlists, and track Say You Won’t Let Goappearing the most often (150 times).
Most Popular 90s Tracks
To celebrate 25 years of Hitched, Hitched also looked back 25 years to see which 90s tracks appear the most often on wedding playlists.
| # | Track Name | Year of Release | ARTIST | TOTAL COUNT OF TRACK*** |
| 1 | Wannabe | 1996 | Spice Girls | 69 |
| 2 | No Scrubs | 1999 | TLC | 42 |
| 3 | …Baby One More Time | 1998 | Britney Spears | 39 |
| 4 | Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It | 1997 | Will Smith | 37 |
| 5 | This Is How We Do It | 1995 | Montell Jordan | 36 |
| 6 | No Diggity | 1996 | Blackstreet | 35 |
| 7 | Livin’ la Vida Loca | 1999 | Ricky Martin | 34 |
| 8 | Believe | 1998 | Cher | 28 |
| 9 | Mambo No. 5 (a Little Bit of…) | 1999 | Lou Bega | 28 |
| 10 | U Can’t Touch This | 1990 | MC Hammer | 25 |
| 11 | Man! I Feel Like A Woman! | 1997 | Shania Twain | 25 |
| 12 | Return of the Mack | 1996 | Mark Morrison | 24 |
| 13 | Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) – Extended Version | 1997 | Backstreet Boys | 24 |
| 14 | All My Life | 1998 | K-Ci & JoJo | 24 |
| 15 | Always Be My Baby | 1995 | Mariah Carey | 22 |
| 16 | Waterfalls | 1994 | TLC | 21 |
| 17 | Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) – Radio Edit | 1997 | Backstreet Boys | 21 |
| 18 | I Want It That Way | 1999 | Backstreet Boys | 21 |
| 19 | Ice Ice Baby | 1990 | Vanilla Ice | 20 |
| 20 | Mr. Jones | 1993 | Counting Crows | 20 |
| 21 | All Star | 1999 | Smash Mouth | 20 |
| 22 | Fantasy | 1995 | Mariah Carey | 18 |
| 23 | Genie In a Bottle | 1999 | Christina Aguilera | 17 |
| 24 | Jump Around | 1993 | House Of Pain | 16 |
| 25 | MMMBop | 1997 | Hanson | 16 |
Rima Barakeh, deputy editor of Hitched.co.uk says: “It’s no surprise to see Ed Sheeran topping the list and featuring heavily with a number of hits. With so many wedding-appropriate classics under his belt, we can always rely on Ed when it comes to romantic songs that pull at the heartstrings.
“Whilst the theme of romance dominates the list of most popular wedding songs, when we look to the 90s, the clear theme in the top 25 is party floor-fillers and singalong bangers. The 90s list offers us a whole host of classic throwback tunes with a few contributions from the Backstreet Boys, accompanied by a handful of love songs by the likes of Mariah Carey and K-Ci & JoJo.
“It’s impossible to deny the impact the Spice Girls have had on party music, so it’s no surprise to see them topping the list. Considering Wannabe was released over a quarter of a century ago (sorry if you didn’t want to know that), it’s remarkable – but not unexpected – to see that people are still singing and dancing along to everyone’s favourite girl power ambassadors!”
For the full list of this year’s most popular wedding songs, or to enjoy the playlists on Spotify, please visit: https://www.hitched.co.uk/wedding-songs/popular-wedding-songs/
Very interesting lists! The song “a thousand years” just popped into my head yesterday actually, it’s a beautiful song for a wedding indeed.
That’s such a lovely song – thanks for reading our post 🙂