Americans 59% More Likely To Listen To Breakup Songs Than Love Songs

May 8, 2024

Summoning the courage to confess to your crush, or needing more self-love after a bad breakup? These heart-wrenching tracks belong on your love life soundtrack.

Music is the universal language of love. The lyrics and melodies we connect with express our feelings better than we can with our own words, be it love at first sight or a tough breakup – but which songs best represent our love life soundtrack?

Language and culture experts Preply have revealed America’s favorite love and anti-love songs. They’ve determined the love and breakup songs Americans listen to most by combining Spotify playlist data with national and regional search volume.

Miley Cyrus’s hit “Flowers” has Americans practicing self-love over vengeance as the nation’s top breakup song while Coldplay’s starry-eyed “Yellow” is America’s most popular love song. However, Americans are 59% more likely to listen to breakup songs overall as half the population say dating is harder today than it was 10 years ago.

Breakup song key findings

Heartbroken nation: The study finds Americans are 59% more likely to be listening to one of these breakup anthems than a love song, coinciding with research suggesting half of the nation finds it harder to date now than 10 years ago.
Miley Cyrus promotes self-love: Learning to love yourself after a tough breakup can feel impossible, but Miley Cyrus tops the chart with her hit “Flowers” – an anthem to self-love with over 1.7 billion streams on Spotify that recently won Record of the Year at The Grammys.
Olivia Rodrigo, the queen of breakup anthems: Longing for someone who isn’t around? Olivia Rodrigo is the queen of breakup songs, helping Americans process lost love with four songs in the top 30 including “drivers license” and “deja vu.”
Thoughtful, not vengeful: Analysing lyric frequency in the top 10 breakup songs, the word ‘hate’ appears just once while ‘love,’ ‘baby,’ ‘falling’ and ‘tears’ appear in lyrics most frequently – do Americans want to understand themselves after a breakup?

Love song key findings

Running out of love: Total search volume data for the top love and heartbreak songs shows Americans are overall less likely to listen to love songs than breakup songs, but these songs top the list for those lucky in love…
Coldplay is the sound of love: Despite having an unfashionable reputation, Coldplay’s starry-eyed hit “Yellow” is the #1 love song in America. The song has endured over the last two decades, much like its theme of undying love.
Ed Sheeran leaves America lovestruck: “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran is a close runner-up on the list of most popular love songs. The track has over 1 billion streams on Spotify and its video has 413 million views on YouTube.
Bollywood tracks are surprise hits: The top 30 love songs include Bollywood hits including “Kesariya” by Pritam from the film Brahmāstra: Part One. Dubbed ‘the nation’s favorite love song’ the track has over 475 million streams on Spotify.

Talking about the most popular love and breakup songs in America, Preply’s Head of Methodology Sylvia Johnson: “There is no doubt that music serves as a universal language conveying human emotions where linguistic and musical elements work in harmony. Love songs and breakup songs, in particular, provide a meaningful outlet for the expression and understanding of the complex emotions surrounding relationships regardless of culture and language. Our connection with such music, whether celebratory or cathartic, is indicative of our personal experiences with love and heartbreak.”

Preply has curated Spotify playlists of the most popular love and breakup songs. Explore the playlists for America’s top love and heartbreak songs here to get inspired.

How is each state celebrating its love and breakups through music? Are they turning up the volume on ballads or playing sassy breakup songs? Using search trends data, Preply determined which songs are the most popular across each U.S. state to tell us more about how each region shows their emotions through music.