Spotify has released some of its data for April to May. Between the two months, listeners were soundtracking activities from gardening to homeschooling to painting to dyeing their hair and, most importantly, cleaning.
According to the music streaming platform, there has been a 40 percent increase in users around the world creating playlists to enthusiastically clean their homes to—and not-so-enthusiastically, based on TLC’s hit “No Scrubs” being a popular song in these playlists.
For Filipinos in particular, popular song additions to cleaning-themed playlists include “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift, “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus, “thank u, next” by Ariana Grande, “IDGAF” by Dua Lipa, and “Shut Up and Dance” by WALK THE MOON.
Data also showed that there is an increase in people wanting to learn a new hobby or craft. The streaming platform recorded 125 percent increase in streaming of the podcast “Just Wanna Quilt” and a more than 60 percent increase in the podcast “WeCrochet”.
Here’s a brief round-up of some of the trends Spotify has seen for the past month. For the full list of the findings you can check out Spotify’s blog, For the Record here.
- Hair gone wild: There has been an increase of about 50 percent in the creation of playlists to inspire people while dealing (struggling?) with hair maintenance. This was determined by looking at keywords in playlist titles, including “haircut” “dyeing hair” and “hair dye.”
- Some popular song additions to these hair-themed playlists include: “Complicated” by Avril Lavigne, “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” by Fall Out Boy, “The Middle” By Jimmy Eat World, “High Hopes” by Panic! At The Disco, “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots, and “Hair Cutter” by Animal Collective.
- Homeschool hysteria: It seems parents and students are turning to music to get through the challenges of homeschooling, with a more than 1,000 percent increase in the creation of homeschool-themed playlists.
- Popular tracks added to these playlists include: “Supalonely” by BENEE and Gus Dapperton, “Sucker” by Jonas Brothers, “Circles” by Post Malone, and “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa.
- It’s not all work and no play, though; there was also a more than 1000 percent jump in playlists being created around Nintendo’s popular Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a family-friendly life simulation video game that’s providing an escape.
- People are exploring their creativity: There was an increase of about 40 percent in coloring-themed playlists being created globally.
- And a more than 90 percent increase in painting-themed playlists being created. Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” is a popular song pick in these; shoutout to those painting nude portraits!
- Listeners have been turning to podcasts to get the arts and crafts juices flowing, with more than 125 percent increase in streaming of “Just Wanna Quilt” and more than 60 percent increase in “WeCrochet.”
- Working from Home is better with music: There has been an increase of more than 1,400 percent in working-from-home-themed playlists created between April 17-May 17 (compared to the first ten days in March).
- The most added track to these playlists is “Work From Home” by Fifth Harmony (feat. Ty Dolla $ign).
- Other popular songs added to these playlists include: “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton, “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, “Light On” by Maggie Rogers, “10,000 hours” by Dan + Shay (with Justin Bieber), “Boss Bitch” by Doja Cat, “Delicate” by Taylor Swift and “The Less I Know the Better” by Tame Impala.
- Sonatas from Beethoven and Bach are also popular additions, with pianist Lang Lang’s version of “Für Elise” a top classical pick.
- Baking is the new “Ommmm…”: The creation of “baking”-themed playlists increased by 120 percent.
- Popular songs added include: “Sunday Best” by Surfaces, “Banana Pancakes” by Jack Johnson, “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles, “Sugar” by Maroon 5, and “everything i wanted” by Billie Eilish.
- Listeners created approximately 225 percent more banana bread-themed playlists between April 17 and May 17. There are now more than 2,750 banana bread playlists on Spotify.
- People are channeling their inner plantitos and plantitas: The creation of gardening-themed playlists on Spotify rose by more than 430 percent.
- Popular song picks in these playlists include: “Gardening At Night” by R.E.M, “Avant Gardener” by Courtney Barnett, “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra, and “Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee.
- Podcasts are providing inspo, too: the most popular gardening-themed podcasts on Spotify over the past month are: “The Joe Gardener Show”, “Epic Gardening: Daily Growing Tips and Advice” and “The RHS Gardening Podcast”
- Listeners have been busy cleaning: Yes, cleaning—with about a 40 percent increase in cleaning-themed playlists being created, and a more than 65 percent increase in streaming of those playlists in the past month.
- On Spotify, users have created more than 940,000 cleaning playlists. Popular song choices include “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson, “No Scrubs” by TLC, “Roar” by Katy Perry, “Toxic” by Britney Spears, “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers, and “Work” by Drake and Rihanna.
- Spotify’s popular “Cleaning Kit” playlist has seen about a 30 percent increase in streaming.
- People are trying to recreate those summer vibes: As the weather warms up in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, listeners are investing time in creating a soundtrack with the right summer vibes. Summer-themed playlists increased by about 245 percent globally.