Skip to content

These Are The 20 Best Songs To Wake Up To, According To Science

Emi Boscamp
Author:
Updated on May 13, 2021
Emi Boscamp
By Emi Boscamp
mbg Contributor
Emi Boscamp is the former News Editor at mindbodygreen. She received a BA in English and minors in Spanish and Art History from Cornell University.
May 13, 2021

Not a morning person? Your alarm song could be to blame, according to a study conducted by Spotify and music psychologist and Cambridge Ph.D. candidate David M. Greenberg in 2015.

Greenberg and Spotify's data team found that the ideal wakeup song should have the following three elements:

Advertisement
This ad is displayed using third party content and we do not control its accessibility features.
  1. It should build: It has to nudge you out of bed gently and then gradually get your energy levels up.
  2. It should be positive: A song about heartbreak is not going to encourage you to get out from under the covers.
  3. It should have a strong beat: If a song makes you feel like dancing—especially if it emphasizes "beats 2 and 4 of each measure—usually with the bass and drums—with a BPM of approximately 100 to 130," you're not going to want to say in bed.

If you're rethinking your alarm choices right about now, there were 20 popular tunes that have the researcher's stamp of approval. Here's the complete playlist if you want to save it for mornings ahead. Rise 'n' shine!

  1. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
  2. St. Lucia - Elevate
  3. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Downtown
  4. Bill Withers - Lovely Day
  5. Avicii - Wake Me Up
  6. Pentatonix - Can't Sleep Love
  7. Demi Lovato - Confident
  8. Arcade Fire - Wake Up
  9. Hailee Steinfeld - Love Myself
  10. Sam Smith - Money On My Mind
  11. Esperanza Spalding - I Can't Help It
  12. John Newman - Come and Get It
  13. Felix Jaehn - Ain’t Nobody (Loves Me Better)
  14. Mark Ronson - Feel Right
  15. Clean Bandit - Rather Be
  16. Katrina & The Waves - Walking on Sunshine
  17. Imagine Dragons - On Top of the World
  18. MisterWives - Reflections
  19. Carly Rae Jepsen - Warm Blood
  20. iLoveMemphis - Hit The Quan
Advertisement
This ad is displayed using third party content and we do not control its accessibility features.
Emi Boscamp author page.
Emi Boscamp

Emi Boscamp is the former News Editor at mindbodygreen. She received a BA in English and minors in Spanish and Art History from Cornell University. She's a writer living in Manhattan and enjoys cooking, eating, traveling, and writing about all three of those things. She loves anything pickled. And anything punny. (She's kind of a big dill.)