119BPM is the most popular speed to have sex to: research reveals the most titillating tempos

It’s ‘official’: if you want to write a song that people are going to get down and dirty to, you should set your DAW to 119BPM. What’s more, it seems that you’re likely to have more sex with your partner if you have similar music tastes.

Researchers at Supplement Place analysed 60,000 songs that it says people like to have sex to, and discovered that 119 is the average BPM. Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance and Just Dance are cited as songs that hit this sensual speed, though Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ is also in this bootylicious ballpark, and we can’t imagine that one getting pulses raising.

The same study says that, if you look at the top 20 sexy songs, the average BPM is slightly lower: 110. Suggested titillating tracks around this tempo include Queen’s Another One Bites The Dust and The Spice Girls’ Wannabe which, again, feel more like passion killers than mood setters to us.

Explaining why music helps people  to get in the mood, Dennis Relojo-Howell, founder of psychology website Psychreg, says: “Listening to music has the same reward pathways as food, drugs, and sexual pleasure. Music causes our brain to experience a stream of dopamine, the pleasure hormone.

“Research also shows that frequency of sex is also influenced by similarity of music interest - those with similar music tastes have more sex compared to those with different musical interests.”

According to the research, the top song that people currently listen to while they’re having sex is The Weeknd’s Earned It, with the same artist’s Often in second place. Jeremih’s All The Time is at number three, with the remix of Ty Dolla $ign’s Or Nah (which features The Weeknd again, Wiz Khalifa and DJ Mustard) and Jeremih’s rather on-the-nose Birthday Sex completing the top 5.

You can find out more about the world’s most sensual songs on the Supplement Place website.