It’s February, and you know what that means– love is in the air. Whether it’s for yourself, your bae, best friend, furry child, or local barista (caffeine is totally a love language), there’s always a song or two that captures the essence of Valentine’s Day and how that love makes you feel.
Throughout history, there have been countless songs inspired by love across every single genre. Love affects everyone, everywhere, all of the time. So that made us curious– with so many options for soundtracking the upcoming holiday, what are the most romantic songs of all time on Pandora? Better yet, what about the sexiest, too?
By using a combination of Pandora’s sophisticated Music Genome Project technology, listener behaviors, and findings from Pandora’s data science team, we collected a trove of data — drawing from over 450 musical attributes — to identify the most romantic and sexiest songs ever. Check out the epic top 10 lists below!
Top 10 Most Romantic Songs of All Time
- Unchained Melody – The Righteous Brothers
- This No. 1 song sets the soulful tone of the list
- (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman – Aretha Franklin
- Aretha keeps the soul going by balancing out love with a woman’s point of view
- Can’t Help Falling In Love – Elvis Presley
- Weaves together threads of vintage fidelity and timeless, torch-like sentiment
- Faithfully – Journey
- Switch into ‘80s gear with a power ballad
- Endless Love – Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
- Continuing on this ‘80s train, this song ramps up the heat with an impassioned duet
- All Of Me – John Legend
- Segueing into the 21st century, this song is a good chaser after Endless Love’s intensity
- My Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion
- This 1997 hit shares a romantic sentiment
- At Last – Etta James
- The production here is warm, like getting into a jacuzzi after swimming in the ocean
- I Only Have Eyes For You – The Flamingos
- This song was made for slow dancing
- Nessun Dorma – Luciano Pavarotti
- The grand finale of Pandora’s Top 10 list, Pavarotti will leave listeners breathless
Top 10 Sexiest Songs of All Time
- The Beautiful Ones – Prince
- Sets the bar for how intense & hot things can get
- No Ordinary Love – Sadé
- She rises hardly above a whisper the whole time, simmering under the surface
- Get You – Daniel Cesar (Feat. Kali Uchis)
- The vocal delivery & grand lyrics won this track’s place on the list
- Adorn – Miguel
- There’s no doubt that this song is. a. mood.
- Girl – The Internet
- Full of delicious and singular textures: the buttery synths, glossy & borderless, are quietly, flawlessly raunchy
- Untitled (How Does It Feel) – D’Angelo
- Sets a new bar on sexy similar to his predecessor, Prince
- Never Gonna Give You Up – Barry White
- There is no escape from the wicked depth of this man’s voice
- Earned It – The Weeknd
- This groove is so slow & sexy, it’s painful
- Last Time – Ro James
- Nothing like the Red Light Special groove, followed by the recurring hook of that telephone line-crying falsetto
- Fire We Make – Alicia Keys & Maxwell
- You can hear the hot candle wax dripping off their voices. Sweet, sweet escape.
And if the most romantic and sexiest songs in Pandora’s history don’t have you swooning, you can fall in love with a new generation of contenders on Pandora’s Hottest Love Songs station, now available. Tune in for fun facts about the songs from Dr. Emily Morse of SiriusXM’s beloved “Sex with Emily” daily show, as well as tidbits of her love and relationship advice.
