Facebook is a virtual scrapbook of wedding photos this time of year. It seems like everyone you know is getting hitched and expects you to buy them an expensive toaster. Meanwhile, you just want to stay at home and buy yourself a gift: a six-pack of Pop Tarts. Weddings are exhausting, and the least the, ugh, happy couple can do is pick a good first-dance song. For instance, I’ve been to two weddings this month, and the twosomes danced to Big Star and the National (why yes, they WERE both white people in their 20s). That’s good! Spotify’s list of the 10 most popular first dance songs? That’s (mostly) bad.
First, here’s how Spotify figured out their data:
Spotify studied over 30,000 wedding-themed playlists and the dates on which they were played to deduce that the second weekend in July is the biggest wedding weekend of the year around the world. Spotify also analyzed 12 thousand single-track playlists named “First Dance,” to identify the most popular first dances at weddings.
And their findings:
1. Etta James – At Last
2. Jason Mraz – I Won’t Give Up
3. Ray LaMontagne – You Are the Best Thing
4. John Legend – All of Me
5. Jack Johnson – Better Together
6. Christina Perri – A Thousand Years
7. Michael Bublé – Everything
8. Bright Eyes – First Day Of My Life
9. Brad Paisley – Then
10. Adele – Make You Feel My Love
You can’t go wrong with a little Adele and Etta James (even if “At Last” is to weddings as “The Road Not Taken” is to high school graduation speeches), but married people, you can do better than Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson. You won’t be a mandals-wearing fake hippie forever.
