These Are The Top Chill-Out Songs, According To Spotify | Men's Health Magazine Australia

These Are The Surprising Top Chill-Out Songs, According To Spotify

In conjunction with International Yoga Day, music powerhouse Spotify has released the Top 20 global relaxation tracks that yogis are tuning into during their sessions. 

 

“There is a growing interest globally on the impact certain music has on performance,” says Dr. Amanda Krause, a psychologist and Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne, Australia, who specializes in the social and applied psychology of music and worked with Spotify on the release of the list. “We refer to it in the industry as ‘musical fit,’ where the type of music you feel ‘fits’ an activity creates an impact on the way you physically react.”

And Krause couldn’t be more on the money when it comes to music and the mental state needed for performance. A study conducted by researchers from Brunel University monitored the effects on brain activity while exercising with music, a podcast, and no noise. By strapping portable monitoring devices (called electroencephalograms) to the study participants, scientists were able to identify a 28 per cent rise in enjoyment while listening to music.

“The EEG technology facilitated measurement during an ecologically-valid outdoor task, so we could finally explore the brain mechanisms that underlie the effects of music during real-life exercise situations,” said psychologist Marcelo Bigliassi. According to Bigliassi and the team behind the research, music boosts beta frequencies in the frontal and central regions of the cortex. Aka it makes you high on life!

Elaborating on the cause of musically improved performance, Krause suggests that the style of music impacts different activities in a variety of ways, eliciting different goals for certain practices. “For example, with yoga, the variety of music is chosen with regard to how it helps timing, focus, and motivation, which in turn enhances your overall performance.”

Luckily for us, yoga enthusiasts have seemingly turned away from the traditional wind chimes usually associated with the ancient practice, and their playlists easily be adapted to other workouts, with artists included ranging from Kendrick Lamar through to Pearl Jam.

If you’re looking to spice up your own go-to chill-out playlist, and we all have them, look no farther than some of the top streamed songs on yoga playlists around the world—from Toronto to Bali—and as you can see from this list, the tunes definitely won’t be confined to the yoga studio.

Spotify Top 20 Yoga Songs

  1. Kendrick Lamar – LOVE.FEAT.ZACHARY.

  2. Halsey – Now or Never

  3. Post Malone – I Fall Apart

  4. Khalid – Location

  5. Bob Marley and the Wailers – Is This Love

  6. Justin Timberlake – Say Something

  1. Future – Selfish

  2. The xx – Intro

  3. Coldplay – Fix You

  4. Jose Gonzalez – Heartbeats

  5. Sia – Breathe Me

  6. ODESZA – Kusanagi

  7. Leon Bridges – River

  8. Rae Sremmurd – Do Yoga

  9. Florence and the Machine – Shake It Out

  10. Van Morrison – Into The Mystic

  11. Ryan Adams – Wonderwall

  12. Andra Day – Rise Up

  13. Pearl Jam – Just Breathe

  14. The Lumineers – Stubborn Love

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