What songs are most likely to show up in movies and television? There’s been a study.

A Substack publication called Stat Significant has dived into the songs that show up the most in movies and TV. This gives us insight into (a) how music supervisors think, (b) how songs are peddled to music supervisors, and (c) how certain artists are making a lot of money from these kinds of sync deals.

How are these songs used? I quote:

• “This Is How We Do It” often plays in the background of scenes depicting debauchery or partygoing.
• “Tubthumping” accompanies sequences where characters smash things or fight—or both.
• “Fix You” was essentially hand-crafted for the end of every Grey’s Anatomy episode and shows doing their best Grey’s Anatomy impersonation.

And here’s more when it comes to music-and-storytelling tropes:

• Hedonism, Partying, and Dancing: “This is How We Do It,” “Push It,” and “September.”
• Falling in Love, Dating, and Sex: “At Last,” “Fade Into You,” “Let’s Get it On,” and “Escape (Piña Colada Song).”
• Getting Knocked Down and Getting Back Up Again: “Tubthumping.”
• Ham-fisted Emotional Manipulation: “Fix You.”

Another reason this is important is because a song can be discovered by lots of people through placement in film and television.

And which decades are the most popular for sync placement? The 80s.