Nation's Favourite Wedding Song Revealed





LEADING WEDDING MARKETPLACE REVEALS THE NATION’S FAVOURITE WEDDING FIRST DANCE SONG

hitched.co.uk spoke to over 4000 loved-up newlyweds to uncover the most popular first dance songs that span generations

As couples across the UK prepare to tie the knot just in time for Christmas, hitched.co.uk asked the nation to reveal their first dance songs to determine the all-time favourite and most popular first dance anthem.

In a new interactive content piece, hitched.co.uk, reveal the most popular first dance songs, the songs that span across four generations, the king of first dance songs and the most unlikely first dance songs.

Until recently, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if you attended a wedding where Etta James ‘At Last’ or The Waterboys classic ‘How Long Will I Love You’ were the first dance song of choice. But, as times have changed so has music taste; modern-day newlyweds have fallen head over heels for the sounds of Ed Sheeran, new man on the scene James Arthur and the whimsical tunes from John Legend.





The original survey of over 4,000 married couples reveals:  

The nation’s favourite first dance song              

Out of the entire catalogue of songs, it may come as no surprise that Ed Sheeran is the number one choice for the first dance song. Arguably one of his most favoured melodies, ‘Thinking Out Loud’, has taken the crown of the nation’s favourite first dance song, ever.

The most popular first dance songs

More than 250,000 couples get married every year in the UK - that’s a lot of potential first dances! So, what songs are the most popular for couples to sway together as newlyweds to?


These are the top 10 most popular first dance songs:


1.  Ed Sheeran - ‘Thinking Out Loud’
2.  John Legend - ‘All of Me’
3.  Kodaline - ‘The One’
4.  Christina Perri - ‘A Thousand Years’
5.  Etta James - ‘At Last’
6.  Lonestar - ‘Amazed’
7.  Elvis Presley - ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’’
8.  Ed Sheeran - ‘Perfect’
9.  The Waterboys - ‘How Long Will I Love You’
10.   Al Green - ‘Let’s Stay Together’






The three songs that span the generations

There are three songs that withstand the test of time and are popular across an astonishing four generations of lovers. They are Ed Sheeran - ‘Thinking Out Loud’, ‘All of Me’ by John Legend and Kodaline’s ‘The One’.


The research also reveals the top first dance song for each generation from the 60’s right through to the 90’s:


Top first dance song for people born in the 60’s or before

·  Etta James - ‘At Last’


Top first dance song for people born in the 70’s or before

·  Kodaline - ‘The One’


Top first dance song for people born in the 80’s or before

·  Ed Sheeran - ‘Thinking Out Loud’


Top first dance song for people born in the 90’s or before
·  Ed Sheeran - ‘Perfect’






The artists with the most first dance songs

There are some artists that appeared numerous times as the first dance song of choice for the 4,000 respondents. These are the top three artists to sing your first dance song:


1.  Ed Sheeran - He’s the number one artist of choice, with a total of 14 songs in the collected dataset

2.  Elvis Presley - The all-time king of rock and roll, Elvis racks up 11 first dance hits

3.  John Legend - Coming in at third place we have John Legend with 9 of his songs chosen numerous times as first dance numbers.


Some weird and wonderful tunes:

Along with the more universal of love songs, there were also a number of first dance song entries that go beyond the traditional including ‘99 Problems’ by Jay-Z, ‘Cotton-Eye Joe’ by Rednex and ‘Copacabana’ by Barry Manilow which were all thrown into the mix as some lovers choice of wedding song!

Did your first dance song make the cut? Is the most popular first dance song, that has won over the hearts of four generations, what you expected? To view the nation’s favourite weddings songs in full, visit hitched.co.uk.

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