The Music Videos That Get Love on Valentine’s Day

February 12, 2016

Around Valentine’s Day, we’ve noticed that some music videos consistently become popular, every year. For example, here are the YouTube views of “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder in February 2015:

Total Views* of “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder

*“Views” is based on both official and fan-uploaded videos claimed using Content ID

As Valentine’s Day approaches, YouTube users endearingly share, message and email “I Just Called to Say I Love You” at a much higher rate.

But that’s just Stevie Wonder. Here’s the music that people play the most around Valentine’s Day: 

Songs That Consistently Become Popular on Valentine’s Day

Views of video increased by at least 50 percent on Valentine’s Day, every year, since 2012.1

Artist	Song	Release Date
Laura Pausini	Le Cose Che Vivi	1996
Nat King Cole	L-O-V-E	1964
Axel	Amo	2005
Franco de Vita	Te Amo	1988
Joaquín Sabina or Sabina y Cía	Contigo	1996
Adam Sandler	Grow Old With You	1998
Stevie Wonder	I Just Called to Say I Love You	1984
Savage Garden	Truly Madly Deeply	1997
Barry White	Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe	1974
Barry White	You're the First, the Last, My Everything	1974
Umberto Tozzi	Ti Amo	1977
Elton John	Can You Feel the Love Tonight	1994
Jovanotti	A Te	2008
Axel	Tu Amor Por Siempre	2005
Rabito	... Que Te Quiero	2003
Tercer Cielo	Enamorados	2012
Chayanne	Completamente Enamorados	1990
Bryan Adams	Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?	1995

1Methodology
Songs that have at least a 50 percent increase in views on Valentine’s Day vs. average across January, March, April, and May (using the same weekday in the month), 2012 to 2015. To control for well-known songs (and eliminate obscure ones), we’ve omitted any videos that, on average, do not have at least 20,000 views/day outside of Valentine’s Day.



To create this list, we searched for songs with views that increase at least 50 percent on Valentine’s Day, every year, since 2012. Of all music on YouTube, only 18 songs fit this criteria.

Some observations:

• Barry White and Axel both have two tracks each.
• Nat King Cole’s “L-O-V-E” (1964) and Barry White’s “Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe” (1974) are the oldest tracks on this list.
• Spanish, not French, may be the language of love: Seven of the 18 songs are in Spanish, eight are in English, three in Italian, and none are French.
• The only woman is Laura Pausini (an Italian artist).

Sadly, some of our favorite love songs just missed the cut of a 50 percent increase for four consecutive years, including: “Nobody” by Keith Sweat, “My Love Is Your Love” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston, and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles.