Move to the beat – most popular marathon training songs revealed

If your spring marathon motivation is wavering as the training volume ramps up, a punchy new playlist might be just what you need to make training that little bit more fun.

But what are the must-listen songs to add to your marathon playlist? JustGiving has surveyed 2,000 people who are signed up to the London Marathon in April to see which hits they rely on for motivation.

Of 6,000 songs put forward, these were participants' 10 favourites:

Top 10 marathon training tracks:

1. Eye of the Tiger – Survivor (1982)

2. Lose Yourself – Eminem (2002)

3. Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen (1978)

4. Dog Days Are Over – Florence & The Machine (2008)

5. Running Up That Hill – Kate Bush (1985)

6. Mr Brightside – The Killers (2003)

7. Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen (1975)

8. Adore U – Fred Again (2023)

9. Pump It – Black Eyed Peas (2009)

10. Cruel Summer – Taylor Swift (2019)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the research showed that runners are drawn to songs that have the words ‘run’ or ‘running’ in the title or contain ‘run’ in the lyrics, such as in the number four entry 'Dog Days Are Over' by Florence and the Machine: 'Run for your mother, run fast for your father / Run for your children, for you sisters and brothers.'

As for the most streamed artists, reigning queens of the music industry, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, topped the list.

Top 10 artists for marathon training:

1. Taylor Swift

2. Beyoncé

3. Calvin Harris

4. Queen

5. Eminem

6. Fred Again

7. Dua Lipa

8. Ed Sheeran

9. Coldplay

10. Drake

Music not your thing? How about a good podcast instead? Of those surveyed, a quarter said they preferred listening to podcasts over music, with people aged 25-34 being most likely to listen.

Conversational and interview-based podcasts were most popular, with Diary of A CEO hosted by Steven Bartlett in first, followed by Britain’s most popular podcasting couple Sophie Habboo and Jamie Laing from Newly Weds.

Top 10 podcasts to run to:

1. Diary of a CEO

2. Newly Weds

3. Off Menu

4. Sh**ged Married Annoyed

5. The Joe Rogan Experience

6. The Girls Bathroom

7. Parenting Hell

8. The Running Channel Podcast

9. Help I Sexted My Boss

10. High Performance Podcast

Naturally, we'd also recommend listening to our very own Runner's World podcast during your training runs, too, for your weekly dose of all things running. Listen on Apple, Spotify or Acast.

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