- Source
- Google search interest, US by state, web search, past 5 years.
- Search volumes
- Google search volume (US, 12-month average, Oct 2025–Sep 2026) and related Google searches for "first dance songs". There are 6,655 related queries; phrasing variants share one cluster volume.
Wedding season is a search season. Americans search for wedding first-dance songs about 12,100 times a month (Google groups the phrasing variants), and search "father daughter dance songs" nearly twice as often (22,200). We mapped five years of US Google searches for six of the most-played first-dance songs and found each state's over-searched pick. Chris Stapleton's "Tennessee Whiskey" wins 12 states, from Tennessee (3x the state average) across the Deep South. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars' "Die With A Smile" is the new-school pick in 10 states, including California, Texas, New York and New Jersey. Etta James' "At Last" holds 9, including DC, and "A Thousand Years" leads 8. Searches for "first dance songs" themselves are most concentrated in the Plains: North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska.
Which first-dance song each state over-searches (vs that song's 51-state average)
| State | Over-searched first-dance song | Over-index | "First dance songs" search index (ND=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton) | 1.66x | 57 |
| Alaska | Can't Help Falling in Love | 1.34x | 36 |
| Arizona | At Last (Etta James) | 1.07x (weak) | 44 |
| Arkansas | At Last (Etta James) | 1.22x | 50 |
| California | Die With A Smile (Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars) | 1.55x | 34 |
| Colorado | Can't Help Falling in Love | 1.02x (weak) | 52 |
| Connecticut | A Thousand Years (Christina Perri) | 1.23x | 60 |
| Delaware | At Last (Etta James) | 1.22x | 71 |
| District of Columbia | At Last (Etta James) | 1.39x | 63 |
| Florida | Die With A Smile (Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars) | 1.14x (weak) | 42 |
| Georgia | Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton) | 1.16x (weak) | 42 |
| Hawaii | Can't Help Falling in Love | 2.43x | 31 |
| Idaho | A Thousand Years (Christina Perri) | 1.43x | 55 |
| Illinois | Die With A Smile (Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars) | 1.14x (weak) | 55 |
| Indiana | A Thousand Years (Christina Perri) | 1.02x (weak) | 63 |
| Iowa | Perfect (Ed Sheeran) | 1.15x (weak) | 81 |
| Kansas | A Thousand Years (Christina Perri) | 1.02x (weak) | 63 |
| Kentucky | Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton) | 1.31x | 57 |
| Louisiana | Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton) | 1.72x | 57 |
| Maine | Can't Help Falling in Love | 1.21x | 63 |
| Maryland | At Last (Etta James) | 1.07x (weak) | 50 |
| Massachusetts | At Last (Etta James) | 1.07x (weak) | 63 |
| Michigan | At Last (Etta James) | 1.07x (weak) | 55 |
| Minnesota | At Last (Etta James) | 1.07x (weak) | 68 |
| Mississippi | Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton) | 1.81x | 55 |
| Missouri | Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton) | 1.07x (weak) | 63 |
| Montana | Perfect (Ed Sheeran) | 1.15x (weak) | 71 |
| Nebraska | A Thousand Years (Christina Perri) | 1.23x | 76 |
| Nevada | Die With A Smile (Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars) | 1.27x | 36 |
| New Hampshire | Perfect (Ed Sheeran) | 1.12x (weak) | 73 |
| New Jersey | Die With A Smile (Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars) | 1.32x | 55 |
| New Mexico | Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton) | 1.13x (weak) | 34 |
| New York | Die With A Smile (Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars) | 1.14x (weak) | 55 |
| North Carolina | Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton) | 1.13x (weak) | 47 |
| North Dakota | Perfect (Ed Sheeran) | 1.08x (weak) | 100 |
| Ohio | A Thousand Years (Christina Perri) | 1.02x (weak) | 60 |
| Oklahoma | Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton) | 1.07x (weak) | 47 |
| Oregon | At Last (Etta James) | 1.07x (weak) | 39 |
| Pennsylvania | Die With A Smile (Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars) | 1.07x (weak) | 65 |
| Rhode Island | Perfect (Ed Sheeran) | 1.24x | 71 |
| South Carolina | Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton) | 1.34x | 57 |
| South Dakota | Can't Help Falling in Love | 1.26x | 86 |
| Tennessee | Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton) | 2.97x | 55 |
| Texas | Die With A Smile (Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars) | 1.3x | 42 |
| Utah | Can't Help Falling in Love | 1.89x | 50 |
| Vermont | Perfect (Ed Sheeran) | 1.24x | 57 |
| Virginia | Die With A Smile (Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars) | 1.05x (weak) | 47 |
| Washington | Die With A Smile (Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars) | 1.09x (weak) | 39 |
| West Virginia | Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton) | 1.16x (weak) | 65 |
| Wisconsin | A Thousand Years (Christina Perri) | 1.02x (weak) | 68 |
| Wyoming | A Thousand Years (Christina Perri) | 1.86x | 63 |
Wins:
- Tennessee Whiskey: 12
- Die With A Smile: 10
- At Last: 9
- A Thousand Years: 8
- Can't Help Falling in Love: 6
- Perfect: 6
The wedding-music search funnel (US monthly searches, 12-month average)
| Query (cluster) | Monthly searches |
|---|---|
| wedding songs | 27,100 |
| father daughter dance songs | 22,200 |
| mother son dance songs | 14,800 |
| wedding first dance songs / first dance song for wedding (cluster) | 12,100 |
| wedding processional songs | 9,900 |
| wedding entrance songs | 8,100 |
| first dance songs | 5,400 |
| best/top first dance songs (cluster) | 2,900 |
| country first dance songs (cluster) | 2,400 |
| walk down the aisle songs | 2,900 |
| last dance wedding songs | 1,000 |
| unique first dance songs | 880 |
| modern / most popular first dance songs | 320 |
| classic / romantic / christian first dance songs | 260 |
| upbeat first dance songs | 210 |
| rock / r&b / taylor swift first dance songs | 170 |
| spanish / emotional first dance songs | 140 |
Lyrics lookups for top first-dance songs (US monthly)
| Song | "[song] lyrics" |
|---|---|
| Tennessee Whiskey | 49,500 |
| All of Me | 40,500 |
| Die With A Smile | 40,500 |
| Perfect | 33,100 |
| Love Story | 33,100 |
| Thinking Out Loud | 22,200 |
| A Thousand Years | 18,100 |
| Unchained Melody | 18,100 |
| Until I Found You | 18,100 |
| Can't Help Falling in Love | 14,800 |
| At Last | 12,100 |
| Bless the Broken Road | 12,100 |
Trends worth noting (US, annual avg index)
| Song | 2021 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can't Help Falling in Love | 49 | 81 | +66% |
| A Thousand Years | 19 | 32 | +74% |
| Perfect | 64 | 36 | −44% |
| Tennessee Whiskey | 62 | 30 | −51% |
What it means
Big moments get soundtracks, and most people pick from the same short list. If you have a hook of your own, an AI song generator can turn it into a full track with vocals in a few minutes. For a soundtrack to your own day, an AI music generator can score it to whatever mood you need.
Method
- Source: Google search interest, US by state, web search, past 5 years.
- Six songs were mapped separately, each normalized to its own top state.
- Over-index is a state's value divided by the song's 51-state mean, and each state is assigned its highest.
- Search volumes: Google search volume (US, 12-month average, Oct 2025–Sep 2026) and related Google searches for "first dance songs". There are 6,655 related queries; phrasing variants share one cluster volume.
Cite and download
Free to use and cite with a link back to this page.
aisong.lol Research. (2026). America's most-searched first-dance songs, by state. aisong.lol. https://aisong.lol/research/americas-most-searched-first-dance-songs-by-state
Use this data. Every table in this study as one spreadsheet-ready file.
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