Across eight New Year seasons (2017–2025, minus 2021) of US workout-music searches, the spike peaks somewhere in January (the peak week varies from the first to the last week). It takes a median of 4 weeks (range 3–7) to lose half of its gain over December. The curve never returns to the December baseline by spring: March averages sit above early December in all eight seasons. Over 22 years of monthly data, January is the year's top month (112.3) and October the lowest (68.6).
Half-life by season
| Season | January peak vs early Dec | Peak week | Valentine's week vs early Dec | Share of January lift left at Valentine's | March vs early Dec | Weeks for lift to halve |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | +56% | 2017-01-15 | +25% | 45% | +34% | 4 wks |
| 2018 | +56% | 2018-01-21 | +27% | 49% | +25% | 3 wks |
| 2019 | +56% | 2019-01-06 | +28% | 50% | +19% | 4 wks |
| 2020 | +49% | 2020-01-12 | +39% | 79% | +40% | 7 wks |
| 2022 | +41% | 2022-01-30 | +32% | 78% | +25% | 4 wks |
| 2023 | +37% | 2023-01-29 | +21% | 57% | +17% | 6 wks |
| 2024 | +31% | 2024-01-21 | +10% | 33% | +4% | 3 wks |
| 2025 | +27% | 2025-01-12 | +12% | 43% | +13% | 4 wks |
| 2026* | +10% | 2026-01-11 | +4% | 41% | -13% | 1 wks |
What it means
Most music searches are about a moment in someone's day. For a soundtrack to your own day, an AI music generator can score it to whatever mood you need. 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.
Method
- Google search interest, US, web search, weekly, Jan 2016–Oct 2026 (two windows: 2016–2020 and past 5 years). "workout music", "gym music", "workout songs" and "gym playlist" were summed. Baseline = average of weeks starting Dec 1–20 of the prior year; peak = highest January week; Valentine's week = week starting Feb 8–14.
- *2026 is shown for reference and left out of all averages; 2021 is not included.
- Monthly 2004–2026 data (same terms, shared scale) is used for the long-run calendar.
- Companion to “New Year gym songs — and how dead they are by Valentine's Day”; same data, framed as a decay curve.
Cite and download
Free to use and cite with a link back to this page.
aisong.lol Research. (2026). January gym songs die by Valentine's Day — every year. aisong.lol. https://aisong.lol/research/january-gym-songs-die-by-valentines-day-every-year
Use this data. Every table in this study as one spreadsheet-ready file.
↓ Download the data (CSV)
