
“Sexy” is a relative term: one’s baby-makin’ music could be their partner’s soundtrack for a snoozefest. But there’s nothing subjective about this list. These are, literally, the 60 most popular songs about sex ever, as based on each song’s performance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (from August 4, 1958 — the inception of the Hot 100 chart — through May 17, 2022).
Tracks like Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” and The Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women” are sure to have baby boomers reminiscing about the good old days — but that doesn’t mean they can’t twerk it out to “WAP” with Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, either. Sex and twerking have since become less taboo — with several more current hitmakers including Drake, Ariana Grande, Silk Sonic and Rihanna making appearances on this list, too.
Some songs are steamy slow-jams, some are hi-octane arena rockers, but what they all have in common (and what got them on this list) is their intimate subject matter — whether raunchy, romantic or somewhere in between. So if you’re on the prowl for new additions to your sexy time playlist, look no further than the tracks below.
Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 100 earning the least. To ensure equitable representation of the biggest hits from each era, certain time frames were weighted to account for the difference between turnover rates from those years.
Text by M. Tye Comer, Mariel Concepcion, Monica Herrera, Jessica Letkemann, Evie Nagy, Danielle Pascual and David J. Prince.
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Cardi B feat. Bruno Mars, "Please Me"
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Chart Peak: 3, Peak Date: Mar. 16, 2019
Bruno Mars joins Cardi B for her 2019 single with a melody as smooth as its lyrics. The sensual slow jam perfectly mixes soul with contemporary hip-hop beats. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Please me, baby/ Turn around and just tease me, baby/ You got what I want and what I need, baby”
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Drake feat. Future and Young Thug, "Way 2 Sexy"
Chart Peak: 1, Peak Date: Sept. 18, 2021
Drake enlists Future and Young Thug for a track dedicated to the days you’re just feeling yourself. Right Said Fred’s 1991 hit “I’m Too Sexy” is sampled throughout, because you gotta give credit where credit is due. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “I’m feelin’ too sexy to accept requests (way too sexy)/ And I’m way too sexy to go unprotected (way too sexy)”
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Ariana Grande feat. Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion, “34+35”
Chart Peak: 2, Peak Date: Jan. 30, 2021
You don’t need to be a mathematician to know what “34+35” is aluding to. Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion bring additional flavor to Ariana Grande’s innocently seductive track. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “So what you doing tonight?/ Better say, ‘Doin’ you right’/ Watchin’ movies, but we ain’t seen a thing tonight”
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Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion, "WAP"
Chart Peak: 1 (four weeks), Peak Date: Aug. 22, 2020
Cardi and Megan Thee Stallion definitely prove their “certified freak, seven days a week” status with their raunchy 2020 collaboration. Don’t forget your bucket and mop when you queue up this bass-heavy banger. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Gobble me, swallow me, drip down the side of me/ Quick, jump out ‘fore you let it get inside of me”
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Zayn, "PILLOWTALK"
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Chart Peak: 1, Peak Date: Feb. 20, 2016
ZAYN drops all the boy band rules for his solo debut. The seductive single highlights the good and the bad that comes with all relationships atop a near-intoxicating beat. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “I’m seeing the pain, seeing the pleasure/ Nobody but you, ‘body but me/ ‘Body but us, bodies together”
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Foreigner, "Urgent"
Chart Peak: 4, Peak Date: Sept. 5, 1981
Foreigner is best known for wanting to know what love is, but they weren’t feeling quite as romantic on this 1981 hit about fulfilling carnal urges by whatever means necessary. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “I’m not looking for a love that will last/ I know what I need and I need it fast”
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Cyndi Lauper, "She Bop"
Chart Peak: 3, Peak Date: Sept. 8, 1984
If you the want the job done right, sometimes you just have to do it yourself. Cyndi Lauper’s celebration of masturbation caused some controversy, but the lyrics were vague enough to convince more clueless listeners that the song was about dancing. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Do I wanna go out with a lion’s roar / I wanna go south n get me some more”
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Ray J & Yung Berg, "Sexy Can I"
Chart Peak: 3, Peak Date: Apr. 5, 2008
After his sex tape with Kim Kardashian hit the net, R&B singer Ray J must’ve figured, why not make a song about it? “It’s a Kodak moment, let me go and get my camera,” the exhibitionist jokes on the track. Apparently, no price is too high to pay for sex for Ray J, even if it compromises his privacy. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Then we take it to the bed, then we take it to the floor/ Then we chill for a second, then I hit that a— some more”
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Young Money feat. Lloyd, "BedRock"
Chart Peak: 2, Peak Date: Mar. 13, 2010
Young Money artists Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Tyga, Gudda Gudda, Tyga and Jae Millz spit solo verses on their mega-collaboration track about the best parts of love. The chorus by Lloyd is sure to both put you in the mood and get stuck in your head for days. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “But when that show ends, she all over my skin, lotion/ Slow-mo motions, rollercoastin’/ Like back, forth, hold it
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Adina Howard, "Freak Like Me"
Chart Peak: 2, Peak Date: May 5, 1995
Raunchy singer Adina Howard might be the quintessential “lady in the streets but a freak in the bed.” The R&B diva isn’t ashamed to tell a man just how she likes it (and how she wants it) and often refers to her sexual drive in animalistic terms. Meow! Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Cause I will be a freak until the day until the dawn/ And we can pump, pump all through the night till the early morn”
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Rihanna feat. Britney Spears, "S&M"
Chart Peak: 1, Peak Date: Apr. 30, 2011
Rih and Brit are telling it like it is in a remix of the Barbadian singer’s raunchy 2011 track. And we have to say, being bad never looked so good. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “I love the feeling you bring to me/ Oh, you turn me on/ It’s exactly what I’ve been yearning for/ Give it to me strong”
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Cassie, "Me & U"
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Chart Peak: 3, Peak Date: Jul. 22, 2006
“Me & U” was enough to establish Cassie as an object of many mens’ affections. The then-20-year-old singer boasts about her sexual IQ on the synth-poppy R&B jam and promises to teach her crush a thing or two between the sheets. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “I know them other guys, they been talking bout the way I do what I do/ They heard I was good, they wanna see if it’s true/ They know you’re the one I wanna give it to”
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Tone-Loc, "Wild Thing"
Chart Peak: 2, Peak Date: Feb. 18, 1989
Tone-Loc’s career-defining single flipped the script on the Trogg’s ’60s hit of the same name. The gravely-voiced rapper turned “wild thing” into a verb and slyly suggested that he and his prospects get busy over a sample of Van Halen’s “Jamie’s Cryin.” Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Took her to the limousine still parked outside / I tipped the chauffeur when it was over, and I gave her my own ride”
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George Michael, "I Want Your Sex"
Chart Peak: 2, Peak Date: Aug. 8, 1987
You have to respect George Michael for playing it “straight.” While other ’80s pop stars masked their desires behind veiled references, George tested the limits of censorship and told his prospective lover exactly what he wanted. Radio stations across the world flinched at his brazenness, but the song still shot to No. 2 in the U.S.. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Every man’s got his patience, and here’s where mine ends/ I want your sex”
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Donna Summer, "Dim All The Lights"
Chart Peak: 2, Peak Date: Nov. 10, 1979
Donna Summer’s 1979 hit sounds like a nice song to sway to at prom. But the groove becomes decidedly horizontal once the song hits the bridge and she demands her lover to “use me all up/ take me bottom to top.” Innocence lost, for real. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Don’t leave even one drop, no do it tonight/ You know the moments are right, turn my brown body white”
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Prince, "Raspberry Beret"
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Chart Peak: 2, Peak Date: Jul. 20, 1985
This Princely mid-’80s hit is a sly tribute to innocence lost, with the titular head-topper serving as a metaphor for a virgin’s undefiled hymen. And you thought “Little Red Corvette” was racy. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “They say the first time ain’t the greatest/ But I tell ya, if I had the chance 2 do it all again/ I wouldn’t change a stroke”
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Johnny Gill, "Rub You The Right Way"
Chart Peak: 3, Peak Date: Aug. 4, 1990
A man who offers to use his hands wisely during a night of lovin’ makes for a very compelling pitch. It’s no wonder then that former New Edition member Johnny Gill broke big with this new-jack swinging solo hit. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Can you feel the magic in my hands/ When I touch and rub you the right way/ Stroke applied with tenderness/ When I hold and rub you the right way”
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Juvenile feat. Soulja Slim, "Slow Motion"
Chart Peak: 1 (two weeks), Peak Date: Aug. 7, 2004
His moniker might be Juvenile, but there’s nothing infantile about the way the New Orleans rapper raps his sex game. While Juvie may not exactly be whispering sweet nothings in his girl’s ear, he sure knows how to get her attention. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “If you loving my bark let me bury my bone/ I got 4 or 5 bad merry b—ches at home”
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Roberta Flack, "Feel Like Makin' Love"
Chart Peak: 1, Peak Date: Aug. 10, 1974
The 1974 hit song for Roberta Flack garnered the singer and producer three Grammy nominations and sealed her place in baby-makin’-music history. Simple and to the point, this smooth groove was the gathering clouds for the future quiet storm revolution that would take over R&B a decade later. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “When you talk to me, when you’re moanin’ sweet & low/ When you’re touchin’ me and my feelin’s start to show”
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Sylvia, "Pillow Talk"
Chart Peak: 3, Peak Date: Jun. 9, 1973
You know you’re on to something when your song is too sexy for Rev. Al Green. The soul legend reportedly turned down this steamy number before it was recorded by Sylvia in 1973, who was more than happy to spend a full two minutes panting, sighing and talking dirty in Spanish. ¡Caliente! Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Ooh, I don’t wanna see you be no fool/ What I’m teachin’ you tonight, Boy, you’ll never learn it in school”
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Poison, "Unskinny Bop"
Chart Peak: 3, Peak Date: Sept. 1, 1990
Before Bret Michaels started looking for his Rock of Love, the Poison frontman preferred his ladies with as few strings as possible. Guitarist C.C. DeVille has confessed that the phrase “unskinny bop” doesn’t really mean anything, but that hasn’t prevented listeners from using their imaginations. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “You’re sayin’ my love won’t do ya/ But that ain’t love written on your face/ Well honey I can see right through ya/ We’ll see whose ridin’ who at the end of the race”
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Def Leppard, "Pour Some Sugar on Me"
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Chart Peak: 2, Peak Date: Jul. 23, 1988
Today’s arena-sized rockers just don’t do clever come-ons like they used to. Def Leppard’s fist-pumping anthem celebrating sexual release still stands as one of the ’80s all-time greatest, with a chorus even your grandma can hum along to. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “You got the peaches I got the cream/ Sweet to taste saccharine”
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Jason Derulo feat. 2 Chainz, "Talk Dirty"
Chart Peak: 3, Peak Date: Feb. 22, 2014
Jason Derulo and 2 Chainz take their hookups around the globe in their 2014 collaboration. With Balkan Beat Box’s horn-filled “Hermetico” sampled throughout, the track is truly international. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “I’m that flight that you get on, international/ First class seat on my lap, girl, riding comfortable, ha”
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Marvin Gaye, "Sexual Healing"
Chart Peak: 3, Peak Date: Jan. 29, 1983
Marvin Gaye entered the ’80s with this “do me” classic — making him one of a handful of artists who helped men seal the deal over different decades. With its gospel-style chant and 808 drumbeat, the song remains the template for contemporary R&B slow jams. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Baby I’m hot just like an oven/ I need some lovin'”
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Donna Summer, "Love To Love You Baby"
Chart Peak: 2, Peak Date: Feb. 7, 1976
Donna Summer’s epic 16-minute orgasm, set to a thick, throbbing Georgio Morodor beat, helped usher in the 12-inch single and the extended remix — not to mention many an extended bedroom sessions in the sexually-free ’70s. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Do it to me again and again/ You put me in such an awful spin”
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LaBelle, "Lady Marmalade"
Chart Peak: 1, Peak Date: Mar. 29, 1975
Christina Aguilera, Pink, Lil’ Kim and Mya rode this classic to seductive success in 2001, but Patti LaBelle and co.’s tale of a bilingual New Orleans call girl (and her ability to leave men crying for “more, more, more!”) really dropped jaws in the ’70s. It’s more than enough incentive to bring tourists back to the Big Easy. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Voulez-vouz coucher avec moi, ce soir?”
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Peter Gabriel, "Slegehammer"
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Chart Peak: 1, Peak Date: Jul. 26, 1986
This ’80s smash by Peter Gabriel doesn’t sound particularly sexy, but a good read of the song’s lyrics will leave you red-faced, as the British singer weaves a tapestry of sexual innuendos involving steam trains, honey bees and “big dippers.” What, you thought it was about work tools? Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Open up your fruit cage, where the fruit is as sweet as can be”
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The Pointer Sisters, "Slow Hand"
Chart Peak: 2, Peak Date: Aug. 29, 1981
The easy slide of this ’81 ballad praises a man who knows how to take his time. The arrangement also lent itself to a country classic — Conway Twitty made his own version, from the understanding man’s perspective, a year later. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “I want a lover with an easy touch/ I want somebody who will spend some time/ Not come and go in a heated rush”
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Missy Elliott, "Work It"
Chart Peak: 2, Peak Date: Nov. 16, 2002
Missy’s not afraid to break a sweat — she just wants to know the size of the task at hand. If the eye-poppingly suggestive lyrics in this tongue-twisting booty call didn’t register with listeners (those backwards verses can get confusing), the Prince impersonator licking her body in the video should have driven the point home. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “You do or you don’t or you will or won’t cha/ Go downtown and eat it like a vulcha?”
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Silk Sonic, "Leave The Door Open"
Chart Peak: 1 (two weeks), Peak Date: Apr. 17, 2021
Decades later, ’70s soul makes a smooth comeback thanks to Silk Sonic’s debut single. If “Leave The Door Open” isn’t enough to seduce your lover, it may be time to kick them to the curb. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Ooh, baby, don’t keep me (waiting)/ There’s so much love we could be making (shamone)”
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Heart, "All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You"
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Chart Peak: 2, Peak Date: May 26, 1990
Heart scored their first hit of the ’90s with this song about a rainy roadside pickup and its ensuing one-night stand. The lyrics go on to reveal that the woman winds up getting knocked up, proving that even in pop music, lusty affairs are not without their consequences. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “So we found this hotel/ It was a place I knew well/ We made magic that night/ Oh, he did everything right”
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Usher feat. Young Jeezy, "Love In This Club"
Chart Peak: 1 (three weeks), Peak Date: Mar. 15, 2008
After Usher finished making his public “Confessions,” the fancy-footworker took to making love in the club with R&B diva Keri Hilson, who plays his leading lady in the video. Isn’t there anything that Usher prefers to keep behind closed doors? Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Let’s go get undressed right here/ Keep it up girl and I swear/ I’mma give it to you nonstop/ And I don’t care who’s watching”
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Karyn White, "Romantic"
Chart Peak: 1, Peak Date: Nov. 2, 1991
R&B diva Karyn White scored a massive hit in the ’80s with this upbeat jam about what happens when the lights go down. The track was produced by White’s then-husband Terry Lewis (and his partner Jimmy Jam), which certainly set some sparks ablaze in the studio. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Under the moonlight, with the stars shining so bright/ Baby, my mind is on love when we get home tonight, ooh”
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Akon feat. Eminem, "Smack That"
Chart Peak: 2, Peak Date: Nov. 4, 2006
Neither Akon nor Eminem may be the sexiest of symbols, but the playful harmonies and rhythmic melodies on this track had clubbers getting some action on the dancefloor. And for once, Slim isn’t so shady on the song, as he raps about taking a girl back home instead of putting his “history” with Mariah Carey on blast once again. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Maybe go to my place and just kick it like Tae Bo/ And possibly bend you over, look back and watch me smack that”
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Bell Biv Devoe, "Do Me!"
Chart Peak: 3, Peak Date: Sept. 8, 1990
Bumping ‘n grinding is all anyone wanted to do after hearing Bell Biv Devoe’s “Do Me,” although the song itself is a bit of a mind game. “What makes you think you can do me?” the trio challenges, then promises that the girl can “do me when you wanna do me” in the next line. Maybe BBD were the “Poison” ones after all. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: ” Move to the Jacuzzi, ooh, that booty/ Smack it up, flip it, rub it down, oh, nooo!”
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Silk, "Freak Me"
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Chart Peak: 1 (two weeks), Peak Date: May 5, 1993
For the men of Silk, nothing is out of bounds when it comes to pleasing a woman. In the group’s slow-burning ballad, one member whispers his proposal for 360-degree pleasure while the others seduce with suave harmonies about trips around the world and fulfilling every fantasy imaginable. Freakiness has never sounded so… comprehensive. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Let me lick you up and down, ’til you say stop/ Let me play with your body, baby, make you real hot”
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Gregory Abbott, "Shake You Down"
Chart Peak: 1, Peak Date: Jan. 17, 1987
This song’s title is a euphemism for what Mr. Abbott wants to do once he gets his woman in bed. The soul crooner assures his girl she’ll “go all the way to heaven,” and to convince her, he drops poetic pillow talk like “Roses are red and violets are blue, I’m gonna rock this world for you.” (Really? She said yes after that?) Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “I can’t stop thinking of the things we do/ The way you call me, baby, when I’m holding you”
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INXS, "Need You Tonight"
Chart Peak: 1 Peak Date: Jan. 30, 1988
“Need You Tonight” was INXS’s career-starting musical booty call. With that trademark guitar riff, the sexy song was the Australian rock band’s only song to hit No. 1 on the Hot 100. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “There’s something about you girl/ That makes me sweat”
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Shawn Mendes feat. Camila Cabello, "Señorita"
Chart Peak: 1, Peak Date: Aug. 31, 2019
“Señorita” isn’t Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s first collaboration, but it is their sauciest. The then-couple were only speculated to be dating when the song dropped in June 2019, but the Caribbean-inspired track’s spicy lyrics — and even spicier music video — definitely put Shawmila fans in a deeper haze. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Ooh, when your lips undress me/ Hooked on your tongue/ Ooh, love, your kiss is deadly/ Don’t stop”
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Starland Vocal Band, "Afternoon Delight"
Chart Peak: 1 (two weeks), Peak Date: Jul. 10, 1976
The naive melody and wide-eyed harmonies of this ’70s pop classic, which was famously covered in Will Farrell’s 2004 Anchorman film, sound sweet enough to soundtrack a church picnic. In reality, the song is a lunchtime booty-call between a hungry man and his tasty morsel back home. Sounds like our kind of snack. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Rubbin’ sticks and stones together makes the sparks ingite/ And the thought of rubbin’ you is getting so exciting”
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50 Cent feat. Olivia, "Candy Shop"
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Chart Peak: 1 (nine weeks), Peak Date: Mar. 5, 2005
50 proved he was a lover, as well as a fighter in this salacious rap duet with former G-Unit diva Olivia. The track sweetly works up his lover’s desires with sugary innuendos that would make Willy Wonka blush. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “I’ll take you to the candy shop, I’ll let you lick the lollipop”
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Monica, "The First Night"
Chart peak: 1 (five weeks), Peak Date: Oct. 3, 1998
These days, 29-year-old Monica is a proud mother of three. But when the R&B singer was a teenager, she was preaching abstinence. Although tempted to go all the way on the first date, the Atlanta native responsibly practices self-restraint atop this Jermaine Dupri-produced track. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Boy this evening, was it only me?/ Feeling completely, down to be open … for some satisfaction/ Didn’t want to say yes, for fear of your reaction”
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Anita Ward, "Ring My Bell"
Chart Peak: 1 (two weeks), Peak Date: Jun. 30, 1979
Anita Ward’s 1979 disco hit became a dance floor favorite for its memorable, sing-songy chorus — but there’s nothing roundabout about the song’s lyrics, which are about what happens when her man gets back from a hard day. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Well lay back and relax while I put away the dishes/ Then you and me can rock-a-bye/ You can ring my be-e-ell”
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Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland, "Promiscuous"
Chart Peak: 1 (six weeks), Peak Date: Jul. 8, 2006
Timbaland plays a seductive, bass-heavy game of cat and mouse with Nelly Furtado in this monstrous 2006 jam. Thomas Crown and Steve Nash get caught up in the steamy flirtation, but we’re still left wondering if anybody scored at the end of the night. What a tease. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “I can see you with nothing on/ Feeling on me before you bring that on”
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Toni Braxton, "You're Makin' Me High"
Chart Peak: 1, Peak Date: Jul. 27, 1996
Toni Braxton is singing about her sexual desires for a far-away lover on this mellow, suggestive track, but verses like the one below make the song seem like an endorsement of self-stimulation. If you can’t be with the one you love … love yourself?
Sexiest lyric: “I can imagine you touching my private parts/ With just the thought of you, I can’t help but touch myself”
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Color Me Badd, "I Want To Sex You Up"
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Chart Peak: 2, Peak Date: Jun. 8, 1991
With its new-jack-swing groove and tender falsetto vocals, CMB made sexual healing sound as gentle as can be. And as Mr. Schue once proved on Glee, covering this song is still the ultimate way for nerdy guys to get their crush’s attention. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Let me take off all your clothes/ Disconnect the phone so nobody knows, yeah”
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Donna Summer, "Bad Girls"
Chart Peak: 1 (five weeks), Peak Date: Jul. 17, 1979
Donna Summer’s strategy was to become the undisputed dirty diva of disco. She helped her cause with this booty-movin’ plea for hooker respect, which came complete with trumpets bleating like a john’s car horn. Bad girl, indeed. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Friday night and the strip is hot/ Sun’s gone down and they’re about to trot/ Spirit’s high and they look hot/ Do you wanna get down?”
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Lil Wayne, "Lollipop"
Chart Peak: 1 (five weeks), Peak Date: May 3, 2008
Candy metaphors in music go back at least as far as Little Richard (“Tutti Frutti,” now what’s THAT song about?) but Lil Wayne raised the bar in this track about his lover’s, er, oral fixation. Lest you think he isn’t a gentleman, Wayne devotes a verse to returning the favor. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Shawty wanna hump/ You know I like to touch your lovely lady lumps”
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The Rolling Stones, "Honky Tonk Women"
Chart Peak: 1 (four weeks), Peak Date: Aug. 23, 1969
The Rolling Stones managed to mix sex and drugs with its rock n’ roll in this nod to ladies of the night. Keith Richards’ loose fretwork and Mick Jagger’s loose lips pay respect to loose women everywhere. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “I laid a divorcee in New York City/ I had to put up some kind of a fight/ The lady then she covered me with roses/ She blew my nose and then she blew my mind”
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Rod Stewart, "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy"
Chart Peak: 1 (four weeks), Peak Date: Feb. 10, 1979
Rod Stewart’s disco-era anthem squeezes an entire one-night-stand narrative into a few short stanzas. Only one question, Rod: why did you call your mother before closing the deal? Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “His heart’s beating like a drum ‘cos at last he’s got this girl home/ Relax baby, now we are alone”
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Exile, "Kiss You All Over"
Chart Peak: 1 (four weeks), Peak Date: Sept. 30, 1978
This late-’70s hit anticipates a couple’s many hours of creative lovemaking. Even more creative was the Canadian Broadcasting Company’s use of the song in a 2007 montage of hockey players kissing the Stanley Cup (Yeah, we suppose that’s one thing to do with it). Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Gonna wrap my arms around you, hold you close to me/ Oh, babe, I wanna taste your lips, I wanna fill your fantasy”
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LMFAO, "Sexy and I Know It"
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Chart Peak: 1 (two weeks), Peak Date: Jan. 7, 2012
“Sexy And I Know It” may not be the song to turn on when you’re ready to get it on with your lover, but it is a 21st century feelin’ yourself anthem. With its trademark party-rock beats, the track is sure to hype you up. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “I got passion in my pants and I ain’t afraid to show it/ I’m sexy and I know it”
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Madonna, "Like A Virgin"
Chart Peak: 1 (six weeks), Peak Date: Dec. 22, 1984
The idea of a woman named Madonna singing about being “touched for the very first time” was titillating, for sure. But Bible-Belters lost their minds when the suggestive song began racing up the ’80s charts, fearing their children would fall prey to Madge’s naughty innuendos and arousing imagery. Guess what? We did. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Oooh, like a virgin/ Feels so good inside”
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Captain & Tennille, "Do That To Me One More Time"
Chart Peak: 1, Peak Date: Feb. 16, 1980
The Captain and Tennille returned to the top of the charts with this simple-yet-subtle ode to male virility; a sweet-sounding song that also succinctly summed up wild and loose ways of the 1970s. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Do that to me one more time/ Once is never enough with a man like you”
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Donna Summer, "Hot Stuff"
Chart Peak: 1 (three weeks), Peak Date: Jun. 2, 1979
“Hot Stuff” won Donna Summer the 1980 Grammy for best female rock vocal performance, but all she really needed in her bedroom was some action. The song made a memorable comeback in 1997’s The Full Monty, but it has remained a hot ‘n’ bothered anthem on retro dance floors for years. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Wanna share my love with a warm blooded lover/ Wanna bring a wild man back home”
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Marvin Gaye, "Let's Get It On"
Chart Peak: 1 (two weeks), Peak Date: Sept. 8, 1973
Marvin Gaye’s sweetly soulful voice was an aphrodisiac in and of itself; thus, he rarely resorted to subtleties when it came to his lyrics. “Let’s Get It On” remains one of the most blatant sex songs of all time; the soul-music equivalent of a sure thing. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Don’t you know how sweet and wonderful life can be?/ I’m asking you, baby, to get it on with me”
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Next, "Too Close"
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Chart Peak: 1 (five weeks), Peak Date: Apr. 25, 1998
The Minneapolis trio could barely contain its excitement on this raunchy track. R.L, Terry and Raphael moan and groan about their female dance partner’s “grindin'” and “shakin'” atop a Chicago-style step dance production. Hopefully, the men made it off the dance floor without any vasocongestion (look it up). Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Baby when we’re grinding, I get so excited/ Ooh, how I like it, I try but I can’t fight it”
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Boyz II Men, "I'll Make Love To You"
Chart Peak: 1 (14 weeks), Peak Date: Aug. 27, 1994
Although more polite with its sexual innuendos than other early-’90s baby-makin’ tracks, the Philly quartet hit all the right spots with this chart-topping ballad. Some lyrics are so subdued, in fact, that the penguins from the 2006 animated film Happy Feet used them for a “heartsong.” How… cute? Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “Throw your clothes, on the floor/ I’m gonna take my clothes off too/ I made plans to be with you”
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Rod Stewart, "Tonight's The Night"
Chart Peak: 1 (eight weeks), Peak Date: Nov. 13, 1976
Using his pack-a-day croon to maximum effect, Mr. Sexy is anything but coy in this ballad about getting his “virgin child” a nice big drink, helping her off with her dress and sweet talking her into her first time. From the woman moaning in French at song’s end (a cameo by Stewart’s then-girlfriend, Bond girl Britt Ekland) tonight was, apparently, the night. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “You’d be a fool to stop this tide/ Spread your wings and let me come inside”
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Olivia Newton-John, "Physical"
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Chart Peak: 1 (10 weeks), Peak Date: Nov. 21, 1981
While the well-known video features Olivia Newton-John working out at a gym, the song “Physical” touts the benefits of a different kind of workout. The 1982 hit was so suggestive that it was banned by many radio stations across the globe — as well as the entire country of South Africa. But the not-so-innocent Australian girl-next-door scored the biggest hit of the ’80s and proved, once and for all, that sex sells… mountains of records, that is. Listen here.
Sexiest lyric: “I took you to an intimate restaurant, then to a suggestive movie/ There’s nothing left to talk about unless it’s horizontally”