Plant and music study: Do plants grow better with music?

There’s no denying that we’re a nation of plant lovers. In 2024, Germans spent 8.8 billion euros¹ on flowers and plants, and previous studies have found that 8 in 10 (79%) Germans² who work from home keep plants around their working area. 

Plants aren’t the only thing keeping us motivated during the working day—an estimated 92% of people³ listen to music at some point during their working hours. And it’s no surprise—the majority (81%) of Germans⁴ say listening to music has a positive influence on their mood, with another half (49%) saying that it helps them concentrate. 

Much like music is beneficial for humans, studies have shown that music helps plants to grow, with the vibrations stimulating their growth, but are plants as fussy about the genre or artist as humans are? 

To find out, the team at Euroflorist has studied Germany’s most popular artists to reveal which songs Germans should be listening to, to ensure they’re taking the best care of their houseplants as possible.

shelve with plants

Do plants like music?

The relationship between plants and music has been a topic of conversation in the scientific community for quite some time. 

Plants obviously don’t have ears like humans do to hear the sounds of music, so how exactly do plants react to music? 

While they’re not exactly tapping their roots to the beat of a song, the sound waves from music do stimulate the plant's cells. Plants transport their nutrients, proteins, and organelles in their fluids (cytoplasm), and it’s said that the vibration of music may help stimulate this process. 

Believe it or not, various studies indicate that plants prefer some genres of music to others—just like humans do! While it’s not quite as simplistic as roses liking pop music and lilies liking rock, intriguingly plants respond better to certain frequencies of music (measured in Hertz, also known as Hz). 

 

For our study, we used the following scale: 

125Hz: Known to stimulate germination and root growth in plants. 

250Hz: Promotes the elongation of plant stems and leaves. 

500Hz: Encourages overall plant growth and development. 

1,000Hz: Stimulates plant photosynthesis and nutrient uptake. 

8,000Hz: Enhances flowering and fruiting in certain plant species.

What music do plants like best: German artists edition?

record player with plant

If you find yourself wondering what artists or genres you should be playing to your houseplants to help them thrive, then look no further. 

We’ve studied Germany’s top 50 artists and calculated the exact Hz of their most streamed songs on Spotify, to help the nation’s plant owners understand what to play to their plants—no matter the problem they might have. 

For those looking to generally improve the overall plant growth and development of their houseplants, we recommend playing songs that come in at around 500Hz. 

According to our research, the best song Germans can play for their plants to hit this Hz is Peggy Gou’s ‘It Goes Like (Nanana)’, which comes in at around 502.7Hz. 

Peggy Gou is a Korean-born, Berlin-based electronic DJ and was in the German charts for 11 weeks in 2024, peaking at number 39. 

Following Peggy Gou is Bausa with ‘Was du Liebe nennst’, coming in at around 493Hz. This song debuted at number 51 on the German single charts in 2017 and, in just one week, jumped to the number one position—making it the biggest jump to number one in German singles chart history!

Following Bausa is Electric Callboy with ‘We Got the Moves’, coming in at around 515Hz. Electric Callboy is a German band who formed in Castrop-Rauxel in 2010.  

Check out the full top 10 below:

Which of Germany’s favourite global artists have the best music for plants?

We also studied which of Germany’s favorite global artists have the best music for plants.

To do this, we looked at the most-certified modern artists in Germany and calculated the exact Hz (with those closest to 500 Hz scoring the highest) of their most streamed songs on Spotify, revealing: 

The highest certified global artist in Germany with the best song for plant growth is Helene Fischer, with ‘Atemlos durch die Nacht', which comes in at around 465.1Hz. 

Helene Fischer is a German schlager singer, and her signature song ‘Atemlos durch die Nacht’ was the best-selling song in Germany in 2014. 

Following Helene Fischer is Timabland with ‘Promiscuous’, coming in at 459.8Hz. This song from Timbaland and Nelly Furtado reached number 6 on the German charts when it came out in 2006. However, with 5.2 million certified units by the BVMI (Bundesverband Musikindustrie) and songs like ‘The Way I Are’ and ‘Apologize’ reaching number one in Germany, Timbaland proves popular. 

Following Timbaland, our research found Rihanna with ‘We Found Love’, is the next best song Germans can play to promote plant growth. Rihanna was born in Barbados and is very popular in Germany. She has over 12.2 million certified units in Germany and has reached number one three times! 

Check out the top 10 best global artists for plant growth below:

What is the best genre of music for plants?

drawer with plants on top

Our analysis of Germany’s top 50 artists found that the best genre of music for plants to help promote overall growth and development is, perhaps surprisingly, hip-hop! 

Despite the top 10 songs for overall plant growth varying across the genres, our study found that a total of 35 artists’ top songs fell within the realms of the “promotes overall plant growth and development” category, and 12 of these, fell within the hip hop category.

Following hip-hop are pop and electronic, with 9 each of the top 50 falling into this category:

Which music helps plants release more oxygen?

plants on windowsill

For those looking to get a bit more out of their plants, such as increasing the oxygen levels in their home, there are certain frequencies of music you can play. 

To stimulate plant photosynthesis specifically, and encourage nutrient uptake in your plants, we recommend playing songs that come in at around 1,000Hz. 

According to our research of Germany’s most-popular top artists, Boris Brejcha’s song ‘Purple Noise’ is best-suited for this. Boris Brejcha is a German DJ, and his song ‘Purple Noise’ comes in at around 1,125Hz. 

Following Boris Brejcha is, interestingly, Ludwig van Beethoven’s ‘Piano Sontana No.14’. For those who don’t know, Beethoven was a German composer and pianist and although he composed many songs, ‘Piano Sontana No.14’ is the one most listened to on Spotify. The song has a Hertz of around 897.8. 

Check out the full top 5 below:

Houseplants are excellent additions to our home, and their many proven health and well-being benefits make them more than just a bit of pretty greenery for decoration. 

However, unlike our outdoor garden plants that go through a seasonal growth cycle, houseplants tend to come from tropical climates with different seasonal cycles than what we have here in Germany. 

Just like bouquets of cut flowers, houseplants require ongoing maintenance and care to keep them looking their best. 

Whether you’re a first-time houseplant owner or you’re practically a seasoned horticulturist, experimenting with music to help your houseplants thrive can be an excellent way to give them a new lease of life. 

Methodology

To calculate our Hz findings, we took our frequency data breakdown from QP Seedlings. 

German Artists: 

We used Viberate to pull a top 50 artists in Germany list (accurate as of 13th Jan 2025), and pulled each of their top-streamed songs from Spotify.

Once we had our final list of artists and top songs, we calculated the BPM of each song and converted it into Hz and multiplied by the total number of seconds in the song (Hz frequency is measured per second) to give us the total Hz frequency of each song. 

Most-certified artists in Germany: 

We used this article to pull a list of the most-certified modern artists in Germany (certification period starting after the year 2000), and pulled each of their top-streamed songs from Spotify.

Once we had our final list of artists and top songs, we calculated the BPM of each song and converted it into Hz and multiplied by the total number of seconds in the song (Hz frequency is measured per second) to give us the total Hz frequency of each song.