Xperi In-Car Listening Report: Genre-Blending Songs May Be Here To Stay.

Xperi’s just-released In-Car Listening Report for Q2 2025, based on data gathered by its DTS AutoStage Broadcaster Portal, suggests that listeners want to hear more of their longtime favorite hits while driving — with five songs on Xperi’s U.S., UK, or global top 10 rankings appearing for a fifth consecutive quarter. Many of those songs come from newer artists or are fusions of at least two genres.

“Q1 2025 hinted at a shift in in-car listening behavior, and Q2 confirmed it,” Xperi Senior VP of Broadcast Radio and Digital Audio Joe D’Angelo says. “Genre-blended tracks seem to have staying power, rediscovered songs are getting a second life, and new voices are breaking into the top 10.”

Xperi’s three quarterly rankings of most listened-to songs in-vehicle — based on data from more than 11 million vehicles across 150 countries equipped with the DTS AutoStage platform — include Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s hip-hop/soft R&B collaboration “Luther” (which samples Luther Vandross’ “If This World Were Mine”), Shaboozey’s country/hip-hop “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen’s pop-meets-country “I Had Some Help,” Chappell Roan’s disco-pop “Pink Pony Club,” and Ed Sheeran’s Middle Eastern-influenced pop song “Azizam.”

Four of U.S. drivers’ top 10 songs appear on Xperi’s rankings for a fifth straight quarter, including “Bar Song,” Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” and Myles Smith’s “Stargazing,” while Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” joins the five-timers club with his UK top 10 berth. Celebrating a third consecutive quarter on Xperi’s lists are “I Had Some Help,” and Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile.”

Also notable is the abundance of song- vs. artist-driven tracks, with these three lists dominated by the debut or second major hit from Shaboozey, Swims, Roan and Smith, along with those from Alex Warren (“Ordinary”), Lola Young (“Messy”) and Doechii (“Anxiety”). Two acts that broke big in 2024 place a second hit alongside their first: Swims with “Bad Dreams,” and Boone with “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else.”

Xperi’s report also points out the influence of awards, festivals and re-released songs on listening. This was the case for “Pink Pony Club,” originally released in 2020 and helped by Roan’s Best New Artist Grammy and Coachella performance this year, and for “Anxiety,” originally uploaded to YouTube in 2019 and re-recorded and re-released in March after going viral on TikTok, while Doechii also celebrated a Best Rap Album Grammy win and performed at Coachella and Stagecoach.“Together, these examples point to a new kind of hit — the comeback — where catalog tracks find a second life years after release, perhaps due to a well-timed performance, re-release or social media boost,” D’Angelo says.

Xperi’s top 10 most listened to songs in-vehicle for U.S. listeners during Q2 2025 are: “Luther,” “Die With a Smile,” “Anxiety,” “Bar Song,” “Espresso,” “Pink Pony Club,” “Messy,” “Ordinary,” “Stargazing” and “Lose Control.”

Xperi’s worldwide in-car listening data provides broadcasters with analytics about where, when, and how long their audiences are listening, and the content they enjoy the most, to help stations forge deeper connections with their audiences.