One of the best parts about pole dancing is how versatile it is. You can truly dance to anything on the pole. I’ve seen pole dancing to music ranging from classic club songs to Broadway musicals, heavy metal, classic rock, electronica, and even orchestral music.
Since I started pole dancing in 2014, I’ve danced at multiple studios, followed hundreds of pole dancers on Instagram, and explored many different styles of movement and music. Over the years, I’ve aggressively Shazam’ed and tracked down songs that have caught my ear. I’ve carefully curated my own pole playlists, which you can follow and listen to on Spotify.
I can be a little obsessive sometimes. It’s a part of my personality that comes with benefits and drawbacks. In this case, you get the benefit of my obsessive tracking down and cataloging of hundreds of pole dancing songs over 6+ years. You can follow my Spotify profile for all my pole music playlists (and future playlists), or follow individual playlists below. I update these playlists regularly whenever I find new music.
- Pole Dancing Music Playlist: All Moods Combined
- Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Lyrical Ladies
- Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Boys With Feelings
- Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Erotic
- Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Hot Beats
- Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Get Naughty
- Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Dark and Intense
- Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Angst
- Pole Dance Music Playlist: Queer
- My Favorite Pole Dancing Photoshoot Songs
- Best Lap Dancing Songs
- Twerk It Out Playlist
- New! Ultra-Specific Mood Playlists
- Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Outside the Box
- Bonus: Bow Down / Girl Power Playlist
- Bonus: Werk Playlist for Workouts and the Gym
After you’ve found some new music, you might consider a pair of new pole shoes to match your mood and useful pole accessories to boost your practice. If you’re in the market for a home pole, check out my review of the best home poles out there right now. You can also read about how to be an ally to sex workers.
When I first published these playlists in 2020, I started with about 400 songs. Two years later, the master playlist has hit 500 songs and continues to grow as I find more music!
Unfortunately, some of my playlists keep getting reported and taken down. When this happens, I make a new copy of the playlist and put that on my profile – so the safest bet is to follow my Spotify profile!
Pole Dancing Music Playlist: All Moods Combined
Behold, my master pole playlist, including the combined songs of all my other pole playlists and more. This playlist is perfect if you’re looking for taste-breakers – something new to explore on repeat, something to break up your usual patterns, something that gets your body itching to move.
Click here for the combined all moods pole dancing playlist.
This playlist includes all the pole songs from my entire collection, across many genres of music with some different languages mixed in as well. If you put this playlist on shuffle, you’re bound to get some unexpected changes in mood and tempo. This could be a fun exercise and a great way to discover new music, but it can also make it hard to get into a good “flow” while dancing.
For that reason, I’ve also created mood-specific playlists (below) for when you just want to put something on shuffle, turn off your brain for a while, and jam.
Pole Songs That Hold Special Meaning
It’s interesting how some songs can develop and carry such personal meaning for your own pole practice. No doubt you have or will pick up songs like that over your pole journey, too.
On this playlist, for example, I will always remember Crown by Jay-Z. I had never heard the song until one night, my classmates and I asked our pole teacher to do a freestyle for us at the end of class. At first, she felt too tired, but then she decided to do it. Afterward, she was grateful for the expressive release. For the rest of us, it was one of the most mind-blowingly intimate and sexy performances we had seen. We could not stop gushing about it. (I still can’t and it’s been years!)
The even funnier part is – I remember less about the exact movements of her performance (though a few moments are forever seared into my brain in the best way) and more about how it made me feel. It was raw and intimate and vulnerable and we all shared in that space of expression and release together.
Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Lyrical Ladies
Let’s talk moods. Are you craving something sensual and feminine?
Click here for the lyrical ladies pole dancing playlist.
Some personal highlights from this pole playlist for me include…
Desire by Meg Myers – My favorite version of this is the Hucci remix, which is not available on Spotify (it is on iTunes). The version on this playlist is still great. This was one of the first slinky, sexy choreography songs that I learned in class. You don’t hear it that often in the studio and I always get excited whenever I do. I am a fan of dark, intense ladies. (More of that below.)
Be Your Love by Bishop Briggs – This was my first studio showcase performance song. I performed this during a very transformative time in my life (in a good way). It was such an intense experience that I actually have a hard time listening to this lovely song now!
Run Cried the Crawling by Agnes Obel – My long-time pole teacher and close friend did a beautiful doubles routine to this song that left me obsessed with it for weeks.
Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Boys With Feelings
I am all about those boys with feelings.
Click here for the boys with feelings pole dancing playlist.
Give me your crooning Hoziers, your brooding heroes and heart-stricken lovers, some smooth James Blake to soften the edges. I am. Here. For. It.
The song Cigarettes by Amir Obe perfectly embodies a 4-week period in 2018 for me. I pole danced to it a lot to work through my own feelings.
Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Erotic
Erotic pole dancing has its own unique style of music to match its bold movements, with spellbinding instrumentals and strong beats. In some songs, the vocals become almost a part of the instrumentals.
Click here for the erotic pole dancing playlist.
It’s hard to pick a favorite song from this playlist! They are all their own #mood. I enjoy exploring this type of sound in the style of trap, Middle Eastern, and South Asian music, too.
Some of these songs can be harder to find because they’re made by independent creators. One fun song that isn’t on Spotify is House of Ill Repute by the Gutter Brothers.
Note: This playlist used to be called “exotic.” Check out Nadia Sharif‘s informational posts about why the word “exotic” should no longer be used as a descriptor in pole dancing.
Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Hot Beats
Because it’s all about that bass, right? (For the record, that song is not on this playlist.)
Click here for the hot beats pole dancing playlist.
There are some great beats on this playlist when you just need to get down. Get Your Freak On by Missy Elliott is a classic and Damn by Justina Valentine is all dark drippy heat with an addictive bass.
And of course… Pony by Ginuwine. I will never not get down to Pony.
Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Get Naughty
Is it getting hot in here? (So take off all your clothes!)
Ironically, Nelly’s iconic 2002 release is not on this playlist. Not nasty enough if you can believe it.
Click here for the naughty pole dancing playlist.
Come Get Her by Rae Sremmurd is a personal favorite of mine from this playlist. I pole danced to this song for my first semi-public performance for a charity event and it was an absolute blast.
Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Dark and Intense
Yeeesss… give me all that dark, intense sensuality. Not full-on angst – that’s different. (See below.)
Click here for the dark and intense pole dancing playlist.
This playlist is a smokey glass of scotch on a stormy night – just the right vice at just the right time. Let your inner demons out to play a little while.
My personal favorite? Gravedigger by MXMS. Speaks right to my man-eating heart.
Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Angst
Now for the angst! There’s some overlap with the dark & intense playlist, but with a little more rage. Because the world can be a fucked up place.
Click here for the angst pole dancing playlist.
You should see me in a crown by Billie Eilish will always have a special place in my heart. The same pole showcase where I danced to Bishop Briggs, my close friend closed out the show to this song. She absolutely nailed her performance!
Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Queer
Queer and gay vibes of all types.
Click here for the queer pole dancing playlist.
Todrick Hall’s Both is a great place to start off this playlist. Because why not both?
My Favorite Photoshoot Songs
I had a photoshoot with Iris Sparrow in early 2020 before lockdown shut down the rest of the year. It was my first professional shoot where I could pick my music, so naturally I created a playlist. Since then this playlist has grown and it’s a regular go-to for me.
These are the songs that immediately inspire movement in my body. They help me get into a sensual and powerful headspace. A playlist like this is bound to be extremely personal, so the songs that get me in the zone may not be the same for you.
Click here for my photoshoot favorites pole dancing playlist.
I recommend creating a playlist like this for yourself even if you don’t have a photoshoot planned anytime soon. That way you’ll be prepared when you do need a photoshoot playlist. Plus, you can use your favorite songs to warm up before dancing or working out. I even use this playlist sometimes when I want to get inspired and hyper-focused for work.
Which songs get right in your blood and inspire you the most?
Best Lap Dancing Songs
CAUTION: Handle with care.
Seriously, lap dances are a combustible proposition! And so much fun, too…
Unfortunately, my original lap dancing playlist got reported and removed by Spotify.
Click here for the NEW best lap dance songs playlist.
Lap dances are an art. I recommend attending a lap dance workshop if a pole studio near you offers it. I took a few lap dance workshops myself until I started to really feel comfortable with it. Now I really enjoy giving lap dances, but I don’t do it very often.
Giving lap dances can be super fun and empowering. It can also be super intimate and vulnerable. Either way, they can be incredibly powerful. I usually have to be in the right headspace for it.
I love all of the songs on this playlist but if I had to pick one to do a lap dance, it would be Lioness by Sarah Fimm. It’s got the perfect seductive beat to mesmerize your prey audience.
Twerk It Out Playlist
This playlist doesn’t need much of an explanation.
All the best songs to get your twerk on.
Click here for the twerking playlist.
Bounce by Timbaland and Missy Elliott will make you want to do just that.
For amazing twerk tutorials, check out Amber Prowl‘s Patreon.
New! Ultra-Specific Mood Playlists
Every once in a while I create an ultra-specific mood playlist. These playlists are usually shorter and more focused. I might build them out around a specific song or feeling.
Click here for the whiskey mood pole dancing playlist.
Click here for the going out mood pole dancing playlist.
Click here for the killer mornings mood pole dancing playlist.
The goal of my ultra-specific playlists is to make them as easy as possible to zone out and flow. I don’t have them all listed here but you can find them in my profile.
Pole Dancing Music Playlist: Outside the Box
I started keeping an “outside the box” playlist after I went to a class that emphasized breaking outside of our usual genres and movement patterns.
Click here for my outside-the-box pole dancing playlist.
I suggest starting an “outside the box” pole playlist of your own. Songs that you wouldn’t have thought to pole dance to before. Try them on, see how they feel!
It can be really fun to break out of your comfort zone and try new things. The results may surprise you. I’m not a huge fan of musicals but in one class I did a freestyle dance to the original Lion King’s Be Prepared. I never imagined I’d have so much fun with it. My long-time teacher remarked at the expression in my dance and suggested I try more in that style.
Bonus: Bow Down / Girl Power Playlist
300+ songs of boss ladies living their best lives and taking no shit.
Click here for the girl power playlist.
I honestly credit the songs from this playlist for helping me build up my confidence after my divorce. So get ready, cause you’re in for a world of femme power.
There are so many songs to love on this playlist. Recently I’ve been jamming to Rainbow Fur Coat by Heidi Petite for fabulous feels and absolutely zero fucks given.
Bonus: Werk Playlist for Workouts and the Gym
Everyone needs a good soundtrack for their workout. Here’s mine.
Click here for my workout playlist.
Fitness by Lizzo is a great place to get started and warmed up!
There you have it. I hope that you enjoy these playlists! Please comment below if you have any favorite pole dancing songs that I missed. Feel free to share your own Spotify playlist links in the comments, too – I’d love to check them out! I’m always on the lookout for more awesome pole dancing music.