The Ultimate Music Playlist To Stop Your Children’s Temper Tantrums

As a parent, there is never a convenient time for your child to throw a tantrum. The explosion of kicking, screaming and crying is a sight that most of us will do near enough anything to avoid, but sometimes it’s impossible and you just have to roll with it.

There are many tried-and-tested methods when it comes to preventing a full blown meltdown. Whether that involves a quick cuddle or getting cosy with their favourite book, sometimes it works, but not always…

To end the nightmare once and for all, we’ve stepped up to the job with a tantrum-proof method.

Ready to support all parents in their time of need, we’ve created the ultimate music playlist to bust a temper tantrum. The playlist has 40 songs on it which have been carefully selected based on our tantrum-busting formula.

While music may sound like an underwhelming fix when your child is red in the face and throwing their arms around, it can be effective for de-escalating these outbursts.  

Dr Liam Gilligan, clinical psychologist, specialising in children and families, said: “Music can be helpful for catching a child’s attention in that very early stage of a tantrum, providing a much needed ‘hook’ for a distraction. 

“This can be more effective if the song is brought on quite suddenly or is a favourite of theirs. Songs that children know well where they can easily join in, such as nursery rhymes or popular music, can work by shifting a young person to focus on something much more interesting.”

Having analysed more than a thousand nursery rhymes on Spotify, we identified the 10 most popular songs of all time - with ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ being crowned the winner. To create our ‘tantrum-busting formula’, we worked out the average key, BPM and time for these 10 nursery rhyme tunes.

Using our new ‘tantrum-busting formula’, we searched every music genre to find the closest match for key, Beats Per Minute (BPM) and time signature - and from there, we could identify not only the best music genre to stop a meltdown but also the top songs in each genre. Ultimately, giving us the first ever tantrum-busting playlist for kids. 

Eager to know the best songs to boost your child’s mood? Check out the top 40 below.

The tantrum-busting music playlist - top 40 songs

Taking the top spot is ‘Check Yes Or No’ by American country singer George Strait. Any parents who are Strait fans are in luck here, as the BPM from this song is an exact match with our tantrum-busting formula. Next time your kid has a wobble, play ‘Check Yes Or No’ first! 

It’s safe to say that any child listening to this playlist will grow to have an eclectic taste, as heavy metal track, ‘Midnight Sun’ by Kreator and Sofia Portanet came second. 

In third place for its success in stopping an outburst is ‘Call It Love’ by electronic dance artists, Felix Jaehn and Ray Dalton.

While there are some unusual songs taking the top three spots, famous British rock band Queen came in closely at number four with their legendary hit single, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’.

Other more recent songs from popular artists were featured in the tantrum-busting playlist, such as Doja Cat with ‘Woman’, often celebrated for its fusion of Afrobeats, pop and R&B, and ‘Unwritten’ by pop queen Natasha Beddingfield, from her debut album.  

Sia is another popular artist who can be safely played near small children, with her sleeper hit, ‘Unstoppable’ and so can the viral TikTok song ‘Brazil’ by Declan McKenna. 

While the tantrum-busting playlist is made up of 40 different songs from a wide range of genres, electronic dance music appears most frequently compared to any other genre. 

For any parents who want to be transported back to their youth listening to dance music - whilst dealing with a grumpy tot - they have a total of nine dance/electronic songs to shuffle.

The tantrum-busting music genres ranked

When it comes to the most tantrum-proof genre, pop music is an exact match with our formula, earning its title as the best genre for parents to play when their kid has a meltdown.

For any parents who love their R&B music, you’re in luck as this genre came in second place for managing a strop, and, taking another musical turn, country music - best known for its ballads and dance tunes - ranked third.

Garage music was found to be the worst type of music to play in front of your child - being the most likely genre to bring on a meltdown, rather than prevent one. 

Unsurprisingly, heavy metal and rock music followed with a similar incompatibility score when it comes to soothing little ones.

10 top songs most likely to kick-start a tantrum

As a parent, knowing what songs will calm a tantrum is helpful, but so is knowing the songs to skip to prevent one from happening in the first place. 

To help, we’ve listed the worst songs you can play to your child, so you can avoid - those which won’t help! Top of the list is Sam Fender. Save yourself now from an outburst by removing Fender’s song, ‘Will We Talk?’ from your playlist. 

We know it’s catchy but Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers' iconic duet, ‘Islands In The Stream’ is just as likely to result in tears around your child, so dance past that song too. 

Heavy metal fans won’t be crowned parent of the year any time soon either - especially if they play ‘The Wolf You Feed’ by Nita Strauss - as this came third for being the worst song to play in front of kids.

As a mature grown up, you may assume that classical music for children will be a soothing influence… but think again! According to our formula, the classical song ‘Violin Concerto No. 10 in G Major: Largo’ sits in our top 10 for bringing on a mood.

Popular artists like Elton John and Mariah Carey are also named in our list to avoid.

Patrick Tonks, creative director at GreatBeanBags, said: “Tantrums are a normal part of being a parent and luckily most children will grow out of them eventually. Even still, these meltdowns can feel insufferable at times which is what led us to the fun idea of creating a tantrum-busting music playlist.

“The data pulled out some interesting results, and it was music to our ears to find that popular songs by artists like Fleetwood Mac to Doja Cat can take over from the tired nursery rhymes that are typically played on repeat as a new parent.

“Next time your child throws a wobbly, get them comfortable on one of our kids’ bean bags and pick any of these tantrum-proof songs.”

Other top tips for stopping a child’s tantrum

The most effective way to manage a tantrum is with distraction. Young children often have a very short attention span, so doing something to quickly try and move them on can be helpful. Parents, you can play the official tantrum-busting playlist here.

Dr Liam Gilligan, clinical psychologist, added five expert tips to help parents deal with tantrums, including: 

1. Avoid getting angry or shouting

In that moment, the most important thing for adults to do is stay calm and try not to let our own emotions overwhelm us.

Getting angry or shouting isn’t helpful and will often just keep a meltdown going. Instead, this reaction will teach a child that this is the best way to manage difficult situations.

2. Your child’s tantrum isn’t an attack on you

It's often helpful to remember that this outburst isn’t personal. Children aren’t giving you a hard time, in fact they are having a hard time themselves.

What they need from you as their parent is to help them to learn how to better manage these big feelings, how to express themselves and feel more in control - you need to model the reaction to stress.

3. Comfort them with physical touch

Some young children benefit from physical contact at these times to help them feel less overwhelmed, so you can offer them a hug. Importantly, don’t just grab them in these moments, as this will likely worsen the behaviour.

4. Ignoring the behaviour can be helpful

If it is safe to do so, sometimes it’s best to try and ignore the bad behaviour. A good rule of thumb is, praise the good and ignore the bad as much as possible.

You can still be near them, and occasionally check in with them to see if they are ready to move on, or praise them for stopping some of the more unhelpful behaviours.

5. Be consistent

It's important to be consistent. Don’t give in and change your decision just to make the episode end sooner, otherwise children will learn to use this as a way to get their own way or maintain control of a situation.

6. Try to recognise the tell-tale signs

Tantrums are best managed before they reach the point where the child is in full flow. Instead, aim to better anticipate and meet their needs, or intervene if you notice them starting to struggle with their emotions.

This also includes figuring out any particularly difficult or challenging situations that typically lead to this kind of response, and having plans specifically for those ahead of time.

Methodology

To identify the songs most likely to stop a kid’s tantrum, we used the step-by-step process below:

Step 1: Researched 1,500 nursery rhymes songs 

Step 2 : Shortlisted the 10 most popular nursery rhyme songs on Spotify

Step 3: Pulled out the average key, BPM and time signature for the top 10 nursery rhymes to generate our ‘tantrum-busting formula’

Step 4: Used the formula to analyse 10 music genres on Spotify and pulled out the average BPM, key and time

Step 5: Identified the 40 most-compatible songs and music genres to create our ‘tantrum-busting’ music playlist!