This Walking Playlist Will Help You Reach 10,000 Steps
Meet your step goals (and have fun doing it!) with this list of 26 Spotify songs.
Ever noticed that when you bop to your favorite tune, your workout feels a little easier? Us too.
Turns out, science supports it! Listening to music while we walk, jog, or lift weights has been shown to boost mood, improve performance, and help us last longer1 in our workouts.
Plus, a consistent walking routine is a fantastic way to boost your physical and mental health.2 Seems walking and music make a pretty powerful duo.
With that in mind, the team at KURU Footwear created a free walking playlist to help you reach 10,000 steps per day—or whatever your step-count goal might be. From start to finish, this playlist weaves in power-walking and strolling tempos to create a truly sustainable pace.
Whether you’re aiming to hit the 10,000-step benchmark or you’re just starting out a new walking routine, try this specialized playlist for a little extra pep in your step!
Why Should You Walk 10,000 Steps Per Day?
Walking has been shown to have powerful short-term and long-term health benefits—from lowering blood sugar to reducing your risk for Type II diabetes and cancer.2
But should you walk 10,000 steps per day? That depends! Factors including age, fitness level, health conditions, and current step count all help determine your ideal steps per day. Walking 10,000 steps per day can be a fantastic benchmark for active individuals or those working toward a larger goal.
That said, the average American walks 3,000–4,000 steps per day, so reaching 10,000 steps per day might take time. If you’re just starting out, we recommend starting slow, and increasing your step count just 10% per week until you’ve reached your goals.
A walking playlist and a pair of supportive shoes can help you get there!
Why Does Taking 10,000 Steps A Day Matter?
Walking 10,000 steps per day first gained popularity from a marketing campaign surrounding the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Although that specific step count may not have come from doctors of the day, studies show that keeping your body moving through consistent walking or exercise does absolutely matter for overall health.
In fact, a study published in 2019 showed that older women who averaged 4,400 daily steps had a 41% reduction in mortality.4 In this study, mortality rates continued to improve with step count until it leveled off at about 7,500 steps per day.
So while taking 10,000 steps per day might be a great goal for already active individuals, you can still reap the heart-healthy, muscle-building benefits of walking by slowly and safely ramping up your personal step count.
How Many Miles Is 10,000 Steps?
It takes the average adult about five miles to complete 10,000 steps based on average height and stride length.
How Many Calories Do You Burn In 10,000 Steps?
You’ll burn an average of 250–600 calories walking 10,000 steps. The most accurate estimate will depend on factors including height, weight, age, gender, walking speed, and terrain.
Is 10,000 Steps A Day Realistic?
Walking 10,000 steps per day is absolutely realistic for some, and not for others! The average American logs 3,000–4,000 steps per day (or 1.5–2 miles). That means consistently walking 10,000 steps per day—or about five miles—would be a long-term goal for some.
Before you aim for that amount, log your current step count for a week or two with a step-counting tool, then try a beginner or intermediate walking program3 to slowly and safely work up to a higher step count.
How Long Should It Take To Walk 10,000 Steps?
Walking 10,000 steps takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes to 1 hour and 40 minutes on average, depending on your speed. Our playlist is a just-right average length, at 1 hour and 34 minutes!
Factors such as height, weight, physical fitness, terrain, weather, and walking speed can all impact how long it takes to complete 10,000 steps.
What Are the Best Songs for Walking?
Songs with BPM of 130—or a range of 120–140 BPM—serve to be some of the best music for walking. Songs within this average walking BPM range can help you maintain a sustainable walking pace/speed for your workout.
When walking at a slower pace, songs with 100 BPM—or a range between 90–115 BPM—are a fantastic choice for strolling. The best songs for power-walking have a bit quicker tempo, at an average of 135–145 BPM.
Fast Facts
- The #1 song for walking is Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People. At 128 BPM, it falls within the ideal BPM range for walking, and scores high in “happiness,” “danceability,” and “energy.”
- The ideal BPM range for power walking (speeds of 3–5 mph) is between 135–145 BPM.
- The ideal BPM range for strolling (speeds below 2 mph) is between 90–115 BPM.
The Top 10 Best Songs For Walking
Our top-10 list features some of the best walk songs out there. These songs’ winning traits are a combination of their beats per minute (BPM), their frequency in Spotify “walk” or “walking” playlists, and their scores for happiness, danceability, and energy. Each of the top-10 walking songs feature a BPM of 124–134—right in the target range for walking.
The 10,000 Step Walking Playlist
KURU’s 10K Step Walking Playlist is the perfect companion for those looking to boost their step count—with or without a pedometer.
Our playlist strategically blends slower BPM with faster BPM for a complete workout, lasting 134 minutes—or about the average time it takes to complete 10,000 steps. Let your mind relax and let each songs’ BPM guide your pace—and distance.
What is the 10,000 step playlist?
The 10K Step Walking Playlist was compiled by the team at KURU Footwear to help people reach 10,000 steps per day—or work their way toward their fitness goals.
How Does The 10,000 Step Playlist Work?
Just listen to the playlist on Spotify! By the end of the playlist, the average person will have walked 10,000 steps. This can be played over one day, one week, or beyond—whatever your pace! The playlist lasts 1 hour and 34 minutes from start to finish.
The playlist starts at a lower BPM range as a warmup, reaches an average 140 BPM during the peak of the workout, then ends at 119 BPM for a cooldown.
Where can I listen to the 10,000 step playlist?
Listen to the playlist here, or over on Spotify!
What Are The Best Songs for Power Walking or Strolling?
Power walking or speed walking is a form of fitness exercise that involves walking at higher paces, typically between 3–5 mph.
The best songs for power walking feature a quicker tempo in the range of 135–145 BPM. This speed can help you keep moving at this more rigorous pace. Power walking has the added benefit of reaping even more cardiovascular benefits. Reach 10K steps faster by power-walking with our ultimate power walking playlist!
Strolling is a walk at a more leisurely pace, typically less than 2 BPM.
The best songs for strolling feature a slower tempo in the range of 90–115 BPM. You might stroll through the grocery store, on a dog walk, or through a local paved hiking spot. This slower pace can have the added benefit of being sustainable for long treks. Help make your stroll more fun with our ultimate strolling playlist!
Final Thoughts
No matter how many steps you take per day and at which pace, music can help you get from point A to point B with a bit more pep in your step.
Listening to music while exercising can improve the quality of your workout, and even provide mental health benefits.
To help meet your walking goals, hit “play” on our 10K Step Playlist and lace up a pair of supportive, comfortable shoes!
Methodology and Sources
Methodology
To create the 10K Step Walking Playlist, the team at KURU Footwear used Playlist Miner to search for the top tracks in Spotify playlists that included the words, "walk," "walking," "power walk," "power walking," "stroll," "strolling," "speed walk," and "speed walking." We then curated a walking music playlist based on each song’s duration, happiness score, and beats per minute (BPM).
To calculate when a listener might reach 10,000 steps, we used the average height of an American and an average walking pace of 3 mph.
Sources
1. Can Listening to Music Improve Your Workout?, National Center for Health Research
2. Walking, Trim Your Waistline, Improve Your Health, Mayo Clinic
3. Exercise: Starting a Walking Program, UC Berkeley
4. Association of Step Volume and Intensity With All-Cause Mortality in Older Women, JAMA Internal Medicine.
6. Walking Music Mix Playlist and Workout Songs, VeryWellFit
7. Music Genre Finder, Chosic
8. Effects of musical tempo on physiological, affective, and perceptual variables and performance of self-selected walking pace, Journal of Physical Therapy Science
About Us
At KURU, we're on a mission to help you Heel Better™ with footwear technology designed to relieve foot pain, so you can live a life you love. Since launching our innovative technology in 2008, we’ve received more than 37,000 five-star reviews from thousands of customers who tell us their KURU shoes helped them get back to doing what they love.
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