Songs for Teens: What Teens in the Modak Community Are Listening to Right Now
- 🎵 Teen music tastes are incredibly diverse, spanning K-pop, pop, rock, worship music, indie, and video game soundtracks.
- 🌎 Streaming and social media have made it easier for teens to discover music from different countries, eras, and genres.
- 🎧 Favorite songs are often personal—teens use music to express themselves, find comfort, and connect with different moments in their lives.
Ask ten teens what their favorite song is, and you’ll probably get ten completely different answers.
Not because everyone has different taste—although that’s definitely true—but because “favorite song” is a moving target. It changes with your mood, the season, the friend who just sent you a new artist, or the one track you’ve had on repeat for the past two weeks.
That’s what made this challenge so much fun.
We asked kids and teens in the Modak app one simple question:
What’s your top two favorite songs right now?
We expected to see a few popular artists show up over and over again. Instead, we found playlists that bounced from K-pop to classic rock, from worship music to video game soundtracks, with plenty of indie discoveries in between.
If there’s one thing these responses make clear, it’s that there isn’t one soundtrack to being a teenager today.
About this article: The song titles, artists, and opinions discussed in this article reflect responses submitted by participants in a Modak community challenge and are intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. References to artists, songs, and music genres reflect participants’ personal preferences and should not be interpreted as endorsements, rankings, or recommendations by Modak. Responses are shared in participants’ own words and are published with participants’ permission.
One teen in the Modak community summed up the challenge perfectly:
“well, I love SO. MANY. SONGS!! but my two favorite? thats kinda hard.. well, I REALLY love Showdown! from Undertale Yellow, and also Megalovania from Undertale!”
Honestly, that’s probably the most relatable answer in the entire dataset.
The Playlist Has No Borders Anymore
Not that long ago, most people’s music tastes were shaped by whatever happened to be on the radio.
Today, one playlist can jump from Seoul to London to Nashville in three songs. That shift tracks with how connected this generation already is — Pew Research Center has found that U.S. teens are online at a scale no previous generation has experienced, which has reshaped how they discover music along with everything else.
That showed up immediately in the challenge responses.
One participant shared:
“My two favorite songs are Utopia by Ateez and Blue Hour by TXT.”
Another wrote:
“Gnarly by Katseye and celebration by Forrest Frank”
And another said:
“Stateside by PinkPantheress and Zara Larson and Golden Boy by Freya Skye!”
What’s striking isn’t just the variety of artists.
It’s how naturally teens move between genres, countries, and fan communities.
K-pop sits next to indie pop.
Viral TikTok songs sit next to artists with devoted fanbases.
For many teens, music discovery isn’t limited by geography anymore. It almost feels like the entire internet has become one giant record store.
The Songs That Feel Like Your Life Has a Soundtrack
Some songs are more than songs.
They’re the tracks you play while staring dramatically out a car window.
The ones that somehow make an ordinary walk feel cinematic.
The songs that become attached to a specific version of yourself. Research out of the University of Cambridge has found that adolescence is the first of several distinct “musical ages” people pass through, a period defined by using music to assert identity and independence.
One participant shared:
“my top two favorite songs is sunflower by Post Malone and that’s so true bye Grace Adams”
Another admitted something many people were probably thinking:
“I could never just have two favorite songs, but I do listen to 12 to 12 by Sombr a lot and Love Is Embarrassing by Olivia Rodrigo.”
That opening line might be the most relatable response in the entire challenge.
Picking only two songs feels impossible when music is constantly changing with your mood.
Another participant wrote:
“my top two songs rn are ‘IFHY’ by Tyler, the Creator, and ‘Christina’ by MIRRAR”
These aren’t just popular songs for teens.
They’re personal songs.
The kind of songs people return to over and over because they connect with something deeper than a trend.
Pop Songs Teens Still Can’t Stop Playing
One of the most interesting things about the challenge was how often newer songs appeared alongside songs that are years—or even decades—older.
One participant wrote:
“Long Live by Taylor Swift and Complicated by Avril Lavigne”
Another shared:
“My two favorite songs are man I need and so easy by Olivia Dean!”
It’s easy to assume teens only listen to what’s currently trending.
The responses suggest otherwise.
Many are discovering older music through streaming platforms, social media, recommendations from friends, or simply falling down internet rabbit holes.
The result is a generation whose playlists can include a song from 2002, a song from last week, and a song from another continent—all before lunch.
How Modak helps
- 🏆 Modak community challenges give teens a space to share their interests, opinions, and everyday experiences.
- 📱 Teens can participate in challenges through the Modak app while exploring topics beyond money and financial literacy.
- 🎯 Modak rewards participation and encourages teens to stay engaged with a community where their voices and interests matter.
The Party Playlist Is Still Alive
Not every favorite song needs to be emotional.
Sometimes you just want something fun.
Another participant kept things simple:
“party in the USA and so easy”
Some songs never really disappear.
They just wait for the next generation to discover them.
Then there was this combination:
“shots by LMFAO , talk talk charli xcx”
If you wanted a single response that explains modern teen playlists, this might be it.
A party anthem from the early 2010s sitting next to one of the defining pop artists of today.
No rules.
Just vibes.
Music That Feels Bigger Than Entertainment
One of the more surprising trends in the challenge was how many responses mentioned uplifting, inspirational, or faith-based music.
One participant shared:
“Forest frank UP! and Forest frank GOD IS GOOD”
Another wrote:
“my favorite songs are your ways better by forest frank and while you were sleeping by casting crowns”
Forrest Frank appeared repeatedly throughout the challenge, making him one of the most consistently mentioned artists in the responses.
These songs aren’t necessarily the loudest or trendiest picks.
But they show that many teens use music for more than entertainment. Research reviewed by the National Institutes of Health has repeatedly found that music is one of the coping strategies adolescents rely on most to manage mood and stress.
Sometimes they’re looking for encouragement.
Sometimes they’re looking for comfort.
Sometimes they’re looking for something that helps them reset after a difficult day.
Wait… Are Teens Listening to Rock Again?
If someone told you that teens were listening to My Chemical Romance, Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, and System Of A Down right now, you might be surprised.
The challenge suggests otherwise.
One participant wrote:
“demolition lovers - my chemical romance, glass: half empty - hail the sun”
Another shared:
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins and Chop Suey! by System Of A Down”
And another said:
“champagne supernova by oasis and how’s it going to be by third eye blind”
What’s fascinating is that these songs aren’t necessarily nostalgic for the teens listening to them.
They’re new discoveries. As Andrew Mall, associate professor of music at Northeastern University, explains, streaming and social media now play the role that DJs and dance clubs once did in helping listeners discover music that came out long before they were born.
Streaming has made music history available to everyone, which means a song released thirty years ago can suddenly become someone’s favorite song this month.
The result is a generation with some of the most diverse playlists we’ve ever seen.
More Than a Playlist
One thing I didn’t expect while reading these responses was how impossible it became to predict what would come next.
A playlist with Tyler, the Creator would suddenly be followed by Forrest Frank.
A fan of Olivia Rodrigo might also be listening to Oasis.
Someone else was passionately defending music from Undertale.
And somehow none of it felt random.
That’s probably the biggest difference between teen playlists today and teen playlists ten or twenty years ago.
Nobody seems interested in fitting neatly into a single genre, aesthetic, or fandom.
Music has become more personal than that.
One day it’s Charli XCX.
The next it’s My Chemical Romance.
Then it’s K-pop.
Then it’s a song you’ve had on repeat for a month that nobody else seems to know.
The only real requirement is that it passes the replay test.
Would you listen to it again?
And then again?
And then somehow find yourself listening to it three weeks later?
If the answer is yes, it stays.
That’s what made this challenge so much fun to read.
It wasn’t really a ranking of the best songs for teens.
It was a collection of tiny snapshots of what people are carrying around in their headphones right now.
And that’s one of the reasons we love running challenges like this inside the Modak community.
What started as a simple question about favorite songs turned into hundreds of responses, unexpected discoveries, and a playlist that no algorithm could have built on its own.
If you’d like to join future community challenges like this one, you can sign up for Modak to participate, earn rewards, explore financial literacy activities, and see what other kids and teens are talking about—from music and gaming to AI, money, and everyday life.
Because sometimes the most interesting part isn’t the challenge itself.
It’s seeing everyone’s answers.
And after reading through this playlist, one thing feels pretty clear:
The fastest way to understand a generation isn’t by looking at a chart.
It’s by looking at what’s on repeat.
