The 30 Sexiest Music Videos of All Time
Is it getting hot in here or is it just us?
Sometimes, a song is so steamy, the only logical next step is a super-sexy music video. For that, we can thank trailblazers like Prince and Madonna, who established the right to show a little skin in music videos like "Kiss" and "Express Yourself." MTV deserves its share of credit—can anybody ever forget their first time watching t.A.T.u.'s music video for "All The Things She Said"?—but then YouTube blew up, and suddenly you could watch any steamy music video any time you wanted. It became a sort of guilty pleasure, listening to a great song while watching a hot person do hot-person things like make out with someone equally good-looking, move their hips like no one was watching, and wear an outfit so tight you wonder how they got it on in the first place. You could spend hours watching gorgeous celebrities pour suspiciously watery milk on their Spandex-bound bodies (we still love you, Fergie!). And, if we're being honest, we have spent hours watching that (and we still love you, Fergie).
If you love losing yourself (and, you know, several hours of your day) in a good sexy music video marathon on YouTube, then you have most definitely come to the right place. From Britney to Beyoncé, we have collected some of the sexiest videos to ever bless our eyeballs. Without further ado, allow us to present: 30 of the sexiest, steamiest visuals to ever appear on TRL (what a time you were, late '90s, what a time) or, now, the wonderful world of YouTube.
1.Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion, "WAP"
The video for "WAP" oozes sex so much, it's *this* close to porn. And we're HERE for it.
2.Janet Jackson, "Any Time, Any Place"
This song is one of Janet Jackson's sexiest jams of all time (which is saying something) and the video does not disappoint. It will single-handedly make you understand why sexy strawberry eating is a thing.
3.Christina Milian, "Dip It Low"
The image of Christina Milian covered in black paint and writing on a platform is truly the stuff of fantasies.
4.Miley Cyrus, "Wrecking Ball"
Miley basically broke the internet with the stripped down (both in terms of set and wardrobe) video for "Wrecking Ball." And the video gets bonus points for introducing the world to the unexpected sexiness of someone straddling and riding a literal wrecking ball.
5.Madonna, "Justify My Love"
This classic Madonna video is so hot, it was actually originally banned on MTV. Although, that was at least partly because the sexiness is set against a backdrop of religious iconography. You know, as you do.
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6.Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé, "Telephone"
Lady Gaga and Beyoncé? For nine-and-a-half-minutes? In the "Pussy Wagon" from Kill Bill? Yes. Yes. And hell yes.
7.t.A.T.u., "All The Things She Said"
This 2002 classic is so iconic, you probably remember spending half the evening with MTV blaring in the background just waiting for this video to come on.
8.Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, "Señorita"
How is possible for two people to make being sweaty sexy? I'm still trying to figure it out.
9.Britney Spears, "I'm A Slave 4 U"
I wish I looked this good while wearing low rise jeans.
10.Aerosmith, "Crazy"
Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler in the '90s? Enough said.
11.Nicki Minaji, "Anaconda"
Nicki Minaj giving a lap dance to Drake...do we need to say more.
12.Chris Isaack, "Wicked Game"
The video reminds me of an expensive fragrance ad for it has multiple zoom in shots of water droplets, a topless model, and it all takes place on a beach.
13.Beyoncé and Shakira, 'Beautiful Liar'
The end hip dance they both do once will inspire you to think about getting a gym membership.
14.D'Angelo, "Untitled (How Does It Feel)"
It is literally just D'Angelo standing there singing, but is that not enough? (If that's not enough, he's also the opposite of fully clothed.)
15.Britney Spears, "Toxic"
The one that makes all your friends go "Please, no" when it comes on and you start trying to recreate the choreography. Also known as the one with the crystal bodysuit.
16.Beyoncé, "Partition"
Beyoncé wears loads of sparkly, skimpy outfits and dances. We could've stopped anywhere in that sentence, and this video would still be on this list.
17.Nelly, "Hot in Herre"
A classic tune about a perfectly natural and logical response to being in a warm environment.
18.Rihanna, "S&M"
What did you think it was going to be about?
19.Beyoncé, "Drunk in Love"
Bey in a bikini, looking at Jay-Z like she wants to do unspeakable things to him. How could it get hotter?
20.Shakira feat. Rihanna, "Can't Remember to Forget You"
Two extremely sexy ladies lean against walls seductively.
21.Jennifer Lopez feat. Iggy Azalea," Booty"
Butts. Oiled-up butts. Butts barely contained by swimsuit bottoms. Butts everywhere.
22.Fountains of Wayne, "Stacy's Mom"
Admit it: This bop got stuck in your head the first time you heard it. The playful, irreverent send up to having inappropriate feels for a crush's parent didn't disappoint when it came to the music video, which was an on-point send up to Fast Times at Ridgemont High and starred supermodel Rachel Hunter as the titular MILF.
23.Fiona Apple, "Criminal"
Some songs (and their videos) are sexy in a Fifty Shades/things-you-fantasize-about kind of way. Others are sexy in a grittier, realer, that-time-you-drank-too-much-and-hooked-up-with-that-person-and-it-was-simultaneously-super-hot-and-maybe-your-biggest-regret kind of way. Fiona Apple's "Criminal" video is the embodiment of the latter.
24.Selena Gomez, "Hands to Myself"
A Fatal Attraction-y video in which Selena Gomez wears lingerie, writhes around on/in bed/in the bath with/without a dude.
25.The Weeknd, "Earned It"
While Fifty Shades largely emerged as an inadvertent comedy, the music is killer, especially this song by Abel. It features a cool burlesque routine performed by a bunch of sexy ladies wearing pasties and one suspended from the ceiling trussed up like poultry you want to cook evenly.
26.Nicki Minaj, "Anaconda"
Nicki's video is an ode to backsides everywhere—and to feminism. "At first I’m being sexual with the banana, and then it’s like, ‘Ha-ha, no,'” Nicki told GQ in 2014. “That was important for us to show in the kitchen scene, because it’s always about the female taking back the power, and if you want to be flirty and funny that’s fine, but always keeping the power and the control in everything."
27.Fergie, "M.I.L.F.$"
As you might have guessed from the title and the very specific spelling of it, this song is about women who have had children but are still sexy and fun. Yeah! Chrissy Teigen and Kim Kardashian and Alesandra Ambrosio all star in it, and there are dance numbers and lots of lycra outfits. Fun!
28.Christina Aguilera, "Dirrty"
This one caused quite the stir when it dropped in 2002, and both the song and the video hold up. If you were a kid in the 2000s, you'll remember this as the radical undoing of Xtina's "good-girl" image—and about the most explicit thing on MTV in 2002.
29.FKA Twigs, "Papi Pacify"
FKA Twigs is all sex appeal, all the time and her "Papi Pacify" video, with its longing looks and writhing limbs is no exception. It's worth noting, however, that the singer eventually revealed to Britain’s Evening Standard that parts of the video were inspired by an “emotionally abusive” relationship she had been in.
"In the relationship I couldn’t communicate. The person I was with was stopping me from explaining how I felt. So the physical manifestation is someone putting their hand in your mouth. But there’s an element, too, of liking that as well. It’s messed up. It’s addictive."
30.Usher, "Confessions, Pt. II"
Usher's "Confessions, Pt. II" video, starring his incredible, at times actually unbelievable abs, is one of the sexiest set of images ever committed to film. Hands. Down.
Chelsea Peng is a writer and editor who was formerly the assistant editor at Marie Claire. She's also worked for The Strategist and Refinery29, and is a graduate of Northwestern University. On her tombstone, she would like a GIF of herself that's better than the one that already exists on the Internet and a free fro-yo machine. Besides frozen dairy products, she's into pirates, carbs, Balzac, and snacking so hard she has to go lie down.
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