Delve Into The Wonderful World Of ASMR

ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) or "brain massage" is incredibly popular on platforms like YouTube and TikTok and it's often used to help people fall asleep. With over 294 billion views under the ASMR hashtag on TikTok alone, it’s clearly establishing itself as a popular night-time ritual for many.

Tom, 41 from Brighton, says that he uses ASMR videos to help him relax before bed. While he doesn’t listen to it while he’s falling asleep (no one wants to wake up in the middle of night with uncomfortable headphones still on!), he claims it helps him to drift off if he doesn’t naturally feel sleepy when he first gets into bed. While some people experience a tingling sensation running from their head down their spine as they listen, Tom says he just finds it soothing, helping him to switch his brain off by making him feel relaxed and tired.

ASMR creators (or ASMRtists as they are called) say that even if someone does not get the "tingles" while watching an ASMR video, the sounds and actions are usually very relaxing, and just by having someone whisper to you and do comforting things such as face touching, hair play, or skincare can help the viewer feel calm and safe.

There's an ASMR style to soothe anyone's brain – from make-up to art to slime – and to shed some light on the most popular ASRM types, we reviewed YouTube searches, Instagram hashtags and TikTok views for over 115 types of ASMR to reveal the most popular ASMR categories.

Overall, ‘food’ was revealed as the most popular ASMR type across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube with over 6.6 billion views, showing ASMRtists eating different types of food with the aim of helping ASMR watchers to relax before bed. ‘Massage ASMR’ was the second most popular form of ASMR with over 2.7 billion views.

Interestingly, slime ASMR ranked in third with over 2.3 billion people watching videos of people playing with forms of slime. Makeup ASMR came in at fourth position with 1.7 billion views of videos of people applying makeup to their face or focusing on the specific makeup items with the sounds of the makeup such as opening a tube of lipstick, or concealer, or running a brush in a blusher palette.

Rounding off the top five was soap ASMR, where videos show hours of creators cutting and lathering different soaps of different colours and textures. This ASMR type racked up over 1.4 billion views, securing it as one of the most satisfying ASMR types.

Roleplay ASMR also ranked in the top 10, in position six, with over 723.5 million views. Roleplay ASMR involves video creator playing a role, for example a chiropractor, a doctor or hairdresser, and acting out a scenario within the video.

ASMR creator, @ASMRmpits, has over 10.1k followers on Instagram and over 325.6K followers on TikTok, and regularly creates ASMR videos for her followers. She mentioned that roleplay ASMR is some of her most popular content, due to the comforting feelings people usually experience at personal appointments such as the hairdressers or chiropractor.

As well finding out the most popular ASMR types, we spoke to ASMR creators and watchers to find out why the medium had become so popular, and why they think it helps you to sleep.

ASMR creator Katharine is a student who works part-time and uses ASMR as an additional source of income, making money from creating her videos. She started creating ASMR videos because of the joy she feels at helping to make people feel relaxed, calm, and at peace with themselves in the current moment. Katharine got into ASMR during the COVID-19 pandemic and said she helps her parents to relax after work with massages, which helps to inspire her videos.

Katharine mentions that her most popular types of ASMR content are mouth sounds related content and personal attention roleplays and says this is down to them being some of the most popular ASMR triggers, which matches up to our findings.

She mentions that ASMR, particularly personal attention, is very comforting to most people who watch the videos, as having someone care for you, even if it is through a screen, is a pleasant experience and can help set people up in the perfect state for sleep.

Frequent ASMR watcher Tom says ASMR affects him by making him feel relaxed and tired. He says he thinks this is due to ASMR artists having very soothing voices and making sounds that are somehow satisfying and calming to listen to.

Tom prefers to listen to sounds such as the microphone being brushed, finding it soothing and helping him to switch off his thoughts before bed. Tom also mentions that while he prefers ‘brushing’ and ‘trigger’ sounds to send him off for a good night’s sleep, he also listens to everyday sounds (such as rain) through headphones while working to help with concentration.

While ASMR is clearly popular, Tom also mentions he doesn’t listen to ASMR every night as it can become quite addictive, and could potentially lead to people becoming over reliant on the medium to set them up for a peaceful night’s sleep.

Your sleeping environment can affect how you switch off, especially if you are having problems relaxing for bed, or getting the perfect setup for your night-time ASMR watching.

It’s important to make sure you have the best setup for winding down in the evening, whether that’s luxurious bed linen, plump cushions and sumptuous throws, or even making sure there isn’t too much light in your bedroom before you settle down for the evening.

If you’re struggling to set yourself up for a good night’s sleep, try our ASMR videos, as well as our restful sleep tips.

We reviewed over 115 different types of ASMR using Instagram hashtags, TikTok views and YouTube views to provide a total for each ASMR type.

We used this score to find the most popular ASMR types across the different platforms.

Data correct as of April 2022