Tinder reveals top dating trends

Chaotic Taylor Swift fans with the “main character energy” were getting all the love on Tinder this year.

According to the dating app’s annual Year in Swipe report, daters were less concerned about where their relationships were headed in 2023 and more interested in the journey, treating dating as an experience.

According to Tinder, this “main character energy” marks a shift towards self-fulfillment and gave rise to the top dating trends of the year: not attached to an outcome (N.A.T.O) and dating for the plot.

As per Tinder, N.A.T.O refers to “singles who are less concerned about the outcome of a relationship and more interested in enjoying the process of getting to know someone.”

Meanwhile, dating “for the plot” denotes that “dating was more about the journey and less about ‘the end’ in 2023” and that “singles were open to meeting new people to have new experiences and fun stories to tell, rather than taking a traditional goal-oriented approach.”

No broad conclusions should be drawn from this, however, as the report is based on a survey commissioned by Tinder that only included 4,000 single users aged 18-25 from Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US.

Nonetheless, it marks further evolution of a “situationship,” a dominant trend last year that described an undefined or non-committal romantic relationship.

“It’s so exciting to see the data at Tinder shows that 69% of Gen Z want to challenge conventional dating and relationship norms,” Melissa Hobley, chief marketing officer at Tinder, said.

“This new generation of daters is showing us what it means to date for the possibilities, freeing themselves from traditional expectations, allowing them to write their own, worthwhile stories,” Hobley said.

Along with the top dating trends, Tinder also identified most used emojis, as well as interests and personality traits of the year.

ON! Arrow emoji was the top trending emoji this year, with singles using it “to let potential matches know they were up for trying cool new things or were even ready to explore a new relationship.” It was also meant to signal openness and optimism, Tinder said.

Trending interests included horror movies, hip hop, and tennis, but most attractive interests were anime or manga, cheerleading, pilates, biryani (a rice dish), andLGBTQ+ allyship.

“Extroverted” was the most popular personality type, followed by “chaotic,” “introverted,” “order lover,” and “life of party.” Relationship goals, zodiac, height, pets, and smoking habits were found to be the most interesting details in the users’ profiles.

The “feminine” energy of the year 2023 also found its way onto Tinder, with Taylor Swift crowned the top Spotify artist on the app, and Flowers by Miley Cyrus the fourth most popular “anthem” users added to profiles.