About

Eargasm is a slang portmanteau of the words "ear" and "orgasm." People use the term to describe euphoric aural sensations caused by music.

Origin

On June 15th, 1976, recording artist Johnnie Taylor released the album Eargasm.^[1] The album cover features a definition of the term. It reads: "A paroxysm of emotional and auditory excitation or instance or climax of such excitement sufficient to cause release of tension and a state of beatitude."

Spread

On September 23rd, 2003, the rap group Outkast released the album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.^[2] The second single on the album "The Way You Move" includes the lyric, "Drip-drip-drop, there goes an eargasm" (video below, left).

Throughout the year, the term grew in usage online. On December 7th, 2003, for example, Sir. Psychedelic Soul, a user on the website NeptunePinkFloyd.co.uk^[3] posted a thread called " (shown below).

On July 20th, 2004, Urban Dictionary ^[4] user Rachel defined the term as "The sensation one gets while hearing a dramatic climax in music" and "The climax of musical excitement." The post received more than 2,100 upvotes in less than 20 years (shown below, left).

Usage of the term continued throughout the decade. On April 20th, 2011, for example, the OnlineSlangDictionary^[5] user Donna-Maria defined the term, "a metaphorical 'orgasm of the ears' due to hearing something immensely satisfying, having a good ear cleaning, etc" (shown below, right).

In the mid-2000s, the term became associated with ASMR videos on YouTube. On December 16th, 2016, YouTuber Markiplier published the video "MARKIPLIER'S EARGASM THERAPY | Catlateral Damage Redux." The post received more than 2.1 million views (shown below, left). On September 27th, 2018, YouTuber ASMR Amy published the video "ASMR Eargasm – very intensive Mouth sounds Tingle Trigger to Relax." The post received more than 3.5 million views (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References