Doggy style is the most popular sex position in surveys: 29.4% of Americans named it their favourite in a 2025 poll of 1,490 adults by NapLab, ahead of missionary (21.68%) and cowgirl (19.33%).
But missionary is the position people actually use most. It featured in a median 80% of sexual encounters over five years among 21,038 Czech adults, according to Krejčová et al. (2020), and 97.8% of women in that study had used it.
As for how many sex positions there are, there is no fixed number. The Kama Sutra describes 17 positions, according to Britannica, not the 64 often quoted, and other classic manuals list between 9 and 39.
In this article, we’ll break down favourite positions across surveys, how preferences differ by gender, age and orientation, which positions people use most, the best positions for orgasm, injury data, and how many positions classic texts describe.
Top Sex Position Statistics
- 29.4% of Americans name doggy style their favourite sex position, 7.7 points ahead of missionary at 21.68%.
- Missionary features in a median 80% of Czech adults’ encounters over five years, about twice the share of woman on top (40%).
- 35% of men pick doggy style as their favourite, compared with 21% of women; 30% of women pick cowgirl, compared with 15% of men.
- 43.1% of women in a poll of 2,400 app users said woman on top gets them to orgasm best.
- Reverse cowgirl gets about 105,000 US Google searches a month, more than any other position name, though only 4.7% of Americans call it their favourite.
- The Kama Sutra describes 17 positions; its famous “64” refers to 8 kinds of 8 sexual acts, not to positions.
- 66% of Ann Summers customers polled in 2015 use two or three positions per session.
What Is the Most Popular Sex Position?
Doggy style. It was the favourite of 29.4% of 1,490 Americans in a 2025 single-choice poll by NapLab, a mattress review site. Missionary came second at 21.68%, 7.7 points behind, and cowgirl third at 19.33%.
Those three positions together took 70.41% of all votes. No other position was the favourite of more than 5% of respondents.
Here’s a breakdown of Americans’ favourite sex positions:
| Position | Share naming it favourite |
|---|---|
| Doggy style | 29.4% |
| Missionary | 21.68% |
| Cowgirl | 19.33% |
| Standing | 4.9% |
| Reverse cowgirl | 4.7% |
| Face-sitting | 4.7% |
| Spooning | 4.63% |
| 69 | 3.89% |
| Butterfly | 3.36% |
Favourite Sex Positions Across Surveys
Doggy style, missionary and cowgirl make up the top three in almost every survey, but their order changes. Doggy style leads in most American polls. Missionary leads in some British and Australian polls.
In the UK, 31.2% of 2,029 women, trans and non-binary respondents aged 18 to 54 named missionary their favourite and 27.35% doggy style, according to a 2022 survey by contraceptive pill brand Hana. In Australia, 41% picked missionary in a 2020 poll for sex toy maker We-Vibe.
Here’s a breakdown of the top three positions in major favourite-position polls:
| Survey | Sample | Doggy style | Missionary | Cowgirl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NapLab (2025) | 1,490 US adults | 29.4% | 21.68% | 19.33% |
| Superdrug (2026)* | 2,000+ UK adults | 47% | 45% | 46% (woman on top) |
| Hana (2022) | 2,029 UK women, trans and non-binary people (18–54) | 27.35% | 31.2% | 10.5% |
| Bespoke Surgical (2021) | 1,000 US adults | 24.18% | 20.08% | 17.48% |
| We-Vibe (2020)* | Australian adults | 30% | 41% | 28% |
| ZAVA, then DrEd (c. 2016) | 2,000+ US, UK and European adults | 35.1% | 22.5% | 19.4% |
*Question format not stated; Superdrug’s figures add up to more than 100%, so respondents likely picked more than one.
Source: company polls by the publishers named
A poll by an independent pollster is older. In a 2016 YouGov survey of 1,303 Germans, 30% said missionary was the position they have sex in most often, compared with 13% for cowgirl.
Which Sex Positions Do People Actually Use Most?
Missionary, by a wide margin. Czech adults used it in a median 80% of their sexual encounters over five years, compared with 40% for woman on top and 38% to 42% for doggy style, according to a study of 21,038 heterosexual adults by Krejčová et al. published in Sexual Medicine in 2020.
Almost everyone in the study had tried the main positions. 97.8% of women had used missionary, 95.2% woman on top and 95.0% doggy style. Even the least-tried position, standing, had been used by 75.6% of women.
Here’s a breakdown of how many women have ever used each position and how often it is used:
| Position | Women who have ever used it | Median share of encounters (women) |
|---|---|---|
| Missionary (face to face, man above) | 97.8% | 80% |
| Woman on top (face to face) | 95.2% | 40% |
| Doggy style (kneeling, rear entry) | 95.0% | 42% |
| Prone rear entry (lying face down) | 93.4% | 30% |
| Sitting face to face | 89.4% | 15% |
| 69 | 86.8% | 10% |
| Standing rear entry | 85.1% | 10% |
| Standing face to face | 76.4% | 4% |
| Standing | 75.6% | 10% |
Men’s answers were almost the same: 97.0% had used missionary and their median share of encounters in doggy style was 38%.
The pattern is old. In Kinsey’s 1953 study of American women, 91% of married women said they used the man-on-top position most often and 9% used it exclusively, according to Wikipedia’s summary of the research.
Most Popular Sex Positions by Gender
Men favour doggy style and women favour cowgirl. 35% of men picked doggy style as their favourite position, compared with 21% of women, in a survey of 994 American and European adults by Superdrug Online Doctor. 30% of women picked cowgirl, compared with 15% of men.
That makes men 1.7 times as likely as women to pick doggy style, and women twice as likely as men to pick cowgirl. But missionary is the position that makes people feel closest: 60% of women and 52% of men said it makes them feel most connected to their partner.
Other polls show a split on who is on top:
- In the UK, 56% of men named woman on top as a favourite position, compared with 38% of women, according to Superdrug’s Great British Sex Report 2026.
- 36% of British women prefer their partner on top in missionary, compared with 16% of men, in a 2021 poll of 2,000 adults for bed retailer Bed SOS.
- 70% of Parisian women prefer being underneath and 65% of men prefer being on top, according to a 2006 Ifop survey of 501 Paris residents.
Most Popular Sex Positions by Age and Orientation
Doggy style is more popular among older millennials. 41% of millennials aged 30 to 36 named it their favourite in a 2018 survey for condom brand SKYN, compared with 26% of those aged 19 to 24.
Older adults are more likely to tire of missionary. 16% of British adults said they are bored of missionary, and people aged 55 and over were the most bored, according to Superdrug (2026).
Favourites also vary by sexual orientation. In a 2021 poll of 1,000 Americans by Bespoke Surgical, a New York proctology practice, straight respondents preferred doggy style, while gay and lesbian respondents preferred lotus, a seated face-to-face position.
Here’s a breakdown of favourite positions by sexual orientation:
| Group | Top position | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Straight Americans | Doggy style | 26% |
| Gay and lesbian Americans | Lotus | 22% |
| Bisexual and pansexual Americans | Missionary | 21% |
| Grindr users (2024 in-app poll) | Missionary | 25% |
Among Grindr users, “backshots” (rear entry) came second at 21% and 69 third at 20%. In a study of 8,755 French-speaking men who have sex with men, 40.8% identified as bottoms, 30.8% as versatile and 24.0% as tops, according to Herrero et al. (2023).
How Many Positions Do Couples Use?
Two or three per session. 66% of 1,000 customers of retailer Ann Summers said they use two or three positions each time they have sex, in a 2015 poll.
49% of British adults switch position once or twice per session and 12% switch constantly, according to a 2025 poll of 500 adults by LloydsPharmacy Online Doctor. About 10% of British couples only ever use one position, according to a 2010 poll of 3,000 adults for dating site UKDating.com.
Many people want to try more. Lotus was the position British adults most wanted to try in 2026, picked by 18%, according to Superdrug. Tabletop was the least-preferred position in the ZAVA survey, yet almost 20% said it was the one they most wanted to try.
What Is the Best Sex Position for Women’s Orgasm?
Woman on top. In the Czech study, among 7,450 women with a current partner, those who used woman on top in a larger share of encounters reported more consistent orgasms during intercourse, according to Krejčová et al. Sitting face to face also had a positive link, doggy style had a negative link and missionary had none. The authors describe these effects as small.
Polls point the same way. 43.1% of women in a poll of 2,400 users of fertility app Glow, which offered three named positions plus “other,” chose woman on top as the position that gets them to orgasm best, according to Bustle.
Here’s a breakdown of the positions women say get them to orgasm best:
| Position | Share of women |
|---|---|
| Woman on top | 43.1% |
| Doggy style | 28.6% |
| Missionary | 18.8% |
| Other | 9.5% |
Other polls agree. 32% of women said cowgirl gives them the best chance of multiple orgasms, according to Superdrug. Separately, 35% of men said doggy style gets them to orgasm fastest.
Clitoral stimulation matters too. Only 18% of American women say penetration alone is enough for orgasm, according to an Indiana University study of 1,055 women by Herbenick et al. (2018).
Women also adjust how they move within a position. In a nationally representative study of 3,017 American women by Hensel et al. (2021), funded by sex-education company OMGYES:
- 87.5% use “angling,” changing the angle of their hips during penetration.
- 83.8% use “shallowing,” penetration just inside the entrance of the vagina.
- 76.4% use “rocking,” staying inside and rubbing against the clitoris rather than thrusting.
- 69.7% use “pairing,” touching the clitoris during penetration.
These techniques matter for the orgasm gap, since few women say penetration alone is enough to orgasm.
Which Sex Positions Cause the Most Injuries?
Doggy style and man on top account for most penile fractures linked to sex positions. Doggy style was involved in 43.1% of 255 penile fractures over 20 years at a Brazilian referral centre, and man on top in 40.3%, according to Barros et al. (2020). Woman on top accounted for 12.1%.
Results vary by study. Across 12 studies of 490 patients reviewed by Syarif et al. (2024), woman on top was the most common position in 7 studies, but man on top and doggy style accounted for more cases overall.
Here’s a breakdown of penile fractures by position across the 12 studies:
| Position | Share of fractures |
|---|---|
| Man on top | 34.5% |
| Doggy style | 32.2% |
| Woman on top | 24.5% |
| Not during intercourse | 8.8% |
These are case counts, not risk per act. Positions used more often will produce more fractures. In a small Brazilian series, woman on top accounted for 50% of the 28 fractures during heterosexual intercourse, and the authors called it the potentially riskiest position, according to Improbable Research.
Position also matters for back pain. In a motion-capture study of 10 couples at the University of Waterloo, spooning was not always the best position for men with low back pain, and the researchers recommend doggy style for men whose pain is triggered by bending forward.
For people trying to conceive, no position helps. There is no evidence that sex position affects the chance of conception, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
Sex Positions in Porn and Online Searches
Reverse cowgirl is the most-searched position name in the US, at about 105,000 Google searches a month, according to our analysis of Ahrefs data from October 2026. That is more than missionary (95,000), even though only 4.7% of Americans call reverse cowgirl their favourite.
Porn also shapes what people know. More than 53% of men said they learned new sex positions from pornography, while most women learned from a partner, according to ZAVA.
Here’s a breakdown of monthly Google searches for the most popular position names:
| Search term | US searches per month | Global searches per month |
|---|---|---|
| reverse cowgirl | 105,000 | 344,000 |
| missionary position | 95,000 | 391,000 |
| doggy style | 71,000 | 396,000 |
| cowgirl position | 40,000 | 226,000 |
| 69 position | 25,000 | 308,000 |
Search counts include every reason people type a term, such as porn, memes and how-to guides. In the UK, missionary is the most-searched position with 736,900 searches, according to an analysis by LloydsPharmacy.
Researchers rarely count positions in porn itself. In a review of porn content studies covering more than 5,000 videos by Carrotte et al. (2020), the only per-position counts come from a 1991 sample of 20 VHS films. In it, man on top and rear entry each appeared a mean 4.2 times per film and woman on top 2.4 times.
In the 50 most-viewed videos on Pornhub, women were shown reaching orgasm in 18.3% of appearances and men in 78%, and women’s on-screen orgasms mostly came from penetration alone, according to a study by Séguin et al. reported by PsyPost. See how those videos fit into the most popular porn categories and searches.
How Many Sex Positions Are There?
There is no fixed number. Classic sex manuals describe between 9 and 39 positions, and modern books claim far more. The Kama Sutra describes 17 positions, according to Britannica, alongside 12 embraces and 17 kinds of kisses.
The often-quoted “64 Kama Sutra positions” is a myth. Part 2 of the book is called “the sixty-four” because it covers 8 sexual subjects, such as kissing, biting and positions, each in 8 kinds, according to the followers of an earlier author, Babhravya: “eight multiplied by eight being sixty-four,” according to the Burton translation. The book also lists 64 non-sexual arts, from singing to clay modelling.
Positions are a small part of the text. Only one of the Kama Sutra’s 36 chapters covers positions, according to translator Indra Sinha, quoted by Romper. The book was probably written in the second half of the 3rd century CE, according to Britannica, which makes it more than 1,700 years old.
Here’s a breakdown of how many positions classic and modern sex manuals describe:
| Book | Date | Positions |
|---|---|---|
| Xuannü jing (China) | Tang era | 9 |
| The Perfumed Garden (Nefzawi, list in one chapter) | 15th century | 11 |
| I Modi (Raimondi after Giulio Romano) | 1524 | 16 |
| Kama Sutra (Vatsyayana) | 3rd century CE | 17 |
| Dongxuanzi (China, incl. 4 foreplay positions) | 7th–9th century | 30 |
| Ananga Ranga (Kalyanamalla, incl. 3 woman-on-top forms) | 15th–16th century | 32 |
| The Perfumed Garden (Burton translation) | 1886 | 39 |
| Women’s Health position guide | Modern | 46 |
| Cosmo Kama Sutra | Modern | 77 |
| Position of the Day Playbook | 2004 | 366 |
Most modern lists rename the same handful of positions, according to MEL Magazine. The Kama Sutra itself treats the number as open-ended, saying “an ingenious person should multiply the kinds of congress,” according to the Burton translation.
The name “missionary position” is newer than most people think. It likely traces back to Alfred Kinsey’s 1948 report on male sexuality, according to Wikipedia. Anthropologist Robert Priest argued in 2001 that the term came from Kinsey’s misreading of an earlier account of Pacific islanders, according to PubMed. The phrase is attested by 1963, according to Etymonline.
Methodology
We reviewed 207 data points from 62 sources. Favourite-position figures come from company polls with online, mostly self-selected samples. Some asked for one favourite and others allowed several answers, so their percentages can’t be compared directly. The NapLab, Superdrug, Hana, Bespoke Surgical, SKYN, ZAVA, We-Vibe, Bed SOS, Ann Summers, LloydsPharmacy, UKDating.com, Grindr and Glow figures are from commercial sponsors.
Figures on how often positions are used come from the Krejčová et al. study, an online survey of volunteers in the Czech Republic that is large but not nationally representative. Penile fracture shares are case counts from hospital series, not risk per sex act. Search volumes are Ahrefs estimates of monthly Google searches. Ratios, gaps and pooled penile fracture shares are our own calculations.
Key Takeaways
Doggy style is the most popular favourite position in most surveys, chosen by 29.4% of Americans in 2025, ahead of missionary and cowgirl. But missionary is the position people actually use most, featuring in a median 80% of encounters.
Men lean toward doggy style and women toward cowgirl, and woman on top is linked to more consistent female orgasm. There is no fixed number of sex positions: the Kama Sutra describes 17, and most people in polls use two or three per session.
FAQ
What is the most popular sex position?
Doggy style is the most popular favourite: 29.4% of Americans chose it in a 2025 poll, ahead of missionary (21.68%) and cowgirl (19.33%). Missionary is the most used, featuring in a median 80% of encounters.
How many sex positions are there?
There is no fixed number. The Kama Sutra describes 17 positions, the Ananga Ranga 32 and Burton’s translation of The Perfumed Garden 39. Modern books claim up to 366 by counting variations.
Are there 64 positions in the Kama Sutra?
No. “The sixty-four” refers to 8 sexual subjects with 8 kinds each, and only one of those subjects covers positions. Britannica counts 17 positions in the book.
What is the best sex position for women?
Woman on top. It is linked to more consistent female orgasm in a Czech study of 7,450 women, and 43.1% of women in a poll of 2,400 said it gets them to orgasm best. Only 18% of women say penetration alone is enough for orgasm.
What sex position do men like most?
Doggy style. 35% of men picked it as their favourite in a survey of 994 American and European adults, and 35% said it gets them to orgasm fastest.
How many positions do couples use?
Two or three per session for most people. 66% of Ann Summers customers polled in 2015 use two or three positions each time, and about 10% of British couples only ever use one.
About this research
Published by
PB Insights, the data and research arm of PussyBoy. About us →
Journalists
For the data, a regional cut or comment: press@insights.pussyboy.net
Reuse
Licensed CC BY 4.0. Cite "PB Insights" and link to this report.
"According to adult-industry data analysts at PB Insights…"
