One of the most fun things about sex and exploring our own sexualities is just how many things we can try. There’s no shame in having a kink and there’s so much joy to be found in accidentally discovering one.

Additionally, as with everything in life, you’re never alone in your kinks, no matter how strange you might think that they are. In fact, according to data provided by Joy Love Dolls and Google search trends, popular kinks can be anything from role play to mummification and what makes you click gets thousands of others’ heart rates going, too.

So, what are the most popular kinks that we have? Well, Joy Love Dolls analysed a year of Google search trends and, excluding unsafe kinks, compiled them into a list of 10 worldwide favourites.

With almost 10 million annual searches, this is by far the most popular kink around the world. If you don’t know what it is, sadism is when you inflict physical or psychological suffering on another person to stimulate sexual excitement and orgasms.

So, very much related to sadism and in fact, combined into the acronym S&M with it, masochism is when you derive sexual gratification from your own pain, humiliation, or frustration.

CBT is commonly used as shorthand in the therapy world for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy but in the world of kink, CBT actually stands for Cock and Ball Torture. This is, well, it’s in the name, isn’t it? It is the application of pain or constriction to the penis or testicles for sexual gratification.

No, that isn’t a typo. We don’t mean the commonly known claustrophobia, we mean quite the opposite, instead of fearing small or confined places, claustrophilia is being sexually aroused or interested in being confined in small places.

We thought this might be when you’re into dressing up as a vicar but no, in fact, it’s becoming aroused by other people’s sexual stories, and living vicariously through them. We didn’t know that this had a name but it turns out that 3.6 million people search for this every year.

People who are into the humiliation kink derive pleasure or erotic excitement from the mixed and powerful emotions of being humiliated and demeaned.

One of the more well-known entries on this list, role play involves indulging in fantasy based on any social role and could incorporate any kind of sexual fetish desired by the participants. Think nurse costumes, dressing up as fictional characters, etc.

This is when one partner watches their lover having sex with somebody else and derives pleasure from it. There’s also ‘cuckqueaning’ which tends to centre cis females as the cuckold, as opposed to the traditional male being cuckolded.

Age play is a form of role play performed by adults pretending to be a different age than they are, usually younger but any age fits the bill.

Impact play involves hitting or being hit with an object in a safe, consensual way to derive sexual pleasure and create or appreciate a sensation of domination.

This is an extreme form of bondage that gets around 325,000 searches per year. In mummification, a person is wrapped from head to toe, like a mummy, and are rendered completely immobilised for sexual gratification.

Nothing can spice up your bedroom life like introducing something new and if you’ve been thinking about trying something out, it’s worth discussing with your sexual partner to see if it’s something they’d like to explore.

Sex and relationships expert, Melissa Stone says: “Cultivating a healthy understanding of fetishes within consensual relationships can hugely enhance intimacy and pleasure within your relationship.”

She added: ”As the search term ‘sex fetish’ has increased in searches by 132% over the past 30 days worldwide, it’s essential to approach fetishes with an open mind, respect, and clear communication between those involved.

“Remember, what may seem unconventional to some is a source of excitement and fulfilment for others.”