| 100% | TAINTED | 7 | __ Love; Soft Cell hit in 1981 |
| 75% | TAINTED | 7 | Kind of love Soft Cell sang about in 1981 |
| 50% | TAINTEDLOVE | 11 | 1980s Soft Cell hit |
| 45% | BUNT | 4 | Soft hit, in baseball |
| 44% | TAINTEDLOVE | 11 | 1982 Soft Cell hit that spent 43 weeks on the Billboard charts |
| 43% | ONCE | 4 | 1949 hit "_____ in Love With Amy" |
| 43% | TENDERLY | 8 | In a soft and loving way |
| 42% | TAINTEDLOVE | 11 | 1981 Top 10 hit for Soft Cell, and a feature of the answers to the starred clues? |
| 40% | POINCIANA | 9 | Bing Crosby hit in which "your branches speak to me of love" |
| 40% | TOSIR | 5 | Words sung "with love" in a 1967 hit |
| 40% | WHEN | 4 | "___ Emma Falls in Love" (2023 Taylor Swift hit) |
| 40% | HEADOVERHEELS | 13 | Falling in love-themed Tears for Fears hit |
| 40% | HALSEY | 6 | Singer/songwriter who had a #5 hit in 2017 with "Bad at Love" |
| 39% | TEENAGER | 8 | One "in love" in a 1959 top 5 hit |
| 39% | TOSIR | 5 | Words sung "with love" in a 1967 #1 hit? |
| 39% | BUNT | 4 | Soft hit that might be part of a suicide squeeze, in baseball |
| 38% | SAM | 3 | One of the muskrats in the 1976 hit "Muskrat Love" |
| 38% | AMOR | 4 | "___ Prohibido" (1994 Selena hit that means "Forbidden Love" in English) |
| 38% | CRAZY | 5 | "___ in Love," a hit song by Beyonce featuring her husband Jay-Z |
| 38% | MAMA | 4 | Who "can't buy you love" in an Elton John hit |
| 38% | COPACABANA | 10 | 1978 disco hit featuring the warning "Don't fall in love" |
| 38% | ONTOP | 5 | Where "you put my love," in a Grammy-winning Beyoncé hit |
| 38% | SORARE | 6 | Title lyric after "Ours is a love …" in a 1950s hit |
| 37% | CANT | 4 | "___ Help Falling in Love" (Elvis Presley hit) |
| 37% | SKYS | 4 | "The ___ in love with you" (misheard lyric in a Herb Alpert hit) |
| 37% | FRIDAY | 6 | When "I'm in love," in a 1992 hit by the Cure |
| 37% | TYMES | 5 | Group with the 1963 #1 hit "So Much in Love," with "the" |
| 37% | SORARE | 6 | Title lyric after "Ours is a love …" in a Jimmy Dorsey hit |
| 37% | ROCKNROLL | 9 | Joan Jett sang of her love for this in a 1981 song |
| 36% | EILISH | 6 | Billie who released the album Hit Me Hard and Soft in May 2024 |