Every trope we publish for Contemporary — Workplace Romance, ranked by demand-signal mentions counted over the 28 weeks to 2026-09-07. 17,079 trope mentions counted in the lane in that window. Pick one for the full readout.
Changing the genre and pressing Check demand reloads the trope list for that lane. 3,851 trope-and-lane readouts, last counted 2026-09-16.
| # | Trope | Mentions | Share of lane | Direction | Tagged titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boss / Employee | 1,021 | 5.98% | Share down | 160 |
| 2 | Forced Proximity | 831 | 4.87% | Share down | 758 |
| 3 | Found Family | 750 | 4.39% | Share up | 345 |
| 4 | Slow Burn | 741 | 4.34% | Share up | 296 |
| 5 | Enemies to Lovers | 477 | 2.79% | Share up | 383 |
| 6 | Second Chance | 453 | 2.65% | Share change under 15% | 309 |
| 7 | Banter | 312 | 1.83% | Share change under 15% | 7,977 |
| 8 | Forbidden Romance | 303 | 1.77% | Share down | 338 |
| 9 | Age Gap | 302 | 1.77% | Share change under 15% | — |
| 10 | Single Parent | 207 | 1.21% | Share down | 154 |
| 11 | Sports Romance | 191 | 1.12% | Share change under 15% | 91 |
| 12 | Reverse Harem / Why Choose | 186 | 1.09% | Share down | 88 |
| 13 | Fake Dating / Fake Relationship | 185 | 1.08% | Share change under 15% | 92 |
| 14 | Grumpy Sunshine | 170 | 1.00% | Share down | 227 |
| 15 | Grumpy MMC | 141 | 0.83% | Share up | 181 |
| 16 | Friends to Lovers | 125 | 0.73% | Share change under 15% | 84 |
| 17 | Protective Hero | 124 | 0.73% | Share change under 15% | 187 |
| 18 | Character Growth | 119 | 0.70% | Share up | 9 |
| 19 | Opposites Attract | 111 | 0.65% | Share up | 122 |
| 20 | He Falls First | 102 | 0.60% | Share down | 52 |
| 21 | Secret Baby | 99 | 0.58% | Share down | 48 |
| 22 | Marriage of Convenience | 92 | 0.54% | Share up | 179 |
| 23 | Single Parent Romance | 92 | 0.54% | Share down | 1 |
| 24 | Redemption Arc | 88 | 0.52% | Share up | 47 |
| 25 | Dark Romance (as trope) | 84 | 0.49% | Share up | 170 |
| 26 | Omegaverse | 80 | 0.47% | Share down | 1,007 |
| 27 | Emotional Depth | 78 | 0.46% | Share up | 29 |
| 28 | Spicy Romance | 77 | 0.45% | Share up | — |
| 29 | Ensemble Cast | 76 | 0.44% | Share change under 15% | — |
| 30 | Instalove | 75 | 0.44% | Share down | 1,945 |
| 31 | Possessive Hero | 72 | 0.42% | Share up | 98 |
| 32 | Trauma Recovery | 68 | 0.40% | Share up | 17 |
| 33 | Mafia Romance | 65 | 0.38% | Not called | 59 |
| 34 | Miscommunication | 64 | 0.37% | Share change under 15% | 12,058 |
| 35 | Secret/Hidden Identity | 58 | 0.34% | Share down | 127 |
| 36 | Small Town | 55 | 0.32% | Not called | 199 |
| 37 | Romance | 55 | 0.32% | Share up | 1 |
| 38 | Revenge | 50 | 0.29% | Share down | 2,111 |
| 39 | Secret Relationship | 48 | 0.28% | Share up | 21 |
| 40 | Plot Twists | 47 | 0.28% | Share up | 38 |
| 41 | Contemporary Romance | 46 | 0.27% | Share change under 15% | — |
| 42 | Mystery / Suspense Element | 45 | 0.26% | Not called | 56 |
| 43 | Groveling | 45 | 0.26% | Share up | 485 |
| 44 | Angst | 44 | 0.26% | Share down | 4,836 |
| 45 | Fated Mates | 44 | 0.26% | Share down | 215 |
| 46 | Series Continuation | 43 | 0.25% | Share up | 3 |
| 47 | Paranormal Romance | 42 | 0.25% | Not called | 109 |
| 48 | Character Driven | 40 | 0.23% | Share down | — |
| 49 | One Night Stand | 40 | 0.23% | Share down | 55 |
| 50 | Sweet Romance | 39 | 0.23% | Not called | 8 |
| 51 | Steamy Romance | 38 | 0.22% | Share down | 6 |
| 52 | Protective MMC | 38 | 0.22% | Share down | 298 |
| 53 | Self Discovery | 38 | 0.22% | Share up | 12 |
| 54 | Strong FMC | 37 | 0.22% | Not called | 71 |
| 55 | Brother's Best Friend | 37 | 0.22% | Share down | 65 |
| 56 | Humor | 37 | 0.22% | Share change under 15% | 6 |
| 57 | Page Turner | 36 | 0.21% | Share change under 15% | 2 |
| 58 | Happy Ending | 35 | 0.20% | Share up | 3 |
| 59 | Obsessive Love | 35 | 0.20% | Not called | 22 |
| 60 | Dual POV | 33 | 0.19% | Not called | 19 |
Direction is the change in each trope’s share of the lane between the last 12 weeks and the 12 before — never a raw weekly move. “Not called” means the two bands hold fewer than 30 mentions between them and we will not pretend otherwise. Tagged titles are counted across our whole registry, not just this lane.