Clean Email Reveals the Most Annoying Email Newsletters in 2025

Written by David Morelo
Reviewed by Julia Furkulitsa
Reviewed byJulia Furkulitsa

Julia Furkulitsa is an email expert with in-depth knowledge of inbox management, email apps, and everyday email tasks. She brings deep expertise built on years of focused work in the email space.

Tested by Alexa Shahan
Tested byAlexa Shahan

Alexa Shahan is a tech and productivity expert with a strong focus on email tools. She tests each app and verifies every guide to ensure it’s easy to follow and truly helpful to users.

With over 10 years of inbox cleaning experience and more than 5 billion emails processed annually, we at Clean Email are in a unique position to understand the biggest threats to inbox organization users face.

In this report, we reveal the companies whose messages users wanted to get rid of the most based on Q1 2025 data.

The data was collected completely anonymously and with consent when 10,292 randomly selected active users clicked "Mark as Spam" and "Unsubscribe" through our interface (as a secure and privacy-first solution trusted by hundreds of thousands of users worldwide, we never read or sell the content of our users' messages).

For the top spam and unsubscribe senders alone, approximately 200,000 emails were processed based on these user actions — and overall, up to half a million emails were analyzed to create this report. The results provide one of the most up-to-date, behavior-driven analyses of email habits available today.

Key Finding: Big Brands, Not Scammers, Send the Most Annoying Email Subscriptions

When we first analyzed our data, we expected to find obvious culprits: cybercriminals and shady marketing operations that disregard email laws and regulations like the CAN-SPAM Act.

Instead, we discovered that the most spamming sites (at least based on how users reacted to their messages) were established brands.

It seems that legitimate companies have collectively crossed the line between helpful communication and annoyance. As a result, their emails are getting flagged as spam, and their newsletters are becoming targets for mass unsubscribe tools like Clean Email's Unsubscribe feature.

This trend could have two possible causes:

We believe it's largely the latter.

Recent studies put the number of emails people receive daily at around 100, creating a constant stream of notifications and demands for attention. An even bigger issue is that there's no escape from them - we get them on our phones, smartwatches, tablets, and, of course, computers.

The need for more peace and quiet has never been greater, and it drives people to take more aggressive action against even legitimate communications from brands they once welcomed into their inbox.

Companies People Mark as Spam the Most

By tracking which messages are most frequently marked as spam through our interface, we created a data-driven list of the top companies that users are the quickest to flag and push away from their inbox.

When you mark a sender as spam in Clean Email, you can instantly get rid of all messages from that sender, and you can do so across all folders and labels. This saves you from having to hunt down every message manually.

Report Spam in the Clean Email AppReport Spam in the Clean Email App

Additionally, Clean Email provides a consistent user interface for marking emails as spam that works across all devices and mail services, so you don't have to remember different methods if you use multiple email accounts or switch between desktop and mobile.

Here are the 10 biggest offenders:

Place / Company Domains used to send emails Email addresses used
1. Tinder gotinder.com noreply@gotinder.com
2. LinkedIn linkedin.com jobalerts-noreply@linkedin.com, jobs-listings@linkedin.com, messages-noreply@linkedin.com, notifications-noreply@linkedin.com, updates-noreply@linkedin.com
3. Uber One uber.com noreply@uber.com, uber@uber.com
4. McDonald's m.mcdonalds.com McDonalds@m.mcdonalds.com
5. Zocdoc mail5.zocdoc.com service@mail5.zocdoc.com
6. Gap email.gap.com gap@email.gap.com
7. La Poste-Colissimo notif-colissimo-laposte.info noreply@notif-colissimo-laposte.info
8. Shutterfly Customer Success em.shutterfly.com Shutterfly@em.shutterfly.com
9. Nintendo mail.nintendo-europe.com nintendo@mail.nintendo-europe.com
10. Poshmark Shopping poshmark.com -

💡 Note: This table continues with all 50 companies in the Top 50 Spammers Identified by Clean Email in Q1 2025 (Jan–Mar): Full Report.

What's striking about these results is that all the top spots in our list are occupied by well-known, established brands rather than obscure spammers. Tinder (with approximately 75 million users globally), LinkedIn (over 1 billion professionals), Uber (171 million active users), McDonald's (69 million app users), and Zocdoc (6 million patients) represent major players across dating, professional networking, transportation, food service, and healthcare sectors.

Curious to better understand why these particular companies ranked at the top of our email spam statistics, we dug into what the top 5 senders actually do after you click "sign up." This is what we found:

As you can see, the pattern that emerges is a combination of default-on marketing machinery, hard-to-find opt-outs, and (in some cases) security or regulatory baggage that erodes trust. This "dark pattern" approach to email marketing may boost short-term engagement metrics, but clearly backfires in the long run. Users increasingly reach for tools that stop spam emails as their first line of defense against these tactics, rather than navigating buried preference options.

Most Spam-Flagged CompaniesMost Spam-Flagged Companies

The dislike for these types of messages becomes even clearer when you compare these rankings with the sheer size of the biggest tech companies by active users. Internet giants like Google (5 billion users), Amazon (5 billion), Facebook (2.8 billion), and YouTube (2.2 billion) have vastly larger global audiences than our top offenders.

While these behemoths do appear on our lists (Google ranks 29th, for example) they don't rank nearly as high as companies that have embraced the dark side of marketing despite having much smaller user bases.

💡 Interestingly, we noticed that companies that were around before the digital age, such as McDonald's, but also Gap, Domino's Pizza, and La Poste-Colissimo, don't have the digital-native advantage when it comes to email marketing sophistication. They often fail to segment audiences effectively or keep up with modern email etiquette expectations like fewer sends, smarter timing, and more accessible opt-out options.

Most Annoying Email Subscriptions and Newsletters

While marking messages as spam is one way users defend their inboxes, deliberately unsubscribing is another clear signal that content isn't welcome. During Q1 2025, Clean Email tracked which senders drove users to use the Unsubscriber feature the most frequently.

With Clean Email's Unsubscriber, users gain better control over their subscriptions because it guarantees that the flow of unwanted messages stops for good, even when senders ignore your opt-out preferences. The feature also lets you pause subscriptions temporarily without fully unsubscribing, which can be handy if you want to reduce the number of messages you receive on average while working on a big project or maybe an anti-consumption challenge.

Our analysis identified more than 30 companies whose email newsletters consistently pushed users to take action. The table below shows the first 10:

Place / Company Domains used to send emails Email addresses used
1. LinkedIn linkedin.com, e.linkedin.com jobalerts-noreply@linkedin.com, jobs-listings@linkedin.com, jobs-noreply@linkedin.com, linkedin@e.linkedin.com, messages-noreply@linkedin.com, notifications-noreply@linkedin.com, updates-noreply@linkedin.com
2. Uber uber.com noreply@uber.com, uber@uber.com
3. Instagram mail.instagram.com no-reply@mail.instagram.com, security@mail.instagram.com
4. Quora quora.com english-personalized-digest@quora.com
5. Spotify spotify.com no-reply@spotify.com
6. PayPal emails.paypal.com PayPal@emails.paypal.com
7. Google google.com google-maps-noreply@google.com, no-reply@google.com
8. Facebook facebookmail.com, priority.facebookmail.com notification@facebookmail.com, notification@priority.facebookmail.com, security@facebookmail.com
9. Amazon amazon.com, email.health.amazon.com hello@email.health.amazon.com, store-news@amazon.com
10. Adobe mail.adobe.com mail@mail.adobe.com

The rest of the most annoying email lists can be found in our Top Unsubscribed Senders Identified by Clean Email in Q1 2025 (Jan–Mar): Full Report.

LinkedIn and Uber appear at the top of both our spam flagging and unsubscribe lists, so it's pretty safe to say that they've truly mastered the art of inbox irritation (more about senders that overlap the spam and unsubscribe categories soon). We covered their aggressive tactics in the previous section, so let's examine three unique offenders that made the unsubscribe list but weren't among the most commonly spam-flagged senders.

Whether the channel is professional networking, ridesharing, social media, Q&A, or music streaming, the same recipe drives users to Clean Email's Unsubscriber: default-on promotional blasts, preference pages hidden behind deep tap-stacks, and a steady rise in spoofed or security-themed messages that erode trust.

Most Frequently UnsubscribedMost Frequently Unsubscribed

Transactional brands like PayPal, Spotify, Netflix, and Prime Video also rank high due to the specific nature of their outreach. Our data suggests users have little patience for messaging that constantly tries to convince them to upgrade, renew, or spend more money. When every interaction feels like it's designed to extract additional revenue rather than enhance service, subscription fatigue sets in quickly, and the unsubscribe button becomes increasingly tempting.

It's worth noting that smaller services like Wayfair, Shop, Hulu, and The New York Times still trigger a high volume of unsubscribes despite having much smaller user bases than tech giants like Google or Facebook. This proves that size really isn't everything. What matters the most is email frequency, relevance, and providing value instead of attempting to extract it.

Mark as Spam VS Unsubscribe: What Causes Users to Choose One Over the Other?

Mark as Spam VS UnsubscribeMark as Spam VS Unsubscribe

If you've been paying close attention, you might have noticed that some companies' messages cause Clean Email users to both mark as spam and unsubscribe, while other messages trigger mostly the mark as spam action or the unsubscribe action, but not both:

Action Pattern Notable Examples
Both Spam & Unsubscribe LinkedIn, Uber, Instagram, Quora
Spam Only Tinder, McDonald's, Reddit, SHEIN
Unsubscribe Only PayPal, Amazon, Netflix, Apple

By looking at the notable examples above, an easy explanation presents itself: Companies that provide essential services or offer clear value tend to be unsubscribed from rather than marked as spam. Users want to maintain their relationship with these brands but reduce communication frequency.

What Causes Users to Choose One Over the Other?What Causes Users to Choose One Over the Other?
Type of emails sent Companies in Both Lists Companies Primarily Marked as Spam Companies Primarily Marked as Unsubscribe
Professional & Job Updates LinkedIn - -
Promotional & Marketing Emails Temu, Target, Poshmark, Hulu McDonald's, Gap, Shutterfly Customer Success, Green Chef, Publishers Clearing House, AOL, eBay, Domino's Pizza, Honey, SHEIN, Walgreens, Neiman Marcus Amazon, Canva, Booking.com, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Overstock
Transactional & Service Emails Uber, Quora, Spotify, Etsy Zocdoc, La Poste-Colissimo, Nintendo, AMC Stubs, Plex, SoFi, Medallia, SiriusXM, Peacock PayPal, Adobe, Dropbox, Expedia, Prime Video, Shop
Newsletters & Content Digests LinkedIn, Quora, Wayfair, The New York Times, Pinterest AllTrails Gear Shop, A L L M O D E R N, Reddit, Foodtalk, edX, Classmates.com, HelloFresh, Samsung TV Plus, The Washington Post, Calm, AOL Amazon, Netflix, Apple, Ticketmaster
Account & Security Notifications LinkedIn, Instagram, Google, TikTok, Twitter Tinder, Credit Karma, Nextdoor Facebook, YouTube, Netflix

This pattern makes perfect sense when you consider the consequences of missing important messages. With PayPal, for instance, users recognize that completely blocking all communications could potentially lead to financial losses, debt, or even legal complications.

Similarly, Amazon customers typically want to receive shipping notifications and order confirmations, but may grow tired of daily deals and product recommendations. Rather than risk missing a notification about a delayed package or refund by marking all Amazon emails as spam, they opt for the more surgical approach of unsubscribing.

Based on Email AddressesBased on Email Addresses

On the flip side, companies in the "Spam Only" category tend to represent non-essential services. Sure, theoretically, you might miss notifications about your soulmate by blocking Tinder completely, but anyone who's spent more than two weeks on dating apps has become realistically cynical about the odds of "Someone new likes you!" notifications containing their happily-ever-after

McDonald's falls into a similar category. A discount coupon for a Quarter Pounder simply doesn't carry the same urgency as a PayPal security alert. While a 2-for-1 Big Mac deal might seem life-changing at 2 AM after a night out, most people aren't managing their inbox when hunger-induced desperation kicks in. Instead, they're making more clearheaded decisions about what deserves space in their inbox.

Сompanies in the Spam Only categoryСompanies in the Spam Only category

The companies that appear in both categories represent an interesting middle ground as their services are valuable enough that users initially try the more measured unsubscribe approach, but too persistent or annoying that they eventually escalate to spam flagging when unsubscribing proves ineffective.

Websites That Send Spam Emails Span Borders

The fact that legitimate, recognizable brands dominate our spam and unsubscribe rankings is further reflected in their geographical and industry distribution. Contrary to what you might believe, the most annoying email senders aren't concentrated in a handful of countries with reputations as spam sources like China or India.

Websites That Send Spam Emails Span BordersWebsites That Send Spam Emails Span Borders

Our spam statistics by country show the United States is by far the dominant source of companies users mark as spam, with 42 out of 50 companies on our top spammers list being US-based.

The dominance of the US makes sense given that many of the world's largest tech, retail, and media companies are headquartered there. The remaining spots are spread thinly across countries like France (La Poste-Colissimo), Japan (Nintendo), China (Temu, TikTok, SHEIN), Germany (HelloFresh), Sweden (Spotify) and South Korea (Samsung).

Headquarters LocationsHeadquarters Locations

When we switch to our unsubscribe data, the US still leads with 26 of the 33 most-unsubscribed-from companies, but we see a more diverse international presence.

Chinese Temu and TikTok join the list, along with companies from the Netherlands (Booking.com), Canada (Shop.app), Sweden (Spotify) and Australia (Canva).

Companies by IndustryCompanies by Industry

It's no coincidence that the industries generating the most unwanted emails, according to our global spam statistics align so closely with Clean Email's Smart Folders organization system:

Most Frequently Marked as SpamMost Frequently Marked as Spam

The Smart Folders feature was developed by analyzing millions of real user actions in a privacy-friendly manner that fully complies with Gmail's privacy policy.

Additionally, Clean Email lets users further group and sort messages within each Smart Folder. For example, you can group the "Social Notifications" folder by sender and then sort it so that senders with the largest number of messages are at the top. This way, you can quickly identify which companies are flooding your inbox the most and then apply bulk unsubscribe actions to the biggest offenders first.

Automatically filter and categorize messages into folders using Clean EmailAutomatically filter and categorize messages into folders using Clean Email

You can also take advantage of Clean Email's Auto Clean feature to set up rules that automatically mark messages from certain senders as spam, move them to specific folders, or delete them entirely without ever seeing them in your inbox. This way, you can essentially create a personalized filter that continuously works in the background to maintain your inbox hygiene, no matter which global companies are trying to get your attention.

Customizable Automated Rules in Clean EmailCustomizable Automated Rules in Clean Email

What This Means for Your Inbox in 2025

As our spam message statistics and trends clearly show, you can no longer rely solely on automated spam filters to maintain inbox sanity. The biggest sources of inbox clutter aren't malicious spammers trying to phish you or infect you with malware - they're legitimate companies aggressively competing for your attention and wallet, such as LinkedIn, Uber, or Tinder.

To maintain an organized inbox in this environment, you need to actively avoid the worst mailing lists to sign up for, and you also need tools specifically designed to combat legitimate-but-unwanted email. Clean Email offers exactly that: smart folders that automatically categorize messages, powerful unsubscribe features that actually work, and customizable rules that prevent future clutter from ever reaching your inbox.

The best part? Clean Email works seamlessly with all major email providers, including Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, AOL, and many others. No complicated setup or technical knowledge is required. You just need to sign in with your email account, and you can start protecting yourself from the most common spam email domains.

Top 50 Spammers Identified by Clean Email in Q1 2025 (Jan–Mar): Full Report

Place Company Domains used to send emails Emails used
1 Tinder gotinder.com noreply@gotinder.com
2 LinkedIn linkedin.com jobalerts-noreply@linkedin.com,
jobs-listings@linkedin.com,
messages-noreply@linkedin.com,
notifications-noreply@linkedin.com,
updates-noreply@linkedin.com
3 Uber One uber.com noreply@uber.com,
uber@uber.com
4 McDonald's m.mcdonalds.com McDonalds@m.mcdonalds.com
5 Zocdoc mail5.zocdoc.com service@mail5.zocdoc.com
6 Gap email.gap.com gap@email.gap.com
7 La Poste-Colissimo notif-colissimo-laposte.info noreply@notif-colissimo-laposte.info
8 Shutterfly Customer Success em.shutterfly.com Shutterfly@em.shutterfly.com
9 Nintendo mail.nintendo-europe.com nintendo@mail.nintendo-europe.com
10 Poshmark Shopping poshmark.com -
11 AllTrails Gear Shop email.alltrails.com no-reply@email.alltrails.com
12 A L L M O D E R N members.allmodern.com editor@members.allmodern.com
13 AMC Stubs email.amctheatres.com noreply@email.amctheatres.com
14 Green Chef g.greenchef.com hello@g.greenchef.com
15 Reddit redditmail.com noreply@redditmail.com
16 Plex plex.tv noreply@plex.tv
17 Foodtalk cnt1.foodtalkdaily.com john.brown@cnt1.foodtalkdaily.com
18 Publishers Clearing House e.superprize.pch.com PublishersClearingHouse@e.superprize.pch.com
19 edX news.edx.org edX@news.edx.org
20 Credit Karma savings1.creditkarma.com notifications@savings1.creditkarma.com
21 SoFi m.sofi.org no-reply@m.sofi.org
22 The New York Times nytimes.com nytdirect@nytimes.com
23 Medallia express.medallia.com -
24 Etsy email.etsy.com email@email.etsy.com
25 Wayfair members.wayfair.com editor@members.wayfair.com
26 Temu market.temuemail.com email@market.temuemail.com
27 Classmates.com email.classmates.com ClassmatesEmail@email.classmates.com
28 AOL aol.com -
29 Google accounts.google.com -
30 Quora Digest quora.com english-personalized-digest@quora.com
31 HelloFresh g.hellofresh.com hello@g.hellofresh.com
32 Instagram mail.instagram.com no-reply@mail.instagram.com,
security@mail.instagram.com
33 Samsung TV Plus us.apps.samsung.com samsungtvplus@us.apps.samsung.com
34 The Washington Post washingtonpost.com email@washingtonpost.com
35 eBay ebay.com ebay@ebay.com
36 Calm breathe.calm.com hello@breathe.calm.com
37 Nextdoor is.email.nextdoor.com no-reply@is.email.nextdoor.com
38 Spotify spotify.com no-reply@spotify.com
39 Twitter twitter.com -
40 Target em.target.com targetnews@em.target.com
41 Domino's Pizza e-offers.dominos.com offers@e-offers.dominos.com
42 TikTok service.tiktok.com notification@service.tiktok.com
43 Honey my.joinhoney.com insiderdeals@my.joinhoney.com
44 SiriusXM e.siriusxm.com no-reply@e.siriusxm.com
45 Pinterest discover.pinterest.com recommendations@discover.pinterest.com
46 SHEIN usmail.shein.com shein@usmail.shein.com
47 Hulu hulumail.com hulu@hulumail.com
48 Walgreens eml.walgreens.com walgreens@eml.walgreens.com
49 Neiman Marcus neimanmarcusemail.com NeimanMarcus@neimanmarcusemail.com
50 Peacock email.peacocktv.com no-reply@email.peacocktv.com

Top Unsubscribed Senders Identified by Clean Email in Q1 2025 (Jan–Mar): Full Report

Place Company Domains used to send emails Emails used
1 LinkedIn linkedin.com, e.linkedin.com jobalerts-noreply@linkedin.com,
jobs-listings@linkedin.com,
jobs-noreply@linkedin.com,
linkedin@e.linkedin.com,
messages-noreply@linkedin.com,
notifications-noreply@linkedin.com,
updates-noreply@linkedin.com
2 Uber uber.com noreply@uber.com, uber@uber.com
3 Instagram mail.instagram.com no-reply@mail.instagram.com,
security@mail.instagram.com
4 Quora quora.com english-personalized-digest@quora.com
5 Spotify spotify.com no-reply@spotify.com
6 PayPal emails.paypal.com PayPal@emails.paypal.com
7 Google google.com google-maps-noreply@google.com,
no-reply@google.com
8 Facebook facebookmail.com, priority.facebookmail.com notification@facebookmail.com,
notification@priority.facebookmail.com,
security@facebookmail.com
9 Amazon amazon.com, email.health.amazon.com hello@email.health.amazon.com,
store-news@amazon.com
10 Adobe mail.adobe.com mail@mail.adobe.com
11 Etsy email.etsy.com email@email.etsy.com
12 Wayfair members.wayfair.com editor@members.wayfair.com
13 Canva engage.canva.com marketing@engage.canva.com
14 Dropbox em-s.dropbox.com no-reply@em-s.dropbox.com
15 Pinterest explore.pinterest.com, inspire.pinterest.com recommendations@explore.pinterest.com,
recommendations@inspire.pinterest.com
16 Expedia eg.expedia.com mail@eg.expedia.com
17 Temu market.temuemail.com email@market.temuemail.com
18 YouTube youtube.com noreply@youtube.com
19 Target em.target.com targetnews@em.target.com
20 Prime Video primevideo.com no-reply@primevideo.com
21 Booking.com sg.booking.com email.campaign@sg.booking.com
22 Netflix account.netflix.com, members.netflix.com, mailer.netflix.com info@account.netflix.com,
info@mailer.netflix.com,
info@members.netflix.com
23 Bed Bath & Beyond promotion.bedbathandbeyond.com email@promotion.bedbathandbeyond.com
24 Apple insideapple.apple.com news@insideapple.apple.com
25 Shop shop.app noreply@shop.app
26 Poshmark poshmark.com shop@poshmark.com
27 Best Buy email.bestbuy.com BestBuy@email.bestbuy.com
28 Overstock promotion.overstock.com email@promotion.overstock.com
29 Ticketmaster email.ticketmaster.com newsletter@email.ticketmaster.com
30 The New York Times nytimes.com nytdirect@nytimes.com
31 Twitter twitter.com info@twitter.com
32 TikTok service.tiktok.com notification@service.tiktok.com
33 Hulu hulumail.com hulu@hulumail.com
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