What's the No. 1 feel-good song of all time?
Musicians, take heed: a fast tempo, happy lyrics, and key with major thirds are all you need to write a feel-good pop hit, according to a Dutch scientist.
From left, George Michael of Wham!, concert promoter Harvey Goldsmith, Bono of U2, Paul McCartney, concert organizer Bob Geldof and Freddie Mercury of Queen join in the finale of the Live Aid famine relief concert, at Wembley Stadium, London, July 13, 1985.
Joe Schaber
Using a formula and a survey sample, neuroscientists may have discovered the happiest, most rousing song ever written.
Here are a few hints: It鈥檚 from the 1970s, and the band is British. You might remember it from the cinematic peak of the 2004 cult comedy, 'Shaun of the Dead.'
Yup, the most feel-good song of all time is a exuberant 1979 tune. Though the song was a British chart-topper, it only reached No. 86 in the United States.
Frequently covered on TV singing competitions, the hit contains all the components of a bona fide feel-good song: a major key, happy lyrics, and a very fast tempo of 155 beats per minute, which is significantly faster than the average pop song.
These three elements were determined by assistant professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, who began his research by examining a survey that asked 2,000 British adults what their favorite uplifting song was.
鈥淎 feel-good song is very personal. Music is intimately linked with memory and emotion,鈥� Dr. Jolij 聽the Daily Mail. 鈥淗owever, there are some key criteria for composers to consider when creating feel good songs.鈥�
Using the variables L for positive lyrics, BPM for beats per minute, and K for a musical key that features heavy major thirds, Jolij created to measure each of the 126 songs from the survey results.
While 鈥淒on鈥檛 Stop Me Now鈥� came out on the very top, the nine runner-ups are also mostly oldies. Here鈥檚 the list from the study:
1. by Queen (1979)
2. 聽by Abba (1976)
3. 聽by聽The Beach Boys (1966)
4. 聽by Billy Joel (1983)
5. 聽by聽Survivor (1982)
6. , by聽The Monkeys (1966)
7. 聽by聽Cyndi Lauper (1983)
8. 聽by Bon Jovi (1986)
9. 聽by Gloria Gaynor (1978)
10. 聽by Katrina & The Waves (1983)
Of course, the age and location of the British survey-takers probably affected the results. Jolji also released a list the top feel-good song of each decade, with Pharell Williams鈥� 鈥淗appy鈥� for the 2010s, Toploader鈥檚 cover of King Harvest's聽鈥淒ancing in the Moonlight鈥� (which was never released in the US) for the 2000s, and Robbie Williams鈥� 鈥淟et Me Entertain You鈥� for the 1990s.
Alba, the British electronics company that conducted the initial survey, found that about 75 percent of people in Britain listen to music as a way to perk up their mood, and 54 percent use music to motivate themselves.
"My analysis confirmed very nicely what we already knew from the literature: Songs written in a major key with fast tempo are best at inducing positive emotions," Jolij 聽in an email to the Huffington Post. 鈥淭he more data we have available, the more we can learn about how music affects our moods." 聽