What Songs Make You Happy?
Science! A Dutch Neuroscientist has created an algorithm to tell us which songs are most likely to make us feel happy. We are asking you to put him to the test.
What songs make you happy? I’m weird. Some songs about really dark topics actually make me happy. I feel a surge of adrenaline when I hear “Paint It Black,” even though the lyrical content is about death, but I’m no scientist.
Jacob Jolij is a Dutch neuroscientist who came up with an algorithm for finding the happiest songs. Here’s his list:
1) Queen “Don’t Stop Me Now”
2) ABBA “Dancing Queen”
3) The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations”
4) Billy Joel “Uptown Girl”
5) Survivor “Eye of the Tiger”
6) The Monkees “I’m a Believer”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcnsao7Y0gk
7) Cyndi Lauper “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”
8) Bon Jovi “Living on a Prayer”
9) Gloria Gaynor “I Will Survive”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARt9HV9T0w8
10) Katrina and the Waves “Walking on Sunshine”
Looks like rock and disco make us happy! Lol What do you think of the list?
Jolij’s research concluded that happy songs contain elements that are “highly personal and strongly depend on social context and personal association.” It’s also interesting to note that all these songs are 140-150 beats per minute… roughly 20 beats faster than an “average” song. Songs were also more likely to be in a major key, rather than a minor.
What songs make YOU happy?
