Top 10 happy songs
- Publish Date
- Monday, 15 January 2018, 2:10PM
In 2015 a study looked at what makes a song "feel-good" and we've decided to re-emerge it to help lift the spirits of those going through 'Blue Monday' today.
Dr Jacob Jalij is a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Groningen in Holland and was commissioned to investigate UK residents' musical preferences and their favourite songs to improve their moods.
Dr Jolij said: “A feel-good song is very personal. Music is intimately linked with memory and emotion, and these associations strongly determine whether a song will put you in a good mood or not."
“However, there are some key criteria for composers to consider when creating feel-good songs - namely lyrical theme, musical key, and tempo.
“Holiday-themed lyrics naturally remind us of happy times, while a major third musical key sounds happy to our ears and something we associate with confidence.
“A high tempo of 150 beats per minute also subconsciously triggers a sense of energy.
“Combine these three ingredients together and you have the formula for the perfect ‘feel-good’ song.”
Based on Alba’s research and Dr Jolji’s analysis, these are the nation’s top ten feel-good tunes from the last fifty years.
1. Queen - Don’t Stop Me Now
2. Abba - Dancing Queen
3. The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
4. Billie Joel - Uptown Girl
5. Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
6. The Monkees - I’m a Believer
7. Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
8. Bon Jovi - Living on a Prayer
9. Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
10. Katrina & The Waves - Walking on Sunshine
We hope you get a chance to play one (or all) of these songs throughout your day to get rid of those Monday blues!