Top feel-good song

Mathematical formula finds the number one song to listen to 'if you wanna have a good time'

A mathematical formula has been created to discover the number one song that will really make you happy - and it's not by Pharrell Williams.

Queen's hit, Don't Stop Me Now, topped the charts after expert in cognitive neuroscience and emotion, Dr Jacob Jolij, sifted through 126 songs from the last 50 years.

He then combined the songs with feedback from Brits to analyse why certain tunes make people happy and even developed a mind bending equation to go along with it.

The formula is as follows - FGI= ?L postivie / (BPM-150) +(K-[1/3+?,1/3,1/3-?])+1.

Boffins from tech brand Alba teamed up with Dr Jolij and found that more than three quarters (78 per cent) of Brits used music to lift their mood and close to six in ten (54 per cent) using it to motivate them.

The research found that people in Norwich (76 per cent) and Newcastle (74 per cent) are least likely to be influenced by family in their musical tastes, while more than one in two residents of Sheffield and Liverpool rely on music to improve their mood. 

Meanwhile eight in ten people in Edinburgh, as well as Northern Ireland (78 per cent) use music to motivate themselves. 

Abba's Dancing Queen came second in the list of feel good songs and The Beach Boys classic Good Vibrations made it to third place. 

Billy Joel's hit Uptown Girl, which was later covered by Westlife, placed fourth and Rocky tune Eye of the Tiger by Survivor was fifth on the list. I'm a Believer by the Monkeys, Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Jon Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer came sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. 

Taking up the last two spots were I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor and Walking on Sunshine by Katrina & The Waves. 

Using the findings from Dr Jolij's research, Alba has created a Spotify playlist of the most popular songs from each decade called Alba's Top Feel Good Tunes. 

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." 

Alastair Chalmers, Head of Alba at Argos, added: "Alba has a long history of helping people tap into music, so we wanted to find out what makes it so infectious. 

"The power of music should not be underestimated. 

"Chart hits like Pharrell Williams' Happy and Toploader's Dancing In The Moonlight help to boost our moods, while pop classics like Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer rekindle fond memories and unite generations; not to mention Survivor's famous Eye of the Tiger anthem that is a failsafe way to provide some much-needed motivation."

Top ten feel good songs 
  1. Don't Stop Me Now (Queen) 
  2. Dancing Queen (Abba) 
  3. Good Vibrations (The Beach Boys) 
  4. Uptown Girl (Billie Joel) 
  5. Eye of the Tiger (Survivor) 
  6. I'm a Believer (The Monkeys) 
  7. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper) 
  8. Livin' on a Prayer (Jon Bon Jovi) 
  9. I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor) 
  10. Walking on Sunshine (Katrina & The Waves) 

Top feel good songs of the decades 

1990s - Let Me Entertain You (Robbie Williams) 
1980s - Uptown Girl (Billy Joel) 
1970s - Don't Stop Me Now (Queen) 
1960s - Good Vibrations (The Beach Boys)


 

The songs in red in the list above are linked to Lyrics Training. Have a go at completing the lyrics to these popular songs.
 

Vocabulary:
 
to top (the charts) -
 
to sift through stg -
 
feedback (n) -
 
a tune -
 
to make stg happen -
 
mind bending (adj) -
 
to go along with stg (= to accompany) -
 
to be as follows -
 
a boffin -
 
a brand -
 
to team up with sb -
 
to lift (your mood) -
 
mood (n) / to be in a bad/good mood -
 
research (unc n, v) -
 
to be (most, least) likely to happen -
 
musical tastes / tastes in stg -
 
to rely on stg/sb -
 
to improve -
 
meanwhile -
 
as well as ... (linker) -
 
a feel-good song -
 
to cover (a song) -
 
to take up (= to occupy) -
 
a spot (= a place) -
 
findings (n) -
 
to be linked with/to -
 
lyrics (n) -
 
to remind sb of stg -
 
beat (music) -
 
to trigger stg -
 
to tap into stg -
 
to find out -
 
to boost -
 
to rekindle (memories, relationships) -
 
fond (adj) / to be fond of stg -
 
an anthem -
 
a failsafe way -




Source: You Tube (messagekl) Key words: Queen interpretative dance


What are your favourite feel-good songs? Why?

Comments

José said…
Hi Graham,

If I have understood it, this mathematical formula is going to find the song that will make me happy. It´s interesting, but if there isn´t a song which it will make happy to me, because somebody has never composed it yet, the mathematical formula won’t work. I have never been very good in maths, but if a composer writes a song applying this mathematical formula, could he make a feel-good song for me? I would pay him a lot of money for it. Happiness hasn’t a price. This composer would be a rich man. I made a mistake studying my degree. I’m going to study maths and, after, the musical composition. LOL
See you.
Graham said…
Hi José,

I just find it strange how supposedly brainy people spend time on such things.


If I have understood well, this mathematical formula is going to find the song that will make me happy. It´s interesting, but if there isn´t a song which makes me happy because nobody has composed it yet, the mathematical formula won’t work. I have never been very good at maths, but if a composer writes a song applying this mathematical formula, could he make a feel-good song for me? I would pay him a lot of money for it. Happiness doesn't have a price. This composer would be a rich man. I made a mistake studying my degree. I’m going to study maths and, after that / then, composing music.



Saturday is usually your blog day. I wonder if you'll take a break from the wedding to write me a comment tonight. I don't suppose so. You'll have had too much tequila. LOL

Roberto said…
Hi!. I´m here again...

Graham and José:
Mathematical formulas and songs?. Such silly thing...
If music is Art(and most of the time do),and Art isn´t an exact science... then,music isn´t an exact science,(here you have your formula!).

By the way,I found a new way to learn english for free,attending classes with future teachers who are making practices.You can do that in some English Schools.
Graham said…
Hey Roberto,

How's things? Where did you disappear to?

José went to Mexico last week. I wonder how he has coped.



Mathematical formulas and songs?. Such a silly thing...
If music is Art(and most of the time it is),and Art isn´t an exact science... then,music isn´t an exact science,(here you have your formula!).

By the way,I found a new way to learn English for free,attending classes with future teachers who are training.


José said…
Hi Graham,
I came back from México last Tuesday. Since then I'm sleeping. After thirteen hours of flying of the way out and as much again of the way back, I feel nothing. You'll tell me what I have to do to return to normlity.

Hi Roberto,
I need a fell-song now, it's urgent. Do you know a mathematical formula to concentrate after a long trip?

To learn a lenguage without pay it's a bargain. The next time, you are going to charge for learn English. LOL

See you.
Roberto said…
Hi!. Everything´s OK.

Sometimes you need to disappear for a while...

José: I recommend you a song to go back to routine, you must listen "I wanna be sedated" by The Ramones.

Graham said…
Hi José,

We are all relieved that you made it back in one piece. You managed to avoid being kidnapped as well as leaving before Hurricane Patrica struck.


I came back from Mexico last Tuesday. Since then, I have been sleeping. After thirteen hours of flying on the way out and as much again on the way back, I feel nothing. You'll tell me what I have to do to return to normlity.

I need a feel-good song now, it's urgent. Do you know a mathematical formula to help concentrate after such a long trip?

Learning a language without having to pay is a bargain. (OMG that mistake with "it" again!!!) The next time, you are going to charge for learning English. LOL

Graham said…
Hi Roberto,

Give lyricstraining.com a look. It's a fun way of understanding lyrics though I can't find the song that you mention there.


I recommend listening to a song that will help you get back into a routine.

Roberto said…
Hi Graham,

It´s just a simple three-chord punk-pop song,with silly lyrics like:

"I can´t control my fingers, I can´t control my toes
Oh no, oh oh oh oh
Bamp bamp, ba bamp, ba bamp bamp, ba bamp, I wanna be sedated".

You can watch the vdeoclip and listen the song in Youtube...
Graham said…
Hi Roberto,

I've just listened to the song on YouTube. I didn't catch much the first time I listened to it and not much more the second time. Incredibly difficult.

I wonder if José would think it is a feel-good song :-) I have no idea what his taste in music is.
Roberto said…
I think he likes The Beatles, so he doesn´t have bad taste in music...
Graham said…
Hi Roberto,

I think you are right. I can imagine José singing along to "Yesterday" and "Yellow Submarine" :-)
José said…
Hi Roberto and Graham,

Yes. I like The Beatles. When I was young they were the best and now, in my opinion, they were the best. The Beatles are a symbol of the period and I belong to this period. It was the time of the freedom, the long hair, the music and the “marihuana” (only hippies???). They were a social phenomenon and they were famous around the world. Graham, you laugh at me, but “Yellow Submarine” was being sung by me a lot of time in my youth. You will be witness in the next English class and you have to swear that you will recognize it in this blog, okay?

But I like every kind of music, pop, classic, country, Celtic (Scotch?), Scotch, flamenco, Arabian, Indian and so on. I don’t know why the music moves to people, they say that the rhythm follows the beat of the heart.

I can’t find the “I wanna be sedated” song, but if the best teacher isn’t understand, how am I going to understand it? Therefore, I continue without concentrate. Please Roberto, I need a mathematical formula to help concentrate.

See you.
Graham said…
Roberto,

You won't believe this but José sang Yellow Submarine to me the other day. It's quite impressive - he knows the lyrics of by heart (even though the pronunciation is a bit dodgy LOL)

José,

The way you worded yourself makes me think that you had long hair and smoked pot. But I know it's not true. :-)


Yes. I like The Beatles. When I was young they were the best and they still are the best in my opinion. The Beatles are a symbol of the period and I belong to this period. It was the time of freedom, long hair, music and “marihuana” (only hippies???). They were a social phenomenon and they were famous around the world. Graham, you laugh at me, but “Yellow Submarine” was being sung by me often in my youth. You will be a witness in the next English class and you have to swear that you will recognize it in this blog, okay?

But I like every kind of music: pop, classic, country, Celtic, Scottish, flamenco, Arabian, Indian and so on. I don’t know why music moves people, they say that the rhythm follows the beat of the heart.

I can’t find the “I wanna be sedated” song, but if the best teacher doesn't understand, how am I going to understand it? Therefore, I continue without being able to concéntrate. Please Roberto, I need a mathematical formula to help concentrate.



I must have told you about Lyrics Training before. You can use it to widen your vocabulary in a fun way.

It even has a number of Beatles songs. Check this out:

http://es.lyricstraining.com/search?ar=The%20Beatles

Roberto said…
Quite impressive!.LOL Are you kidding?.
I didn´t know the word "dodgy". What´s the exact meaning? "dudoso", or "chungo"?.
I knew a lot of words and expressions because the song lyrics, when I was a teenager, like "all over the place", "fooling around", and things like that...
Graham said…
Roberto,

Next time you see him, get him to sing it for you. He might even know a few other Beatles hits of by heart.

Dodgy in this context means not exactly perfect.

A dodgy character is one you shouldn't trust.

Don't sit on a dodgy chair - it might collapse beneath you.

And the school that you went to looked a bit dodgy - not entirely legitimate.



I knew a lot of expressions because of the song lyrics.

I like the expression all over the place; I often use it to describe myself haha

Anonymous said…
Hi Graham:
My favorite feel-song probably is "imagine", ist a Lennon's song and it remaind when I was a child, because My mum put this song a lot of time and when I study and listen this song I need stop, because it feel me very funny...:-):-)
Buy Graham!!
Graham said…
Hi Natalia,

For me, "Imagine" isn't a feel-good song. It makes me feel sad.

My favorite feel-good song is probably "Imagine". It's a John Lennon song and it reminds me of when I was a child, because my mum put on this song a lot. When I am studying and hear this song, I need to stop because it makes me feel very funny.
Bye