Music has great effects on human behavior, after all, it is full of feelings and intentions that come from the most genuine artistic creation of man. Various studies have investigated the influence that music has directly on the human brain and, therefore, on the mind and behavior, since it is capable of stimulating certain brain circuits that are in turn interconnected with various areas of the mind. It is not surprising that there are pieces of music that evoke different emotions, but science took on the task of finding out which are the best songs to lift your spirits in all of history.
A soundtrack for daily life would be a way to better describe to the world what we really are. Just as if it were a movie, each piece would illustrate what cannot be put into words, but can be put into emotions. In that sense we can say that music is beyond language itself, since there are no language barriers even when each region has developed its own musical modes.
Ancient Greece, for example, used certain musical scale patterns for different occasions, hence the Greek modes known to musicians were born. In it we have the ragas, which have been passed down from generation to generation through practical teaching. When we hear a melody of this type, it immediately takes us back to Hindu culture and gives us a certain feeling of peace.
But the same thing happens with contemporary music that, although it has a different structure than the old one, has the same purpose; transmit emotions. Hence, many scientific research studies have managed to prove the impact of this art on the brain, mind and human behavior. It has even been shown that rhythmic synchronization of motor function can actively facilitate movement recovery in patients with stroke and traumatic brain injury. The advances have been so important that a specific branch was developed for this area that we now know as music therapy.
A very musical mathematical formula
Thanks to the great influence that music has on humans, many scientists have delved into it to try to understand its very essence. But Dr. Jaboc Jolij decided to go one step further: find the songs from throughout history that make us feel better. To do this, he evaluated different components of the music such as the lyrics (L), their time in beats per minute (BPM) and the harmonic structure of the compositions, what musicians call tonality (K).
Based on these components, he stipulated a mathematical formula that evaluates how songs make us feel good (FGI):
For his research, Jolij put this formula into practice with 126 songs and compared the data obtained with the opinions provided by volunteers who experimented with said songs. Thanks to this, he was able to obtain a list of the songs that make us feel better, from the perspective of science.
Jolij explains that according to his results, “those songs with positive lyrics, a tempo equal to or greater than 150 beats and in a major third musical key are the ones that will make us feel more animated and with more energy.” He said this “gives songwriters an idea of what they need to do to create motivational songs.”
Thanks to his study, he concluded that “music is something intimate, related to memories and emotions, associations that determine which songs put us in the best mood.”
According to their results, these are the songs that make us feel from a scientific perspective:
- Don’t Stop Me Now (Queen)
- Dancing Queen (Abba)
- Good Vibrations (The Beach Boys)
- Uptown Girl (Billy Joel)
- Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)
- I’m a Believer (The Monkeys)
- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper)
- Livin’ on a Prayer (Jon Bon Jovi)
- I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor)
- Walking on Sunshine (Katrina & The Waves)
By decade
But he also made a list of the songs by decade, here we leave them in case you are looking for music options to change the mood. With music life is always better.
- 2010: Happy (Pharrell Williams)
- 2000: Dancing in the Moonlight (Toploader)
- 90: Let Me Entertain You (Robbie Williams)
- 80: Uptown Girl (Billy Joel)
- 70: Don’t Stop Me Now (Queen)
- 60: Good Vibrations (The Beach Boys)