[VIDEOS] According To Science, These Are The Top 20 Catchiest Songs Of All Time
Lady Gaga, Spice Girls, and the King of Pop Michael Jackson has been scientifically proven to have the most recognisable songs in the history of pop music.
By Samantha Khor — 04 Nov 2014, 01:19 PM — Updated almost 10 years ago
Following a year-long online experiment, researchers from the University of Amsterdam have finally figured out 20 of the catchiest and most recognisable songs in the history of pop music
The researchers created an interactive site, Hooked on Music, to ask 12,000 people to listen to the 40 best-selling songs from each decade, beginning with the 1940s.
So, how did they decide the "catchy-ness" of each song? Well, that depends on how quickly user can identify a particular song snippet.
People who played the game were asked if they recognised a song, which was randomly selected from more than 1,000 clips of best-selling songs, dating from the 1940s until the present day.
According to recorded data, the average overall time it took to recognise a clip was 5 seconds. However, songs that made it to the Top 20 list were almost instantly recognisable, clocking in at an average of between 2 to 3 seconds.
The ability to recognise a particular song within seconds sounds like a pretty lame superpower to have, but to these researchers, it might be a stepping stone to a potential scientific breakthrough
Lead researcher Ashley Burgoyne hopes that the current bit of research will lead to a better understanding of how to use music as therapy for dementia patients.
nymag.com