Ever wonder why we sing along to some songs more than others? Well science knows!
A new study, by musicologist Alisun Pawley at The University of York and Music Psychologist Daniel Müllensiefen at Goldsmith’s University London, has broken down what makes a song sing-a-long-able. And therefore a good choice for karaoke night if you’re the type of person who likes to get the entire room singing with you.
The researchers went “under-cover” in entertainment venues across northern England and “recorded how many people sang along to each song that was played, as well as other contextual information, such as the time of night. The data was then analysed using advanced statistical techniques to investigate what contextual factors influenced sing-along behaviour, as well as what musical factors might make a song ‘singalongable,’”
Ha. I love science.
In doing this, the most sing-a-long-able song they discovered was Queen's "We Are The Champions."
The analysis identified four core elements which trigger people’s inclination to sing:
1. "Longer and detailed musical phrases – the breath a vocalist takes as they sing a line is crucial to creating a sing-along-able tune. The longer a vocal in one breath, the more likely we are to succumb to a sing-song."
2. "A greater number of pitches in the chorus’s hook. The more sounds there are, the more infectious a song becomes. Combining longer musical phrases and a hook over three different pitches was found to be key to sing-along success."
3. "Male vocalists. The scientists believe singing along to a song is a subconscious war cry, tapping into an inherent tribal part of our consciousness. Psychologically we look to men to lead us into battle, so it could be in our intuitive nature to follow male-fronted songs."
4. "Higher male voices with noticeable vocal effort indicate high energy and purpose, particularly when combined with a smaller vocal range. It’s what gives Freddie Mercury and Jon Bon Jovi the edge when it comes to stirring up a sing-along."
The authors also made a list of sing-a-long-able hits that has news outlets trumpeting bogus headlines like “Study Says Queen’s We Are The Champions is Catchiest Song of All Time,” which is dumb because the researchers didn’t really have the time to test out every song ever recorded.
Also, there’s a difference between catchy and sing-a-long-able, as Pawley explains, saying “catchy” might just be a song that becomes an earworm. I’m guessing that all songs that are sing-a-long-able are catchy, while not necessarily all catchy songs are sing-a-long-able,
Still, musicians could probably use these tips to create more infections, catchy and sing-a-long-able tunes.
Here are the top ten sing-along-able songs as found in the northern England nightlife:
1. ‘We are the Champions’, Queen (1977) 2. ‘Y.M.C.A’, The Village People (1978) 3. ‘Fat Lip, Sum 41 (2001) 4. ‘The Final Countdown’, Europe (1986) 5. ‘Monster’, The Automatic (2006) 6. ‘Ruby’, The Kaiser Cheifs (2007) 7. ‘I’m Always Here’, Jimi Jamison (1996) 8. ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, Van Morrison (1967) 9. ‘Teenage Dirtbag’, Wheatus (2000) 10. ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’, Bon Jovi (1986)
