What Do the 50 Most Iconic Songs in History Have in Common?

You know what it ’ s like when you hear a song that cobalt
mpletely breaks through the moment and catches your attention.

even if you hear it subtly in the setting, you are drawn in and mesmerized. You get lost in the music and without realizing it, you start to hum or sing along .
We all have moments where music connects with us immediately and potently. We may think those moments are based on personal opinions and perspectives, but it turns out the songs that reach us actually have a distribute in common .
A new study, conducted by computer scientist and musician Dr. Mick Grierson from Goldsmiths, University of London, discovered that the “ best ” songs are more similar than we think .

The cogitation

To identify the traits of the most iconic songs of our time, Dr. Grierson compiled a list of “ best songs ” from seven music critics and authorities such as VH-1 and Rolling Stone .
He then used analytic software to analyze and assess the songs to see what themes in the music were like. The trial measured chord variety show, key, number of beats per minutes, lyric message, timbral variety show, and sonic variance .
From the results, he identify the most common themes in the music and then produced a number of the most iconic 50 songs of all fourth dimension .

The Results : The 50 Most iconic Songs of All Time

50. Best Of My Love, The Emotions

49. River Deep Mountain High, Ike and Tina Turner

48. A Change Is Gonna Come, Sam Cooke

47. When Doves Cry, Prince

46. Dancing In The Street, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas

45. My Generation, The Who

44. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, The Righteous Brothers

43. God Only Knows, The Beach Boys

42. Sultans Of Swing, Dire Straits

41. What’d I Say, Ray Charles

40. Gimme Shelter, The Rolling Stones

39. Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag, James Brown

38. Stand By Me, Ben E King

37. A Day In The Life, The Beatles

36. Every Breath You Take, The Police

35. Hallelujah, Jeff Buckley

34. No Woman No Cry, Bob Marley

33. Jonny B Good, Chuck Berry

32. Yesterday, The Beatles

31. Purple Haze, Jimi Hendrix

30. Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys

29. Dancing Queen, ABBA

28. Family Affair, Sky And The Family Stone

27. Respect, Aretha Franklin

26. Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon & Garfunkel

25. Creep, Radiohead

24. Be My Baby, The Ronettes

23. Born To Run, Bruce Springsteen

22. What’s Goin’ On, Marvin Gaye

21. Over The Rainbow, Judy Garland

20. Heartbreak Hotel, Elvis Presley

19. Life On Mars? David Bowie

18. I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston

17. Live Forever, Oasis

16. The Twist, Chubby Checker

15. Stairway To Heaven, Led Zeppelin

14. Your Song, Elton John

13. Hotel California, The Eagles

12. Waterloo Sunset, The Kinks

11. London Calling, The Clash

10. Sweet Child O’Mine, Guns N’ Roses

9. God Save The Queen, Sex Pistols

8. I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, Rolling Stones

7. Like A Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan

6. Hey Jude, The Beatles

5. Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen

4. Billie Jean, Michael Jackson

3. One, U2

2. Imagine, John Lennon

1. Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana

( You can listen to all of the songs on this YouTube playlist . )
At a first glance, the songs may not seem to have a lot in common. But the study found the diametric to be true .

The Similarities

many of the songs has fall upon similarities. They often :

• have an average tempo of 125 beats per moment ( 40 % of the songs were 120 BPM )
• have 500 beats throughout the stallion song
• use only 6-8 harmonize changes
• were recorded in a major samara ( largely A, E, C or G )
• have high gear apparitional flux ( the baron of a note powerfully varied from one to the following )

many of the songs besides used a repetition of words in the lyrics. The most common words used were ‘ Baby ’, ‘ Feel ’, ‘ Love ’ and ‘ Nah ’ .

so, Is There a skill to Creating an iconic song ?

It ’ randomness interesting to see the similarities of some of the most celebrated and well loved songs in history .
But the findings are in no way a rigid formula for creating an iconic birdcall .
There are multiple exceptions throughout the list. Led Zeppelin ’ s Stairway to Heaven has twice the count of beats than the average of the other songs on the list. And Papa ’ randomness Got a Brand New Bag by James Brown has only three chord changes while early songs had an average of 6-8 .
besides, the most important similarity between the songs on the tilt was actually a dispute .
“ We found the most significant thing these songs have in common is that most of them use sound in a very vary, dynamic way when compared to early records, ” said Dr. Grierson .
They may have similarities, but the songs are constructed in very different ways .

“ … the sounds these songs function and the room they are combined is highly singular in each case, ” explained Dr. Grierson .

so, it turns out there are reasonably charming elements to an iconic birdcall — but no formula .

What Can We Learn from The Study ?

While the study shares some matter to penetration about what features make up an iconic song — one of the most interest angles of the story may be regarding the root of the cogitation .
Dr. Grierson was hired by Fiat to perform this research.

Fiat, recognizing the importance of music matched with their selling, hired Dr. Grierson to identify the most iconic sung of all time so they can use it in their newly advertise campaign .
music matters. It impacts our emotions and leaves a permanent impression on us. Fiat understands that and sought to find a song that would powerfully resonate with their consultation and form a connection. And as a consequence of the sketch, the issue one most iconic birdcall from the number, Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, will be covered by singer songwriter Ella Eyre and used in an approaching Fiat television receiver commercial .

Are you interesting in learning more about how music connects with an audience, changes attitudes, and even consumer behaviors when inside of a store? Read our blog post about why identifying a musical sound for a business or brand is more important than you think.