Nirvana And Pharrell Tracks Best Convey Sadness And Happiness, Research Shows

HappyOrNot, the creators of the 'smiley face' customer feedback terminals found in airports and retail spaces around the world, recently commissioned Annaliese Micallef Grimaud, a PhD candidate at Durham University's Music Department, to conduct an analysis to confirm which most-streamed pop songs - acknowledged to be the happiest or saddest - can truly be considered to best convey the intended emotions to listeners.

Photo Insert: 'Happy' rose to prominence after being released as the sole single from the soundtrack of the 2013 film 'Despicable Me 2'

“It’s no secret that music can profoundly affect how we feel, or that musicians can seek to express their feelings at a certain time or about a certain topic through their work," says Miika Mäkitalo, CEO of HappyOrNot.

The research examined which songs create the best blueprint for happiness and misery. Songs were analyzed based on their tempo, overall dynamics level, vocal pitch range levels, average onset frequency values, and mode (e.g. note order) to determine which songs are perceived to convey the happiest or saddest emotions.

Grimaud has developed a unique formula (combinations of different musical features) for each emotion expressed through music in a previous research project involving classic music, in which participants changed features of instrumental music to express different emotions, including joy, sadness, anger, calm, and surprise.

According to this research, most musical features were intentionally used in a specific manner to create different emotions, implying that participants had a preconceived notion of how different emotions could be created in music.

Grimaud was able to identify which songs best express sadness and joy by adapting the original formulae to suit music with vocals for this analysis (without taking the meaning of the lyrics into account).

HappyOrNot selected the five songs with the most listens on Spotify from Rolling Stone’s list of the 10 saddest songs of all time (as voted by their readers), and the five most-played songs from NME’s (New Musical Express) best happy songs list for analysis.

Pharrell Williams' 'Happy' (2013) was named the happiest song.

'Happy' by Pharrell Williams was the happiest song on the list of happy songs. According to Grimaud's research, ‘Happy' has the fastest tempo, the loudest dynamics level, the highest average onset frequency value, and high pitch levels in the vocal range when compared to the other songs on the list, and while the song varies in mode, elements pertaining to a major mode are also present.

'Happy' rose to prominence after being released as the sole single from the soundtrack of the 2013 film 'Despicable Me 2'.

Nirvana's 'Something in the Way' (1991) was named the saddest song.

“Results from my research indicate that a slow tempo, minor mode, legato articulation, soft dynamics level, low pitch level, and a dark timbre help convey sadness in music," says Grimaud.

‘Something in the Way’ by Nirvana ranked as the saddest song. The song is written in minor mode, and has a slow tempo, the softest dynamics level, the smallest average onset frequency value, and low pitch levels in the vocal range, making it the saddest compared to the other songs on the list.

'Something in the Way' was recently used in the soundtrack for 'The Batman' (2022), and as a result became part of a TikTok trend.

The full analysis rankings are as follows:

Songs expressing happiness

1. ‘Happy’ (2013), Pharrell Williams : https://youtu.be/ZbZSe6N_BXs

2. ‘Hey Ya’ (2003), Outkast : https://youtu.be/PWgvGjAhvIw

3. ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ (1983), Cyndi Lauper : https://youtu.be/PIb6AZdTr-A

4. 'Don’t Stop Me Now’ (1979), Queen : https://youtu.be/HgzGwKwLmgM

5. ‘Feeling Good’ (1965), Nina Simone : https://youtu.be/oHRNrgDIJfo

Songs expressing sadness

1. ‘Something in the Way’ (1991), Nirvana : https://youtu.be/4VxdufqB9zg

2. ‘Everybody Hurts’ (1992), R.E.M. : https://youtu.be/5rOiW_xY-kc

3. ‘Tears in Heaven’ (1992), Eric Clapton : https://youtu.be/JxPj3GAYYZ0

4. ‘Nutshell’ (1994), Alice in Chains : https://youtu.be/_siJRgDlddY

5. ‘Black’ (1991), Pearl Jam : https://youtu.be/qgaRVvAKoqQ

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