IF you’re suffering from January Blues, one of the best ways to cure them could be through listening to your favourite musical theatre hits – especially those in the major chord.
According to scientific research, major G and F chords are linked with feelings of happiness, whereas minor chords can have the opposite effect and make you feel sad.
To discover which songs from popular musicals are boosting the nation’s mood the most, theatre bookings platform SeatPlan conducted a study on the most popular musical hits of all time, analysing Spotify’s most-played songs from musicals and their use of ‘happy’ keys and chords…
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Top 10 Happiest Musical Hits |
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Rank |
Song | Musical | Key |
Chord |
| 1 | Seasons of Love | Rent | F | Major |
| 2 | Helpless | Hamilton | F | Major |
| 3 | Sincerely, Me | Dear Evan Hansen | G | Major |
| 4 | For Forever | Dear Evan Hansen | F | Major |
| 5 | Start of Something New | High School Musical | G | Major |
| 6 | Revolting Children | Matilda | G | Major |
| 7 | A Million Dreams | The Greatest Showman | G | Major |
| 8 | Anybody Have A Map? | Dear Evan Hansen | G | Major |
| 9 | When I Grow Up | Matilda | F | Major |
| 10 | Guns and Ships | Hamilton | G | Major |
The most popular happy song is ‘Seasons of Love’ from Rent in the mood-boosting F key, with a total of 81,270,069 streams.
‘Helpless’ from Hamilton is the second most popular happy song, with a playlist popularity score of 49 and features in the top 10 most streamed musical songs of all time.
Hamilton – which first opened as a theatre show in 2015 – features a total of 19 times in Spotify’s top 100 most played musical songs, with songs primarily in the major chord.
Dear Evan Hansen song, ‘Sincerely, Me’ is in the cheerful major chord and is third in the top 100 for uplifting Spotify musical playlists, with a score of 45 and 185,034,926 total streams. ‘For Forever’ is also in the ‘happy’ major chord and has a playlist popularity score of 37.
Dear Evan Hansen, features 12 times in the top 100 most played songs on Spotify playlists, with songs mostly containing the major chord.
What makes these songs such good mood boosters?
Well, mood-boosting major chords are in 75 percent of musical playlists compared to minor chords, which are in 25 percent of them. Meaning Spotify listeners prefer to listen to an upbeat musical number.
Also, songs in F major and G major are the most popular for musical songs featuring 12 and 16 times in the top 100.
The study shows a fairly upbeat average tempo of 119 BPM (found to induce a state of joy), a major F or G chord, and some uplifting, catchy lyrics make the winning combination for a feel-good musical hit to cure your January Blues.
Ben Jackson, CEO and Founder of SeatPlan commented on the findings: “With many musicals cancelling due to the Omnicom variant, we might not be able to immerse ourselves in our favourite shows, but we can certainly brighten your day with a playlist of mood-boosting hits.
“For anyone looking to cure the dreaded January Blues many of us face, we hope this study will motivate anyone feeling down to tune into their favourite musical hits at home and continue to support the theatre industry in 2022.”
