A computer scientist has come up with a formula to find the greatest songs of all time. You might have thought music was open to personal interpretation but this top 50 list is pretty great.
The top 50 list of the greatest songs of all time have been compiled by a University of London computer scientist who used a formula to examine the songs often listed by big names like, VH1, Q, NME, and the Rolling Stone. The results are surprisingly brilliant and include one Irish act, U2, along with some strong Irish American names like Elvis and Bruce Springsteen.
The study was commissioned by the car manufacturer Fiat, who aimed to identify a song to promote the Fiat 500. Dr. Mick Grierson and his team used analytical software to find the most iconic tunes.
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The analysis took into account factors like beats per minute, chord variety, lyrical content, timbral variety, and sonic variance.
U2's One makes the most iconic songs of all time list.
U2's One, Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel, and Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run all made the list.
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Here are the top 50 most iconic songs of all time:
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
Imagine - John Lennon
One - U2
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
Hey Jude - The Beatles
Like A Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
I Can't Get No Satisfaction - Rolling Stones
God Save The Queen - Sex Pistols
Sweet Child O'Mine - Guns N' Roses
London Calling - The Clash
Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks
Hotel California - The Eagles
Your Song - Elton John
Stairway To Heaven - Led Zeppelin
The Twist - Chubby Checker
Live Forever - Oasis
I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
Life On Mars? - David Bowie
Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley
Over The Rainbow - Judy Garland
What's Goin' On - Marvin Gaye
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
Be My Baby - The Ronettes
Creep - Radiohead
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
Respect - Aretha Franklin
Family Affair - Sly And The Family Stone
Dancing Queen - ABBA
Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys
Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix
Yesterday - The Beatles
Jonny B Good - Chuck Berry
No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley
Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
Every Breath You Take - The Police
A Day In The Life - The Beatles
Stand By Me - Ben E King
Papa's Got A Brand New Bag - James Brown
Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones
What'd I Say - Ray Charles
Sultans Of Swing - Dire Straits
God Only Knows - The Beach Boys
You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling - The Righteous Brothers
My Generation - The Who
Dancing In The Street - Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
When Doves Cry - Prince
A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke
River Deep Mountain High - Ike and Tina Turner
Best Of My Love - The Emotions
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Dr. Grierson told the Daily Mail "We looked at a range of measures for each song and compared them to see if there were similarities in these recordings which occur less in other songs.
"We found the most significant thing these songs have in common is that most of them use sound in a very varied, dynamic way when compared to other records.
"This makes the sound of the record exciting, holding the listener's attention.
"By the same token, the sounds these songs use and the way they are combined is highly unique in each case."
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So what do you think of these 50 iconic songs? Is there a big one they left out? Let us know in the comments section below.
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