Music is more than the food of love – it is better than sex.
Britons say that music is more likely to make them feel good than making love – and Abba’s Dancing Queen is the most upbeat track.
Some 40 per cent of the 2,000 men and women questioned said that listening to their favourite songs lifted their mood, compared with the 20 per cent who said that having sex put a spring in their step.
In fact, romantic moments only scraped third place in the poll, with gorging on foods such as chocolate our second favourite way of making ourselves feel happy.
And women were more likely than men to choose songs over sex.
‘Most people are not happy with their relationship status – whether they are in a relationship or not.
‘Music is a more selfish activity because it is just about you and you can immerse yourself it.
‘It is very self-indulgent.’Energising: Music can excite and motivate the listener
Those surveyed, for Upbeat, a high-protein fruit drink, also rated Dancing Queen as the song most likely to put them in a good mood.
Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl, Gloria Gaynor’s disco anthem I Will Survive, The Beatles’ Hey Jude and the theme from Fame, sung by Irene Cara, complete the top five.
The other songs in the top ten are Ride on Time by Black Box, Rhianna’s Only Girl (In the World), I Feel Love by Donna Summer, Somebody that I Used to Know by Gotye featuring Kimbra, and Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy.
Professor Chamorro said that uplifting songs are mid-paced and comfortingly familiar.
Typically, they have around 110 beats per minute – a pace quick enough to energise us without being so fast that it makes us feel anxious or stressed.
Familiarity is also important, with songs that we know from films, Christmas parties and summer holidays particularly likely to hit the right buttons.
The professor said: ‘Very few songs have any significant effect on people the first time they hear them.
‘If they do, they are not likely to be successful or popular because it means we become bored of them very quickly.’
Songs rated as being uplifting also tend to be in the major key and, not surprisingly, have positive lyrics.
Those questioned rated pop and rock music as being the most energising.
Almost half of said they listen to music while doing housework and more than a quarter of men said they’d rather give up watching sport than stop listening to music.
