A year-long survey by the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester has revealed the top 10 most persistent earworms -- with the Spice Girls topping the list.
by Michelle Starr
The catchiest song of all time has been revealed, and it ought to surprise absolutely no one. When it comes to recognisability, Spice Girls' "Wannabe" is number one, with users taking, on average, just 2.29 seconds to pick the song.
The result is part of a year-long study, conducted by the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Manchester, UK. Users were directed to a special website where they could play an online game called Hooked on Music, which contained clips from 1,000 hit songs from the past 70 years -- the top selling 40 tracks of each decade since the 1940s.
There were four modes: Recognise that Tune, where users had to hum along with the track, continuing when the sound dropped out and gauging whether they were still in time when the sound resumed; What's the Hook, where users had to listen to two different clips from the same song and choose which clip was catchier; Time Trial, where users had to recognise as many songs as possible in three minutes; and In a Row, where users had to recognise as many songs in a row as they could.
The game collected data from over 12,000 people, who, on average, found Wannabe the most recognisable song. Lou Bega's Mambo No 5 came in second at 2.48 seconds, with Survivor's Eye of the Tiger coming in third at 2.62 seconds. The average overall time it took to recognise a clip was 5 seconds.
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