Here Are The Happiest, Saddest, Most Danceable And Most Unusual Summer Songs Of All Time
BI's Joe Weisenthal believes 2014 lacks a clear-cut Song of the Summer, something he says is bad for music lovers but great for the economy.
If anyone wants to make a late-stage attempt, they could start by consulting the following findings from Spotify about what goes into a killer summer track.
Using acoustic analysis technology, powered by The Echo Nest, Spotify has grouped the 4X songs into most and least happy, danceable, artificial, as well as pinpointed some other categories. Check out the list.
Most danceable
Measured according to multiple factors including tempo, rhythm stability, beat strength, and overall regularity, Nelly's "Hot In Herre" (2002) is the most danceable summer song of all time.
Most artificial
This measures the extent of live, natural instruments in a song. "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani (2004) has almost none, and is therefore the most artificial.
Least artificial
"Alone" (1987) by Heart is tops here - the Wilson sisters would never allow anything inauthentic into their music. That said, "Alone" is also the least happy and slowest summer song ever, as measured by Spotify's criteria.
Happiest
Spotify says its formula for determining what is the happiest song involves things like lyrics and tempo. The winner is "We Like To Party" by the Vengaboys (1998), which are actually two Dutch dudes.
Most unusual time signature
Every single song of the summer has been in standard 4/4, with four exceptions in 3/4 (aka Waltz) time: "House Of The Rising Sun" (1964) performed by The Animals; "I Got You Babe" (1965) by Sonny and Cher; "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" (1971) performed by the Bee Gees; and "Vision Of Love," by Mariah Carey (1990), which is also the least danceable:
Longest
"When Doves Cry," by Prince (1984), clocking in at just under six minutes.
[PRINCE DOES NOT ALLOW HIS VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE OR ANYWHERE ELSE EXCEPT THE FIGMENT OF YOUR IMAGINATION]
Shortest
"I Get Around," by the Beach Boys (1964), running 2:14.
Rarest key
The vast majority of summer songs are in C Major. The rarest key is E Minor, which also happen to be the ones for the two best songs on this list: "The Locomotion" (1962) performed by Little Eva
...And "Waterfalls" (1994) by TLC.