10 Songs That Make People Happy

Inc. Magazine shared a recent article about 10 songs that make people happy, based on some findings by a neuroscientist several years ago. I don’t normally find Inc’s articles worthwhile because they publish so many fluffy clickbait pieces (often padding out one minor quote from Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, or Jeff Bezos into a whole article). But I can say that Rachelle and I listened to several of the songs on this list last night while making dinner, and we did feel happier.

Here are the songs (also available on a Spotify playlist):

  1. Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen
  2. Dancing Queen by Abba
  3. Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys
  4. Uptown Girl by Billie Joel
  5. Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
  6. I’m a Believer by The Monkees
  7. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper
  8. Livin’ on a Prayer by Jon Bon Jovi
  9. I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor
  10. Walking on Sunshine by Katrina & The Waves

For a quick boost during your day, pick a song, play it, and dance for a few minutes.

Ironically, after listening to these songs, we watched the movie The Shining, a classic 1980 horror movie based on a Stephen King novel. I enjoyed the movie, especially after recently reading King’s On Writing memoir, but I think that listening to the happy songs first made it not seem so dark.