# Why Do Certain Songs Become Popular?

An episode of [Psychology in Everyday Life: The Psych Files](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/215516451), 11 Dec 2021, 14 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/thepsychfiles/ep-339-what-makes-a-song-appealingV2.mp3?dest-id=10763

Music researchers analyzed over 700 top Billboard songs (which included examining over 80,000 chords) and they determined that the "Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da" is the most appealing song ever written. How in the world, you might ask, did they choose that (some would say annoying) song?! Let's find out how two key ingredients - surprise and uncertainty - combine to create songs that you really like to hear over and over.

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