Songs perform better in the charts when the weather is sunny, study finds

There’s nothing like sitting in the sun and listening to upbeat music.

And it turns out we really do prefer happy songs when the weather is nice, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Oxford analyzed tens of thousands of songs that topped the UK charts between 1953 and 2019.

When they compared the numbers to Met Office weather records, they found that the popularity of energetic and upbeat songs was related to the forecast.

Songs that evoked positive emotions of joy and happiness performed better on the charts when the weather was warm and sunny, compared to cold and rainy months, they said.

A look back at the UK charts backs up their findings – with songs like Mungo Jerry’s ‘In The Summertime’ and Bombalurina’s ‘Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini’ topping the charts during the warmer months.

The researchers said their study, published in the Royal Society Open Science journal, challenges the view that success in the music industry is based solely on the quality of the music.

Dr. Manuel Anglada-Tort, head of the Music, Culture, and Cognition Lab at the University of Oxford, said: ‘Our study suggests that favorable environmental conditions, such as warm and sunny weather, elicit positive emotional states in listeners, which in turn leads to they choose to listen to energetic and positive music, possibly matching their current mood.

“It thus highlights the importance of considering broad environmental factors when analyzing song success in the music market, and provides insight into how music choices are influenced by external factors beyond the music itself.”

The team said hyperpopular songs in the top 10 of the charts showed the strongest associations with weather fluctuations.

However, low-intensity songs with negative emotions of sadness — such as Dana’s Never Gonna Fall In Love Again — didn’t seem to be affected by the weather.

Dr. Anglada-Tort said, “This suggests that negative emotional states may be influenced more by individual situational factors than by general environmental conditions.”

The researchers said their work only shows a relationship between music chart success and weather conditions, so the results should be interpreted with caution.