Spice Girls hit Wannabe is catchiest pop song since 1940s, study finds

How long does it take you to recognise Spice Girls’ debut hit “Wannabe”? In an online experiment, participants recognised the song in 2.3 seconds, compared with an average of five seconds for other popular hits. Researchers developed the interactive game called Hooked on Music, as part of a scientific study to unlock the secrets of what makes music memorable. More than 12,000 participants who played the game were asked if they recognised a song, which was randomly selected from more than 1,000 clips of best-selling songs, dating from the 1940s until the present day. The Spice Girls’ debut single was the most quickly recognised song by participants. Second was Lou Bega’s Mambo No 5, which was identified in an average of 2.48 seconds.

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