{"id":51528,"date":"2025-09-08T21:07:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T21:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/51528\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T21:07:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T21:07:10","slug":"the-greatest-songs-of-all-time-according-to-data-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/51528\/","title":{"rendered":"The greatest songs of all time, according to data science"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Music<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Luana De Marco \/ Max Letek)<\/p>\n

Mon 8 September 2025 19:00, UK <\/p>\n

We all know, by now, that the \u201cbest\u201d in music<\/a> isn\u2019t something that exists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll debate it for hours on end, in pubs and on social media. We\u2019ll get our backs up about what, exactly, is the \u201cbest\u201d and why. But beneath the passion and the relentless need to be right, we\u2019ll know that it isn\u2019t something that actually exists. Not objectively, anyway.<\/p>\n

But\u2026when science gets involved, we might be able to pick apart music that is actually objectively better than others. For instance, we all know that there isn\u2019t that much debate around The Beatles<\/a>, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks and countless others being pretty incessantly close to being whatever it is that the \u201cbest\u201d is in music. But what makes that so? Is it their legacies? Their measurable achievements?<\/p>\n

Apparently, yes. But that\u2019s not all. According to, well, common knowledge, it\u2019s increasingly hard to get your music heard these days. Lizzo put it well recently when she talked about how some of our biggest names, \u201cfrom Lady Gaga to Drake\u201d, have put out new music this year, and most people don\u2019t even know about it. \u201cBecause the way that the algorithm is set up, no one can serve the masses anymore,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

More than 100,000 songs are uploaded to Spotify<\/a> each day. Which means, while our view on what constitutes the \u201cbest\u201d is unwavering, there\u2019s almost too much to possibly comprehend the idea that we\u2019ll ever know what that even means. And yet, still, with too much anchored by masses of public opinion and constant fights over exactly that, science always finds a way to cut through it all.<\/p>\n

Which is a long-winded way of saying that, by using data collected by statistician Henrik Franzon<\/a>, we can actually, somehow, look at the songs we\u2019d probably objectively (or near enough) categorise as the best music of all time. Algorithms, oversaturation and social media battles aside, we can use his methodology of aggregating data over several decades and sales figures and find out which songs sit above the rest, the ones difficult to argue against in a pub after several pints and mounting passion.<\/p>\n

And what it tells us is that many are ones we\u2019d probably choose for ourselves. Less an obvious observation but more a common view shared by most, Bob Dylan\u2019s \u2018Like A Rolling Stone\u2019 sits at the top spot. Followed in second place by Nirvana\u2019s accidental masterpiece, \u2018Smells Like Teen Spirit\u2019. And, of course, preceding The Beatles\u2019 \u2018A Day In The Life\u2019. It wouldn\u2019t be a proper list of bests unless it had something by The Beach Boys, with \u2018Good Vibrations\u2019 in the top ten at number four. <\/p>\n

The Rolling Stones make it, too, with \u2018(I Can\u2019t Get No) Satisfaction\u2019, and Chuck Berry and The Ronettes make an appearance beside two classics by Marvin Gaye \u2013 \u2018What\u2019s Going On\u2019 and \u2018I Heard It Through the Grapevine\u2019. Most people will agree that most of these are pretty indisputable. Where you might get disagreements is why people like Elvis Presley, The Who, David Bowie and so on haven\u2019t cinched the top ten, but not to worry \u2013 those are also in the top 50.<\/p>\n

The best songs ever, according to data science:<\/p>\n