Music Makes Us Happier

Published on March 5, 2020
3 min read

By Yvonne Ziomecki

Research has repeatedly found that music makes us happier. A seminal University of McGill study determined that we experience a dopamine release when we anticipate or listen to music that we love, and a multitude of other research has made the connection between music and well-being.

So, if you’re a music-lover 55 and up, when studies have also shown that Canadians reach their peak happiness, you might feel positively euphoric when you start playing music in the home that you love.

What are the songs that particularly delight you?

For me, Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now fills me with joy and makes me feel I can take on the world.

But what about Pharrell’s Happy? Katrina and the Waves’ Walking on Sunshine? It’s Not Unusual by Tom Jones? Wham’s Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go?

To mark the United Nations’ International Day of Happiness on March 20, we’re launching “March Music Happiness,” a March Madness-inspired bracket where YOU get to choose the happiest song of all time. On Twitter, we’ll present a match-up of songs and ask you to vote on the one that you feel is the happiest; the winners will move onto the next round until we whittle it down to the victorious tune.

Here at HomeEquity Bank, we’ve come up with a list of 16 songs to start the ball rolling. What song will triumph? Your vote will determine the winner!

Here’s our Sweet Sixteen in no particular order. Starting today, we’ll begin running matchups on our Twitter account, and your votes will choose who moves forward! New matchups will be launched over the coming days, with the winner — also known as The Happiest Song of All Time, as chosen by you — will be announced on March 19. Make your voice heard!

Happy, Pharrell Williams
Stayin’ Alive, The Bee Gees
Walking on Sunshine, Katrina and the Waves
Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys
Let’s Stay Together, Al Green
Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Cyndi Lauper
I Got You (I Feel Good), James Brown
Wannabe, Spice Girls
Isn’t She Lovely, Stevie Wonder
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Wham
All I Wanna Do, Sheryl Crow
ABC, Jackson 5
It’s Not Unusual, Tom Jones
Oh, Pretty Woman, Roy Orbison
I’m a Believer, The Monkees
Oh What a Night, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons

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