With just over two weeks until Christmas, some folks are undoubtedly sick of the annual holiday music chasing them at every turn. Now, experts say they’ve found the formula for writing the perfect holiday tune.
Every December, like clockwork, retailers around the world receive the memo that it’s time to dust off their Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey albums and play them until no one can stomach them.
In fact, by the time December 25th rolls around, the public are so tired of being told to feel jolly that they could snap the very second they hear the opening notes of Paul McCartney’s ‘Wonderful Christmastime’.
However, it seems that there’s finally a solution, with researchers saying they’ve worked out how to make the perfect Christmas song.
Check out Paul McCartney’s ‘Wonderful Christmastime’:
As the Yorkshire Post reports, ‘experts’ at an English music label say they’ve looked at every Christmas number one single in the UK for the last 50 years to work out what common traits they share.
“I think we’re a long way from an algorithmically-generated Christmas number one,” explained Ostereo’s Howard Murphy, where the research was conducted. “But certain characteristics do make a song more likely to resonate with audiences at Christmas.”
According to the research, there are four main things that a song needs to have in order to score the famed Christmas number one spot. First, it needs to be three minutes and 57 second long, in the key of G major, played at 114 BPM, and performed by a solo artist who is 27 years old.
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“You can’t turn an average song into a hit at any time of year – never mind Christmas – so adding sleigh bells to a Christmas song won’t make a difference if the song isn’t already great,” Howard Murphy continued.
“For example, without the church bells at the end, East 17’s ‘Stay Another Day’ is still a great song, but it’s not a Christmas song.”
So, according to the research, which previous Christmas number one is closest to being ‘perfect’? Apparently, it’s the Pet Shop Boys’ decidedly un-Christmaslike cover of B.J. Thomas’ ‘Always On My Mind’.
Often considered the most prestigious chart position on the UK charts, the Christmas number ones are ingrained within the public’s minds, with countless classic holiday tunes having received the honour. Of course, a song doesn’t have to be Christmas-themed to actually hit the top spot, and over the years many contemporary songs have also made the grade.
For a few years though, it almost seemed tradition for previous winners of The X Factor to top their charts with their recent single. As a result, a successful campaign was mounted to see Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name’ boosted to the top of the charts back in 2009.
Now there’s a Christmas tune if ever we heard one.
Check out the Pet Shop Boys’ ‘perfect’ Christmas tune, ‘Always On My Mind’:
