Mr Blue Sky still happiest song for Greatest Hits Radio listeners
Greatest Hits Radio listeners have voted ELO’s Mr Blue Sky as their Good Times Anthem – the song that makes them happiest.
Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now came in second and Kate Bush’s Running Up that Hill was at Number Three.
At the beginning of the year, the station asked listeners to nominate their favourite Good Times Anthem so it could compile 2023’s happiest chart which was played out in a countdown that finished on air at 4pm today.
Presenter Jackie Brambles said: “We first asked our listeners to compile this chart three years ago when we were all in lockdown and more and more of us were turning to the radio for companionship, support and something to cheer us up.
“We may have come through the worst of the pandemic but there’s still plenty to keep us occupied from economic worries to the war in Ukraine, so as a station, what we wanted to do here on Greatest Hits Radio is say we can’t solve your problems but every time you tune in we promise you’ll hear something uplifting.”
Hypnotist Paul McKenna is a guest on Jackie’s show tonight and explains why music can make such a difference to a mood: “All music, whether it’s pop records or classical music, is a sound vibration so we don’t just hear it, we feel it, so music has the ability to change our mood absolutely.
“And anything that can lift people’s mood at the moment is a good thing. There’s far too much media that’s contributing to winding people up.
“There’s research to show that certain kinds of music effect the nervous system in different ways and there’s no doubt when you hear an uplifting song like Mr Blue Sky, or something that means something to you personally, it takes you back to that time and music associated with positive times from the past will change your mood which changes everything.”
The happiest decade proved to be the 80s as music from that era took up most of the Top Ten with Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark and Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance with Somebody both new entries.
Both these stars were in the headlines at the end of 2022 with the release of the Houston biopic – also called I Wanna Dance with Somebody – and Springsteen selling the rights to his entire back catalogue in a rumoured $500million deal.
1800 UK adults took part in the Good Times Anthem Chart survey which was hosted online from 26 December 2022 to 22 January 2023.
Top 20 Good Times Anthems
- Mr Blue Sky – ELO
- Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen
- Running Up That Hill – Kate Bush
- Dancing in the Dark – Bruce Springsteen
- Dancing Queen – ABBA
- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper
- 1999 – Prince
- Walking On Sunshine – Katrina and the Waves
- You Can Call Me Al – Paul Simon
- I Wanna Dance With Somebody – Whitney Houston
- Hot Stuff – Donna Summer
- Come on Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runners
- Good Times – Chic
- Living on a Prayer – Bon Jovi
- You’re The One That I Want – John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
- You Make Me Feel Mighty Real – Sylvester
- Let’s Dance – David Bowie
- Flashdance (What a Feeling) – Irene Cara
- December 1963 (Oh what a Night) – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
- That’s The Way (I Like It) – KC & The Sunshine Band
Listen to Paul McKenna chat to Jackie Brambles on Greatest Hits Radio at greatesthitsradio.co.uk