There's a reason you can't get the Spice Girls' song "Wannabe" out of your head— the pop tune tops the list of the catchiest songs, according to a new study out of the UK.
Researchers determined this after conducting a yearlong experiment involving the online game Hooked on Music, which was developed by the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. The game tests players to see how long it takes them to recognize a song randomly selected from over 1,000 clips dating from the 1940s and in a range of genres.
More than 12,000 people played the game, and participants recognized "Wannabe" the fastest, taking an average of only 2.29 seconds to identify the girl-group hit. Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5" took second place with 2.48 seconds, followed by Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" with 2.62 seconds.
Computational musicologist Ashley Burgoyne, who designed the study, is interested in why particular songs are more memorable than others.
"I work within a group that studies music cognition in general -- any way in which the brain processes music -- and we were particularly interested in music and memory and why exactly it is that certain pieces of music stay in your memory for such a long time," Burgoyne told the BBC.
He's already observed that, naturally, songs with a strong melody are more recognizable. Burgoyne hopes that with further research, music can be used as a type of therapy for people with conditions such as dementia.
"There has already been some research that shows that if you can find the right piece of music, something that had a very strong meaning, playing that piece of music can be very therapeutic. But the challenge is figuring out what is the best piece of music," he said.
The game is still available to play until the end of the year, if you want to test your musical recognition skills.
The top 10 catchiest songs, according to the study:
1. "Wannabe" - Spice Girls
2. "Mambo No 5" - Lou Bega
3. "Eye of the Tiger" - Survivor
4. "Just Dance" - Lady Gaga
5. "SOS" - ABBA
6. "Pretty Woman" - Roy Orbison
7. "Beat It" - Michael Jackson
8. "I Will Always Love You" - Whitney Houston
9. "Don't You Want Me" - The Human League
10. "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" - Aerosmith
