These Are The 20 Best Songs To Wake Up To, According To Science
Not a morning person? Your alarm song could be to blame, according to a study conducted by Spotify and music psychologist and Cambridge Ph.D. candidate David M. Greenberg in 2015.
Greenberg and Spotify's data team found that the ideal wakeup song should have the following three elements:
- It should build: It has to nudge you out of bed gently and then gradually get your energy levels up.
- It should be positive: A song about heartbreak is not going to encourage you to get out from under the covers.
- It should have a strong beat: If a song makes you feel like dancing—especially if it emphasizes "beats 2 and 4 of each measure—usually with the bass and drums—with a BPM of approximately 100 to 130," you're not going to want to say in bed.
If you're rethinking your alarm choices right about now, there were 20 popular tunes that have the researcher's stamp of approval. Here's the complete playlist if you want to save it for mornings ahead. Rise 'n' shine!
- Coldplay - Viva La Vida
- St. Lucia - Elevate
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Downtown
- Bill Withers - Lovely Day
- Avicii - Wake Me Up
- Pentatonix - Can't Sleep Love
- Demi Lovato - Confident
- Arcade Fire - Wake Up
- Hailee Steinfeld - Love Myself
- Sam Smith - Money On My Mind
- Esperanza Spalding - I Can't Help It
- John Newman - Come and Get It
- Felix Jaehn - Ain’t Nobody (Loves Me Better)
- Mark Ronson - Feel Right
- Clean Bandit - Rather Be
- Katrina & The Waves - Walking on Sunshine
- Imagine Dragons - On Top of the World
- MisterWives - Reflections
- Carly Rae Jepsen - Warm Blood
- iLoveMemphis - Hit The Quan
Emi Boscamp is the former News Editor at mindbodygreen. She received a BA in English and minors in Spanish and Art History from Cornell University. She's a writer living in Manhattan and enjoys cooking, eating, traveling, and writing about all three of those things. She loves anything pickled. And anything punny. (She's kind of a big dill.)