Science has spoken, and your adolescent tastes have been affirmed — the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” is the catchiest song in the UK. “Wannabe,” released in 1996 on the album Spice, was quickly the best selling single by a female group.
The experiment was conducted by Hooked On Music, a research campaign with the Manchester Science Festival and the University of Amsterdam. Lou Bega’s “Mambo Number Five” came in second, and Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” was third. If you’re anything like me, just reading the song names has gotten them stuck in your head.
The results were determined by how quickly listeners were able to identify each hit. “Wannabe” took an average of 2.3 seconds to recognize. Woah. You can watch a summary of the results below.
The Manchester Science Festival ran from Oct. 23 to Nov. 2, but the experiment is still running online. It’s actually super fun to play around with, and may actually be more addictive than the Spice Girls.
And while we’re on the topic, here’s more of the Spice Girls. “Say You’ll Be There” may not be as catchy, but it has far superior music video.
Girl Power.
