#Spotify: Malaysia’s Top 10 Guilty Pleasure Songs

The nation’s guiltiest pleasures playlist has been unveiled! And guess what? We are guilty as charged!

After analysing over 120,000 playlists called “Guilty Pleasures”, leading music streaming service Spotify created a playlist called, “Malaysia’s Guiltiest Pleasures”, which consists of the nation’s top 10 most streamed tracks on Spotify. The list was based on the total number of streams per track from playlists named, “Guilty Pleasures”. Wanna know what they were?

One-hit wonder, “Save Tonight” by Eagle-Eye Cherry ranked #1 in the playlist, closely followed by Phil Collins’ “Sussudio” and Swedish pop group Ace of Base’s “All That She Wants”.

1. Save Tonight – Eagle-Eye Cherry
2. Sussudio – Phil Collins
3. All That She Wants – Ace of Base
4. I Believe In A Thing Called Love – The Darkness
5. Bad Day – Daniel Powter
6. Tubthumping – Chumbawamba
7. Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen
8. Nasty Girl (Main) – Nitty
9. You Get What You Give – New Radicals
10. Kung Fu Fighting – Carl Douglas

In addition, Spotify identified the songs that appeared frequently in men’s and women’s playlists. Instead of calculating the number of streams, the Men’s and Women’s Guiltiest Pleasures playlists calculated the total number of times the track appeared in “Guilty Pleasures” playlists globally.

Pop boyband One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” took poll position for females while males put Carly Rae Jepsen’ s 2012 pop hit “Call Me Maybe” at the top of their guilty pleasures list:

Women’s Guiltiest Pleasures – Global

1. What Makes You Beautiful – One Direction
2. Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen
3. I Want It That Way – Backstreet Boys
4. Wannabe – Spice Girls
5. Wrecking Ball – Miley Cyrus

Men’s Guiltiest Pleasures – Global

1. Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen
2. I Want It That Way – Backstreet Boys
3. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
4. Toxic – Britney Spears
5. Wannabe – Spice Girls

But ever wondered why people feel guilty about listening to these songs?

Well, let’s just say that while people may be aware that these tracks that require little effort to listen to, they are not culturally defined as “cool”, explained Jacob Jolij, Professor in Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Groningen, Netherlands. Thus, some people felt that more complex music such as jazz or progressive rock makes stronger demands on the cognitive system.

If you are worried about being judged, fret not! Managing Director at Spotify Asia Sunita Kaur explained:

For those who aren’t quite so forthcoming with their musical tastes, there’s always Spotify’s private session function, so you can listen to power ballads to your heart’s content, without the fear of being judged.

So, there you go. Now, if you want to listen to the Spotify Malaysia’s Guilty Pleasures Playlist, go ahead! We promise we won’t judge!

So, what’s your guilty pleasure song? Let us know in the comment box below!