‘Everybody Hurts’ by REM has been named the saddest song of all time

A poll of 2,000 music lovers declared the 1992 track as the ultimate tearjerker, ahead of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ by Sinead O’Connor and Eric Clapton’s ‘Tears in Heaven’.
Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ and ‘Yesterday’ by The Beatles completed the top five.
Almost half (48 per cent) of adults believe a tune can have a huge impact on their mood.
As a result, 36 per cent tune into sad songs when they are feeling nostalgic, and 24 per cent will have them on rotation following a break-up.
And almost half claim sad songs can brighten up their mood.
Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA and ‘Walking on Sunshine’ by Katrina and The Waves were considered to be the happiest songs recorded.
While Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’, ‘Eye of The Tiger’ by Survivor and Elton John’s singalong anthem ‘I’m Still Standing’ were revealed to be the ultimate motivation tracks.
The soothing sounds of Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World’ and The Beatles title track from their final album ‘Let It Be’ were named the most relaxing.
The research was commissioned by ear care brand Earex, which has teamed up with Professor Robert Till, professor of music at the University of Huddersfield, and chair of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music,
Professor Till said: “What’s interesting is many of the top choices in this survey weren’t simply about their overall popularity, some of the most mentioned sad songs have far fewer plays on streaming platforms than others, indicating there really is something special about these particular songs.
“As one might expect, people’s age affected their choices, with younger audiences voting for Adele rather than REM – but what’s revealing for the saddest song is the youngest age range selected The Beatles’ Yesterday.
“Perhaps this reflects the recent film of the same title and