Why Music Makes us Feel so Damn Good

You’re driving with the windows down, the sun is kissing your skin, and your favorite song comes on. Suddenly, you’re not just in traffic—you’re starring in your own music video.

We’ve all had that moment when a song hits just right. The beat drops, the dopamine flows, and our mood skyrockets.

Why is that?

Why does music have the power to flip our emotional switch like that? Why can a single song make us cry, dance, or feel like we can take on the world?

When you hear music you love, your brain lights up like a concert stage. Specifically, it activates the mesolimbic pathway—the brain’s reward center. That’s the same circuit that responds to food, sex, exercise, and a well-timed cat meme. Music triggers the release of dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter that floods your system when you’re doing something pleasurable. It's basically your brain’s way of throwing a rave in your honor.

Even cooler? Your brain starts releasing dopamine not just when the beat drops—but in anticipation of it. That’s why the build-up in a song feels so powerful. Your brain is predicting something awesome is coming… and it loves being right.

Music is more than just sound waves—it’s emotion in motion:

• Upbeat music can energize us and improve focus.

• Sad ballads can give us space to process emotions and feel understood.

• Lush, ambient tunes can calm our nervous systems and reduce anxiety.

  
  

Why? Because music doesn’t just stay in your ears—it travels through your limbic system, the brain’s emotional epicenter. It taps into memory, emotion, and physiological response. That’s why one song can take you back to your first kiss or your first heartbreak.

“Music evokes emotion, and emotion can bring with it memory. … It brings back the feeling of life when nothing else can.” – Oliver Sacks

Music Impacts More than Mood

Music doesn’t just influence your mood—it can literally rewire your brain. Musicians, for example, show increased gray matter in areas responsible for motor control, auditory processing, and emotional regulation.

The brain works better in a positive state than in a negative or neutral state. When we listen to music we enjoy, we're primed for greater mental acuity.

Research confirms that upbeat or uplifting music can enhance attention and memory and calming music such as Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” has a positive effect on focus and concentration. Multiple other studies have demonstrated that when music is played during physical tasks that require endurance, participants report feeling more motivated, having increased coordination, and pushing themselves further. It's why the right music gives us a better workout.

A 2014 report on office-based experiments revealed that more than 85% of participants produced more accurate work when listening to music and 81% completed their work more quickly when music was playing.

Back in the 1980s, marketing professor Ronald E. Milliman explored how the tempo of music influences customer behavior. In his landmark 1982 paper, “Using Background Music to Affect the Behavior of Supermarket Shoppers,” Milliman revealed that the tempo of the background music in a store can influence how fast people walk through the store as well as sales volume. Uptempo music makes people move more quickly through the store and reduces how much they spend. Downtempo music makes people move more slowly and they buy more. Milliman found that, on average, sales volume was 38% higher on days when stores played slow background music.

Restaurants that put profit above the dining experience may play music with a fast tempo to turn tables more quickly. However, uptempo music also suppresses appetite. Appetite is in part a function of the parasympathetic nervous system. Loud, fast music makes people eat more quickly because it activates the sympathetic nervous system (the ‘fight-or-flight' response), which opposes the parasympathetic system and thereby diminishes appetite resulting in fewer appetizers, desserts and drinks. In the restaurant business, getting diners in and out as quickly as possible doesn't always mean more revenue.

“Music is a language that doesn’t speak in particular words. It speaks in emotions, and if it’s in the bones, it’s in the bones.” - Keith Richards

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The Most "Feel-Good" Song (According to Science)

Most of us don’t need science to tell us that certain songs immediately make us feel good. However, cognitive neuroscientist, Dr. Jacob Jolij, wanted a quantifiable explanation as to why some songs make us feel better than others.  In fact, he made it his quest to identify the most feel good song of all time.

He started by identifying the songs that respondents listed as those that make them ‘feel good’, and then looked for patterns in key and tempo. After factoring in additional variables, such as season in which the song was released, genre, lyrical theme, and overall emotionality of the lyrics, he discovered the formula.  Ready?

So get to the list already!  Okay. According to Dr Jolij’s research,  here are the top ten feel good songs(and maybe the new playlist for the break room?):

10.  Walking on Sunshine (Katrina & the Waves)

9.   I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor)

8.   Livin’ on a Prayer (Jon Bon Jovi)

7.   Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper)

6.   I’m a Believer (The Monkeys)

5.   Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)

4.   Uptown Girl (Billy Joel)

3.   Good Vibrations (The Beach Boys)

2.   Dancing Queen (Abba)

And, (drumroll please) the number 1 feel good song of all time is...

revealed in the video below. So, go on…  take a few minutes to feel good…. in the name of science. And, share your own top “feel good” song in the comments.  I’d love to know which tune moves you!