The Beatles ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ is “the perfect pop song”, scientists say

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Germany analysed 80,000 different chord progressions from 745 songs, using machine learning to give a score to each chord based on how “surprising” it was compared to the chord preceding it, Newsweek reports. Chord sequences were then played to 39 volunteers, stripped of lyrics and melody to make the source track unrecognisable. Turned out people liked the most songs that had something familiar, and then surprised them with something they didn't expect. The one song that came closest to pop-perfection - The Beatles' 1968 track ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’. John Lennon famously said Paul McCartney-written song was a “granny music shit”.