The idea of a “guilty pleasure song” is applicable to only those who feel shame, and as someone who thought the Michael Fassbender movie of the same name was a happy-go-lucky romp, all my pleasures are innocent, thank you very much. The concept is alive and well, though, because Spotify found at least 120,000 playlists titled “Guilty Pleasures” and used some fancy-math to learn “the top 10 most-streamed tracks the world wants to keep hush-hush,” according to a press release.
1. Mambo No. 5 – Lou Bega
2. Wake Me Up Before You Go Go – Wham!
3. My Sharona – The Knack
4. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
5. Cotton Eye Joe – Rednex
6. You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) – Dead Or Alive
7. Who Let The Dogs Out – Baha Men
8. Never Gonna Give You Up – Rick Astley
9. U Can’t Touch This – MC Hammer
10. Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen
A few things:
1. Don’t feel ashamed for liking Lou Bega. (OK, maybe a little ashamed.)
2. No clue what “My Sharona” is doing here.
3. I hate that people still can’t admit to liking Journey. They’re cheesy, but they churned out an insane number of hits and if they’re good enough for David Chase, they’re good enough for me.
4. “Who Let The Dogs Out” is hot garbage.
5. Judging by this list, “guilty pleasures” are either hits from the 1980s that you might hear on The Wedding Singer soundtrack or inoffensive pop songs from the 1990s and 2000s.
And whatever this tripe is.
