We keep a count. After six years, a few hundred thousand songs and one memorable night with a choir, these are the ten that get a whole room singing, whoever is holding the microphone.
Why these work
A good group song has a chorus everybody knows, a tune nobody has to hit perfectly and a moment where the whole room can shout. Every song below has all three.
The ten
- A rock anthem about a small-town girl and a midnight train.
- The six-minute opera that needs four voices and no shame.
- A disco hit about surviving, sung by everybody who ever has.
- The nineties boy band ballad with the key change.
- A Spice-era girl group song about what you really want.
- The Swedish one about a dancing queen.
- A Britpop singalong about a wonderwall.
- The eighties power ballad with the total eclipse.
- A modern pop song about shaking it off.
- The one about living on a prayer.
If in doubt, choose the song your group sang at the last wedding you all went to.
And one to avoid
Anything with a long instrumental break. Four minutes of guitar solo is a long time to stand holding a microphone.
