A new study has revealed the perfect song to relax to this Christmas, it might even help your children get to sleep on Christmas Eve!

Boney M’s Mary’s Boy Child tops the list as the tune most likely to chill you out this Christmas – something we could all do with after the year we’ve had.

While Band Aid ‘14’s  Do They Know It’s Christmas follows closely behind, featuring the likes of Dizzee Rascal, One Direction and Ed Sheeran.

The research, conducted by Great Bean Bags, analysed over 2,000 songs using data sourced from Spotify playlists containing the words ‘relax’, ‘relaxing’, ‘chill’ and ‘chilling’ in the title to find the top 50 most common songs people choose to kick back and relax to.

From the top 50 songs, it then calculated the average beats per minute (BPM) and found the most common key and time signatures of the top 50 to create the perfect formula for the world’s most relaxing song. Using this formula, researchers then compared it to the same properties of 2020’s top hits and all time Christmas classics.

The definitive list of the all time most relaxing songs can be found here.

Commenting on the research, creative director, Patrick Tonks at Great Bean Bags said: “Relaxation is core to all of our bean bags, so after what has been probably the most stressful year for many of us, we’ll all be looking forward to a well-needed break, and now we can make that even more relaxing with songs that are proven to chill us all out.

“As luck would have it, there’s also a Christmas hit that matches the formula meaning we don’t even need to break from festivities to relax – we can completely get lost in Christmas. The songs we’ve found to match the formula might even help to get your little ones to sleep on Christmas Eve before the big day!”

If Christmas songs aren’t your preferred choice of music in December, the study also analysed the top hits of 2020, with Lewis Capaldi’s  Someone You Loved coming out as the closest match to the formula, with Doja Cat’s  Say So closely behind.

Commenting on how music can help us to relax, psychologist Cristina Barcelo said: “Music is scientifically proven to have a special effect on the brain, the body and even the emotional aspects of the human being,”

“If you’re feeling anxious, take at least five minutes of your day to sit down, take a couple of deep breaths and engage in relaxing music, it’s going to help you relax and increase the oxygen level of your body, which is also what creates the calming effect in the body, mind, and spirit.”

The full research and analyses can be found here.