On a scale from 1 to 10, how happy are you? Do you currently have a favorite playlist? Does the music you listen to make you feel happier?
When Albert Einstein was once asked how he discovered the theory of relativity, he responded: “It came to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception.”
There is extensive research from numerous authors linking music to emotional states, including happiness.
Just a few days ago, the World Happiness Report 2025 was released, ranking Finland as the happiest country in the world. Within our continent, Mexico placed tenth and Costa Rica sixth.
This report was produced by Gallup, the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the Report’s Editorial Board.
Some of the key evaluation criteria included: caring for and sharing with others, sharing meals, living in community, and building meaningful social connections.
For this article, we explore the music habits of these three countries to uncover whether there might be a link between what they listen to and their reported happiness. Could there be a connection?
In Finland, where the average annual temperature is 5.5 degrees Celsius, the most streamed artist on Spotify during the week the report was released was the Swedish group KAJ, known for their “Swedish pop” genre. They boast over 3 million monthly listeners on Spotify, although their follower count stands at around 40,000.
The song that captured the attention of the happy Finnish audience was “Bara Bada Bastu.” Give it a listen and experience the musical conversation and rhythm they enjoy. The song’s lyrics celebrate the traditional sauna experience, an important social activity in Finland, a country with a population of just over 5.5 million people.
In Costa Rica, where the annual average temperature ranges between 25 and 27 degrees Celsius, the most streamed song that week was “La Plena – W Sound 05” by Colombian artist W Sound, featuring Beéle and Ovy on the Drums.
W Sound has over 13 million monthly listeners and 482,000 followers on Spotify. In a country with a population slightly over 5 million, the preferred genre was Reggaetón.
Meanwhile, in Mexico — where the annual temperature varies between 22 and 28 degrees Celsius — the top song on Spotify was “Te quería ver” by ALEMÁN, a Mexican artist with nearly 19 million monthly listeners and 6 million followers at the time of writing. His music is categorized as “Mexican Hip-Hop.”
Mexico’s population is approximately 130 million.
We conducted a brief text-mining analysis of the lyrics of these three songs, mapping the emotions they evoke according to Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions. The results were as follows:
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Finland – Joy, euphoria, and acceptance. (The sauna experience represents a communal, social activity.)
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Costa Rica – Desire, love, and nostalgia. (The song reflects a romantic dynamic.)
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Mexico – Love, desire, and euphoria. (The song also reflects a romantic relationship.)
This raises some interesting questions:
Could it be that happiness increases when we connect with others?
Does the climate of a region influence the ways in which happiness is expressed?
What makes you happy?
And what is your conclusion regarding the differences between these three countries?
