Trance fans amongst happiest music listeners, new study finds

Trance fans are among the happiest music listeners, a new study has found.

As part of an independently conducted survey, OnBuy online marketplace analysed more than two million Reddit comments from the subreddits of 27 different music genres, observing how many times happy or excitable emotions were expressed when speaking about respective genres.

Among the top 10 happy genres were jazz, grunge and trance, with the latter racking up a total of 7,157 positive worded comments out of 14,198 – equating to 50 positive mentions per 100 comments. 

Moving into the top 20, techno, EDM and house also appeared, with EDM’s total positive comments totalling over 18,000, and techno receiving 37 positive responses per 100. House ranked lowest, with 2,602 positive comments found in subreddits.

The survey also noted the music fans that use the least positive language online, with drill, grime and drum & bass appearing in the top five, and punk fans using the most profanities on the site.

You can see the full details of the study here.

Uplifting melodies, massive breakdowns, a thousand arms raised aloft waiting for the drop — these tropes have ensured trance has remained popular for nearly 30 years. For a recent DJ Mag feature, Harold Heath investigated an AI experiment to discover the science behind why fans just can’t get enough.

In February, a study from a Turkish cosmetic transplant company found that techno is the least relaxing genre of music.