Correlation does not equal causation
The study suggests “that favorable environmental conditions such as warm and sunny weather evoke a positive emotional state in listeners,” said lead author Manuel Anglada-Tort, who works at the University of Oxford and the Frankfurt MPI. “This state, in turn, prompts them to choose energetic and upbeat music that may suit their current mood.”
Weather conditions could therefore play an important role in the development of listener preferences – and thus also influence the market success of songs, according to the researchers in the study published in the specialist journal “Royal Society Open Science”.
Do weather conditions influence the success of pop music?
However, the results must be “interpreted with caution,” admits Anglada-Tort: “Correlation is not synonymous with causation.” The researchers found no evidence of a causal relationship.