By: Abigail Vandenberg
Sit back and relax while looking over this week’s highlighted map. Lullabies are widely used to help children fall asleep at night. Every culture on Earth uses some form of lullaby because everyone on Earth goes to sleep. The ubiquity of these simple and repetitive tunes makes them an interesting area of study. Mornings.co.uk did exhaustive research to compile the most popular lullabies in each country based on the number of YouTube streams.
Lullabies are found all over the world, yet each one is unique. Furthermore, lullabies have been around since prehistoric periods with the earliest ones recorded in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Soothing babies to sleep is an age-old problem. Some lullabies have recorded origins, while others are unknown. The messages in lullabies vary from dark, to traditional, to melancholy and more recently to upbeat.
Do you remember any lullabies from your childhood? It’s likely that you do. Most lullabies only contain about 5 different notes in a 6/8 meter making their simple melody memorable. Research shows that lullabies enhance the bond between baby and parent, establish a bedtime routine, and help to regulate emotions. The lullaby is closely related to early childhood development in these ways.
Can you guess the most popular lullaby in the world? We all know this one by heart. With 1.6 billion views on YouTube and dwarfing the number of views for any other lullabies, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star comes in at #1. The second position is claimed by
ChandaMama Door Ke (Moon Uncle), a widely dispersed lullaby in India. All other lullabies in the top 10 originate from Europe and Asia with the exception of the American favorite, Hush Little Baby (Mama’s Gonna Buy You a Mockingbird) at #9. The map on the right gives a closer look at the most popular lullabies across North America.
Visit the first link below to explore the Mornings.co.uk maps and study. They have also included a sortable widget where you can find and listen to the most popular lullabies.
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