How a scientific equation can predict whether a song will be a chart hit. By JILL REILLY Updated: 12:56 EDT, 18 December 2011 It is news that could be sweet music to the ears of record companies.

By using a machine-learning algorithm, the team could mine official U.K. top-40 singles charts over the past 50 years to see how important these 23 features are to producing a hit song.