MOST Scots admit that dancing at a festival or at a gig are some of the things they are missing this summer because of the coronavirus pandemic.

You perhaps do not need a survey to work that one out.

But what is perhaps not clear is what the songs are that will get us diving towards the dancefloor.

A new study has revealed a list of Scotland's favourite dancefloor fillers - and has overwhelmingly put the iconic 70s Europop chart-topper Dancing Queen by Abba at the top of the pile with 44% of the vote.

Classics like It's Raining Men by the Weather Girls (41 percent), Come on Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners (32 percent), and Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond (26 percent) dominated the list of songs that are most likely to get us moving.

And more modern tracks also made the list, such as Pharell Williams' Happy (20 percent), Taylor Swift's Shake It Off (19 percent) and Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars (19 percent).

Virgin Media carried out the analysis polling nearly 100 Scots to celebrate the return of its V Festival in virtual form found that almost half (46 percent) of the nation have missed dancing on a night out.

And over one in five admit there are songs that compel them to get up and dance the moment they start playing – wherever they are.

More than four in 10 (44 percent) of Scots said dancing to music they love is one of their passions, with 68 percent claiming it always puts them in a good mood.

And one in three said that a good dance song always reminds them of happy times, while 38 percent said that music is one of life’s great pleasures, and 29 percent claim dancing fills them with energy.

Cilesta Van Doorn, of Virgin Media who commissioned the research added: “This research shows just how much we in this country love music but also the way in which dancing – whether it’s in the living room, on a night out or at a festival – is a way for us to feel connected with our family and friends."

Scotland's favourite dancefloor filler was a worldwide hit, topping the charts in more than a dozen countries including Abba's native Sweden where it spent 14 weeks at the top.

The Herald:

It was their only number one in the US and five years ago the song was inducted into the Recording Academy's Grammy Hall of Fame.

The song which went on to sell over three million copies is a regular on 'favourite song' lists.

In August 2012, listeners to the 1970s-themed UK radio station Smooth 70s voted Dancing Queen as their favourite hit of the decade.

In 2000 it came fourth in a Channel 4 television poll of The 100 Greatest Number One Singles".

It was chosen as No. 148 on the Recording Industry Association of America's Songs of the Century list.

And it was ranked No. 174 on US magazine Rolling Stone's 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and was the only ABBA song on the list.

The same year, it made VH1's 100 Greatest Dance Songs in Rock & Roll at No. 97.

In 2009, the British performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited celebrated its 75th anniversary by listing the 75 songs that have been played most in Great Britain on the radio, in clubs and on jukeboxes.

Dancing Queen was number eight on the list.

While the coronavirus lockdown has curtailed the nation's ability to 'get up and boogie' the Virgin research found one in five Scots have been dancing in their kitchens, 11 percent have been having virtual parties on platforms like Zoom, and seven percent have been watching footage of past festivals over lockdown.

And, according to the study 44 percent of us are planning to recreate a festival experience at home before summer ends.

Virgin Media’s V Festival 2020 will air on ITV2 from August 21 to 23, featuring brand new sets from headliners Anne Marie, Olly Murs and Dizzee Rascal, at the festival’s Chelmsford site, Hylands Park, as well as a nostalgic look back at some of the most iconic V Festival sets of all time, including Amy Winehouse, Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys and Bruno Mars.