Here's some geeky goodness-  a study on the social influence on people's choices of favorite songs.

It seems that there's a certain go with the flow thing going on.

Here's a good tidbit- "Although, on average, quality is positively related to success, songs of any given quality can experience a wide range of outcomes.  In general, the best songs never do very badly, and the worst songs never do extremely well, but almost any other result is possible."