We compared Google searches for the English birthday song ("happy birthday song" / "happy birthday to you") with local birthday songs in 40 countries. The local song wins in 15: Mexico ("las mañanitas"), Spain ("cumpleaños feliz"), Poland ("sto lat"), Chile ("cumpleaños feliz"), Norway ("hurra for deg"), Colombia ("cumpleaños feliz"), Argentina ("cumpleaños feliz"), Portugal ("parabéns a você"), Peru ("cumpleaños feliz"), France ("joyeux anniversaire chanson"), Italy ("tanti auguri a te"), Brazil ("parabéns pra você"), Netherlands ("lang zal ze leven"), Sweden ("ja må hon leva"), Switzerland ("zum geburtstag viel glück"). Everywhere else, the English song is searched more.
Happy Birthday vs the top local birthday song (12-month average)
| Country | English song avg/mo | Top local song | Local avg/mo | Winner | Local:English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | 94,000 | las mañanitas | 30,717 | Happy Birthday | 0.3:1 |
| UK | 20,492 | sto lat | 1,190 | Happy Birthday | 0.1:1 |
| Australia | 9,300 | sto lat | 305 | Happy Birthday | 0.0:1 |
| Canada | 10,633 | las mañanitas | 575 | Happy Birthday | 0.1:1 |
| Ireland | 1,700 | sto lat | 122 | Happy Birthday | 0.1:1 |
| New Zealand | 1,250 | cumpleaños feliz | 18.3 | Happy Birthday | 0.0:1 |
| Germany | 14,350 | zum geburtstag viel glück | 7,875 | Happy Birthday | 0.5:1 |
| France | 7,350 | joyeux anniversaire chanson | 15,900 | local | 2.2:1 |
| Spain | 2,608 | cumpleaños feliz | 48,333 | local | 18.5:1 |
| Italy | 6,300 | tanti auguri a te | 10,633 | local | 1.7:1 |
| Netherlands | 2,875 | lang zal ze leven | 3,192 | local | 1.1:1 |
| Sweden | 772 | ja må hon leva | 850 | local | 1.1:1 |
| Norway | 372 | hurra for deg | 2,267 | local | 6.1:1 |
| Denmark | 357 | zum geburtstag viel glück | 162 | Happy Birthday | 0.5:1 |
| Finland | 228 | ja må hon leva | 76.7 | Happy Birthday | 0.3:1 |
| Poland | 2,233 | sto lat | 22,333 | local | 10.0:1 |
| Brazil | 14,450 | parabéns pra você | 20,492 | local | 1.4:1 |
| Mexico | 6,592 | las mañanitas | 133,333 | local | 20.2:1 |
| Argentina | 1,113 | cumpleaños feliz | 5,000 | local | 4.5:1 |
| Colombia | 4,825 | cumpleaños feliz | 23,833 | local | 4.9:1 |
| Chile | 856 | cumpleaños feliz | 7,650 | local | 8.9:1 |
| Peru | 5,717 | cumpleaños feliz | 19,875 | local | 3.5:1 |
| Japan | 2,975 | tanti auguri a te | 228 | Happy Birthday | 0.1:1 |
| South Korea | 789 | cumpleaños feliz | 25.0 | Happy Birthday | 0.0:1 |
| Philippines | 10,483 | maligayang bati | 588 | Happy Birthday | 0.1:1 |
| Indonesia | 6,308 | tiup lilinnya | 1,275 | Happy Birthday | 0.2:1 |
| India | 138,833 | zum geburtstag viel glück | 57.5 | Happy Birthday | 0.0:1 |
| South Africa | 11,183 | zum geburtstag viel glück | 20.0 | Happy Birthday | 0.0:1 |
| Nigeria | 3,933 | las mañanitas | 10.8 | Happy Birthday | 0.0:1 |
| Turkey | 3,675 | zum geburtstag viel glück | 118 | Happy Birthday | 0.0:1 |
| Portugal | 347 | parabéns a você | 1,525 | local | 4.4:1 |
| Belgium | 1,800 | joyeux anniversaire chanson | 823 | Happy Birthday | 0.5:1 |
| Austria | 1,575 | happy birthday lied | 1,019 | Happy Birthday | 0.6:1 |
| Switzerland | 1,425 | zum geburtstag viel glück | 1,450 | local | 1.0:1 |
| Singapore | 1,600 | panjang umurnya | 20.0 | Happy Birthday | 0.0:1 |
| Malaysia | 3,033 | panjang umurnya | 99.2 | Happy Birthday | 0.0:1 |
| Thailand | 9,700 | zum geburtstag viel glück | 33.3 | Happy Birthday | 0.0:1 |
| Vietnam | 11,258 | zum geburtstag viel glück | 43.3 | Happy Birthday | 0.0:1 |
| UAE | 3,108 | cumpleaños feliz | 26.7 | Happy Birthday | 0.0:1 |
| Saudi Arabia | 2,017 | las mañanitas | 10.8 | Happy Birthday | 0.0:1 |
What it means
Big moments get soundtracks, and most people pick from the same short list. The most-searched pick is rarely the most personal one, and a personalized song built around one person's name and story is the version nobody else has. If you have a hook of your own, an AI song generator can turn it into a full track with vocals in a few minutes.
Method
- Google search volume, 40 countries (national data, no language filter), monthly Oct 2025–Sep 2026. 'Avg/mo' = mean of those 12 months.
- English song = max of "happy birthday song" and "happy birthday to you". Local songs = song-title queries only. Greetings that are also song titles ("feliz cumpleaños", "joyeux anniversaire", "mutlu yıllar", "selamat ulang tahun", "tanti auguri", "bon anniversaire", "alles gute zum geburtstag", "iyi ki doğdun", "hyvää syntymäpäivää", "tillykke med fødselsdagen", "생일 축하합니다", "お誕生日おめでとう", bare "happy birthday") are excluded, because most of those searches are for cards and messages. "Happy birthday japanese/tagalog" and "stevie wonder happy birthday" are also left out.
- Close variants share one pooled number.
Cite and download
Free to use and cite with a link back to this page.
aisong.lol Research. (2026). What the world sings instead of 'Happy Birthday'. aisong.lol. https://aisong.lol/research/what-the-world-sings-instead-of-happy-birthday
Use this data. Every table in this study as one spreadsheet-ready file.
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