The Australian, Wall Street Journal - Science finds formula for why Adele's Someone Like You is a tear-jerker

…If Someone Like You produces such intense sadness in listeners, why is it so popular? Last year, Robert Zatorre and his team of neuroscientists at McGill University reported that emotionally intense music releases dopamine in the pleasure and reward centers of the brain, similar to the effects of food, sex and drugs. This makes us feel good and motivates us to repeat the behaviour.