Q2 Hit Songwriting Trends
August 15, 2017
Yael Penn in Artist Development, Hit Songs Deconstructed, Music Data, Songwriting, Songwriting Tips, Yael Penn, songwriting
Hit Songs Deconstructed (www.HitSongsDeconstructed.com) recently released its Top 10 Hit Songwriting Trend Report, which details the compositional trends of the songs that chart in the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 during a specific quarter across 28+ categories, including song length, genres and influences, instruments, first chorus occurrence, tempo, key and more.
Highlights include:
- Songs on average have been getting longer, featuring longer intros and getting to the first chorus later quarter over quarter for the past year.
- Hip Hop in the Top 10 continued to surge for the third straight quarter, rising to its highest level in years and surpassing Pop to become the top primary genre of Q2.
- Country and Latin, which have been rare in the Top 10, made a comeback with Body Like A Back Road and Despacito.
- The use of acoustic guitar in the Top 10 nearly doubled in Q2 compared to Q1 thanks to hits such as Body Like A Back Road, Despacito and Shape Of You, among others.
- Songs co-written by five or more writers are still by far the most prominent, accounting for over half of all songs in the Top 10.
- Love/relationships remains the most popular lyrical theme.
- Songs that feature a duet or group vocal, which accounted for over half of all songs in Q4 and Q1, are down to just 36% in Q2.
Article originally appeared on Music Think Tank (https://www.musicthinktank.com/).
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