Anatomy of a Hit Song (2000–2018)

Many before me have tried to find the formula for the perfect pop song. From academics who analyze the acoustic complexity of popular music, to famed produces who’ve learned which heuristics work and which don’t.

My interest in the problem began when I saw this infographic:

https://infogram.com/anatomy-of-a-hit-song-1g0q3plrxwvnp1g

It shows that many characteristics are shared by the hit songs from the 1950s to the 2000s.

There have been 221 number one songs on the Billboard Top-100 chart since Jan 1, 2000. I decided to use data that I’ve collected from Spotify, Billboard and other sources to see what updates can be made to these conclusions. What is the anatomy of a hit song in the last two decades?

Female Artists are More Dominant

Although only 41.6% of the number 1 songs came from female-fronted acts, the artists with the most hits tend to be women. If we ascribe Destiny’s Child songs to Beyonce, then the top 3 artists are all women (Rihanna and Katty Perry being the other two)

Rock Songs aren’t Hits

Although country, rock, and electronic dance music (edm) are well represented on the Top-100 charts, they have only a tiny percentage of the hits. If you want to make it to…