Music is all about expression right? It’s about transforming internal emotions you carry, into something other than words. For the most hearty of music lovers, myself included, music is about the picture painted while listening or after hearing; there is no template nor formula. The best songs are the ones that evoke raw and uncut emotion.
But what if I told you that each repetition of a song’s chorus has proven to boost the odds of that song making it to number one.
Researchers have studied over 2,400 songs dating back half a century and according to findings by Professor Ordanini with the University of Southern California, the likelihood of a song reaching number one is perpetually dependent on the number of times its chorus repeats. The more constant the chorus, the more probable that song will go on to chart higher. The study suggests that is the case due to the brain processing those common repetitions more quickly.
Of those 2,400 songs tested, a little over 1,000 of them reached number one while the other almost 1,500, never climbed above the 90 percentile. Within that slew of songs, choruses amongst them all were repeated one to 16 times. Now there are no exact figures showing a median amount of times a chorus was repeated but the moral of the story is – your brain processes familiar parts of the song more quickly, which makes sense. So for all you music producers, serving your audience the meat, the bulk of your song numerous times throughout the duration of your track – has proven to stick with the listeners more often and returning back later.
The study also suggests that the songs that stand out in our minds are those that we can easily hear the same words repeating over and over again.
Here are the top two most repetitive songs of each decade which each repeated their choruses seven times.
1960’s
Marty Robbins – El Paso
Zager and Evans – In The Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus)
1970’s
Ringo Starr – Photograph
Bee Gees – Jive Talkin’
1980’s
USA For Africa – We Are The World
Tears for Fears – Shout
1990’s
Amy Grant – Baby, Baby
Notorious B.I.G. – Hypnotize
2000’s
Usher – U Remind Me
Jennifer Lopez – I’m Real
2010’s
Rihanna – S&M
Adele – Set Fire To The Rain
Source: The Telegraph
Wow big surprise -_-
So the less you put into your production the better it will do on beatport, i could have told you that by looking at the top 10 on any given week. Popularity and quality are in different time zones for EDM
Stupid article
Most of you guys have misinterpreted this article a little bit. Although the formula for pop, or any mainstream genre for that matter, is four on the floor and they all sound the same, the repetition of the chorus is what makes the song so memorable. Think about some of your favorite, more intricate artists that go out on a whim to produce music that makes you think; you will rarely find yourself humming it around the dinner table.
The songs you sing or hum at dinner are the ones that have repetitive parts and are easily identified by your brain. We all know the brain is very complex but it is very simple as well. You’ve heard the phrase about repeating something three times and you’re more likely then to remember it? The same thing is applied here. Your memory recall of a song that repeats the chorus a substantial number of times will happen more frequently if it has been hyper exposed to it. And the reason it is the chorus is because it usually is the only constant part within a song. None of this has to necessarily do with “poor production” although that is what seems to control the charts these days because the average listener is listening for something familiar and the massive labels are very good at delivering to the average listener.
This article has already been done to prove the potency of pop songs making radio time. Yes, its incredibly applicable to EDM. No, it isn’t something to be proud of. It honestly proves that people need to be forced into remembering a chorus to make a song profitable. It, like many things in 2014 pop culture, is totally intangible. A song evokes a feeling, tells a story that the listener takes with them. Most EDM tunes don’t do that. They deliver a drop and chorus, after a buldup. That’s as unique as a track gets. Hardwell and Martin Garrix use this formula to profit. They force feed a trend that will eventually die out, as it is starting to do, thanks to people who care about “good old days”.
So a song song reaching the top is dependent on the Chorus huh? Then explain the terrible shit that is on Billboard charting at the moment?!
Incredibly irrelevant to anything
All those songs are crap.