POP TRENDSdeconstructed - Hit Songs Deconstructed Reports

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POP TRENDS deconstructed

*�ExerptsQ1-2011 (January - March)

POP TRENDS Deconstructed Exerpt Q1 (January - March): © 2011 Hit Songs Deconstructed. All Rights Reserved.

Q1-2011 AT-A-GLANCE: Comparison ChartThe chart below provides a side by side comparison of the key findings derived from the Summary Recap section.

CATEGORY #1 Songs #2-#10 Songs All Songs

Most Popular Song Structure A-B-A-B-C-B A-B-A-B-C-B A-B-A-B-C-B

Average Song Length 3:43 3:51 3:47

Top Occurring Song Length Range 3:30-3:59 3:30-3:59 / 4:00-4:29 3:30-3:59

Average Intro Length 0:12 0:18 0:15

Top Occurring Intro Length Range 0:05 – 0:09 / 0:15 – 0:19 0:05 – 0:09 0:05 – 0:09

Songs containing “Proper“ Intros 88% 62% 73%

Average Outro Length 0:21 0:15 0:18

Top Occurring Outro Length Range 0:15 – 0:190:20 – 0:24 0:15 – 0:19 0:15 – 0:19

Songs Containing “Proper” Outros 25% 43% 36%

Average Time For 1st Chorus To Hit 0:44 0:28 0:36

Top 1st Chorus Hit Range 0:30 – 0:30, 0:40 – 0:49, 0:50-0:59 0:01 – 0:09 0:01 – 0:09

Avgerage % Of Song Where 1st Chorus Hits 20% 12% 16%

Top 1st Chorus Hit % Into Song Range 15% – 19%, 20% – 24% 0%-4% 20%-24%

Top Occuring Tempos Mid/Up Mid/Up Mid/Up

Most Popular ToneElectric: (75%)Acoustic: (0%)Combo: (25%)

Electric:(100%)Acoustic: (0%)Combo: (0%)

Electric: (91%)Acoustic: (0%)Combo: (9%)

Most Popular Primary InstrumentationSynth: (50%)Guitar: (13%)*Other: (37%)

Synth: (86%)Guitar: (0%)**Other: (14%)

Synth: (73%)Guitar: (5%)Other: (22%)

Most Popular Primary Vocal Gender Male: (50%)Female: (50%)

Male: (42%)Female: (29%)Duet: (29%)

Male: (45%)Female: (36%)Duet: (19%)

Songs With A Pre-Chorus 50% 21% 32%

Songs With A Solo 0% 7% 5%

Songs With A Bridge 100% 79% 86%


CATEGORY #1 Songs #2-#10 Songs All Songs

Songs With A Falses Ending 88% 79% 82%

Lyrical Theme Love/Relationships Hooking Up Love/Relationships & Hooking Up

Primary Style Electro Pop/Dance Electro Pop/Dance Electro

Pop/Dance

* Two songs equally feature an acoustic guitar and synth.** One song features a synth/piano combo, while another song features keys and electric guitar.

Key�Points• The most popular song structure for all top 10 hits is A-B-A-B-C-B.

• The average song length for #1 hits is 0:08 shorter than #2-#10 hits.

• The average intro length for #1 hits was 0:06 shorter than #2-#10 hits.

• 88% of #1 hits contained a “proper” intro section, while 62% of #2-#10 hits contained one.

• The average outro length for #1 hits was 0:06 longer than #2-#10 hits.

• Only 25% of #1 hits contained a “proper” outro, while 43% of #2-#10 hits contained one.

• On average, the average chorus for #1 hits kicked in 0:16 (8%) later in the song than #2-#10 hits. This is primarily due to #2-#10 hits having more songs that start with the chorus.

• 50% of #1 songs have a pre-chorus, while only 21% of #2-#10 hits have one.

• The vast majority of all songs incorporate a bridge into their song structure.

• Overall, solo’s still are not “in” within the current Pop genre.

• The primary lyrical theme amongst #1 hits was “Love/Relationships”, while the majority of #2-#10 hits had a “Hooking Up” theme.

• Electro Pop/Dance is the primary style for both categories.

• Only 5% of all top 10 songs feature a guitar as the primary instrument.

• The majority of all songs have a false ending (i.e. they end abruptly, giving the listener the perception that the song is going to continue on).

• Overall, the number of Male lead vocalists have a slight edge over female lead vocalists.

In the Q1-2011 Pop Trends Report you’ll find additional At-A-Glance charts including “Lyrical Theme/Writers/Point-Of-View”, “Song Structure”, “New Q1-2011 Arrivals”, “Q4-2010 De-Charted Hits”, “Top 10 Quarterly Comparison” and more!


LYRICAL THEME Last 4 Quarter Trends#1�Hits

Theme Q1-2010 Q2-2010 Q3-2010 Q4-2010 Q1-2011

Love Relationships 67% 50% 50% 71% 50%

Partying/Clubbing 33% 25% 16% 29% 12.5%

Hooking Up 0% 25% 0% 0% 12.5%

Inspirational 0% 0% 0% 0% 25%

*Other 0% 0% 16% 0% 0%

* Other�-�Q3�-2010: “California Gurls” (Props to California).

When it comes to #1 Hit Pop Songs, the prevailing lyrical theme has been “love/relationships” since Q1-2010. It’s fluctuated between 50% and 71% of all #1 Pop songs, and is currently still the major theme in Q1-2011, at 50% of songs. Two key themes that are on the rise are “hooking up” and “inspirational.”

All�Top�10�Hits

Theme Q1-2010 Q2-2010 Q3-2010 Q4-2010 Q1-2011

Love Relationships 67% 52% 62% 48% 27%

Partying/Clubbing 33% 10% 10% 29% 23%

Hooking Up 0% 19% 5% 9% 27%

Inspirational 0% 0% 0% 5% 18%

*Other 0% 19% 23% 9% 5%


* Other�-�Q2-2010: “Imma Be”, “Airplanes” (Escape), “California Gurls” (Props To California), “Billionaire” (Being Rich)

* Other�-�Q3-2010: “Airplanes” (Escape), “California Gurls” (Props to California), “Billionaire” (Being Rich), “Cooler Than Me” (Ego), “Take It Off” (Drag Show)

* Other�-�Q4-2010: “Cooler Than Me” (Ego), “Take It Off” (Drag Show)

* Other�-�Q1-2011: “F**k You” (Self explanatory)

As with #1 hit Pop songs, “hooking up” and “inspirational” themed songs are on the rise, while “love/relationship” themed songs have been on a steady decline since Q3-2010. “Partying/Clubbing “has decreased as well over the last quarter, but not by a great degree. See the Trend section of the report for greater detail on Lyrical Theme Trends.

In the Q1-2011 Pop Trends Report you’ll find additional specialized sections including song title analysis, song structure, new arrivals vs. de-charted hits, waveforms, theory and much more!


THEORY Grenade


Basic�progression:�Instrumental�Hook:�No

Time:�Duple�

Key:��D minor

Verse:�D minor (i) – A minor (v) – D minor (i) – A minor (v) /Bflat Major (VI)

Chorus:�A major (V) – D minor (i) – Bflat Major (VI) – F major (III) – C major (V of iv)

Chorus�Part�2:�B flat major (VI) – C major (V of III) – F major (III) – A major (V) – Dminor (I) – Bflat

major (VI) – A major (V)

Bridge:�G minor (iv) – D minor (i) – G minor (iv) – A major (V)

Harmonic�Indications:��

Here we have a straight forward work within two separate sections and a Chorus in two parts. If we looked at the Bridge harmony as if G minor was the tonic (I), then it would have almost the same sequence as the Verse, only adopting a secondary dominant on the final harmonic beat, similar to the V of iv (V/iv) within the last harmony of the Chorus i.e. (i-v-i-V/V.)

In the Chorus Part 2, there is a beautiful chromatic movement which moves F major to A major by moving scale degree 5 of F major (C natural) up one half step to become scale degree 3 of A major (C sharp) raising the harmonic ante in a nice display of chromatic mediant relations. The reason that this sounds so dramatic is because starting in the Chorus, the music actually feels and functions like it is in the key of F major, in which case the harmony, starting at Bflat Major (VI) of the Chorus and going to A major (V) in Chorus Part 2 would actually be: IV-I-V-IV-V-I. Theoretically, this is much easier to understand than using “V of III” and the like. Notice all of this harmony really looks like the standard I-IV-V conglomerate.

The best use of dissonance here is the melodic placement on scale degree 7 (B*.) These tensions, which usually come on downbeats, give a very nice uneasy feeling which is often resolved in a very interesting way. In the first two instances of the 7th it is coming on G natural, as the 7th to A major/minor. Just when you are expecting another 7, instead of getting G natural you get the tonic note A natural and instead of being another 7 it is suspended into scale degree 5 of a descending tonic (D minor) triad (D-F-A), in the beginning of the Chorus Part 1. The instance of 7 being present in the Bridge is different, because there is definitely the expectation of the 7th harmony, but the 7 itself comes on a weak beat, creating even more tension. Very tight.

Melodic/Motivic�Indications:��

(A*) is a motive of four descending notes (A-G-F-E). This motive is sequenced and repeated throughout the Verse Part 2. There are several instances of stepwise descending motives, including the choral accompaniment (Bflat-F-C) in the Chorus Part 1. The eighth note rest at the beginning of the last notated measure of Chorus Part 2 is a very nice use of space to accent the text which it follows “yes I would die for you baby.” That small rest gives the listener enough time to digest the content in a deeper way before hearing more of the story.


A�few�common�terms:

Instrumental�Hook: A melody which is not sung but just as prevalent.

Inversion: Flipping an interval or melody upside down or downside up.

Scale�Degree: The position which a tone has in a given scale, i.e. the C major scale is C-D-E-F-G-A-B and its correlating scale degrees are 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. With this model D=2, G=5, etc. Scale degree 1 is called the TONIC note. Scale degrees 1,3 and 5 together create a major or minor TRIAD (3 note chord.)

Time: Duple refers to times that are divisible by 2, i.e. 2/4 or 4/4. Triple refers to times that are divisible by 3, i.e. 3/4or 6/8.

TREND ANALYSIS: Q1-2010 – Q1-2011This section provides a graphical representation of how key song elements are trending within top 10 charting Pop songs

for each quarter during the year.

Sub-Genre�Elements:

In the Q1-2011 Pop Trends Report you’ll find detailed theory for each #1 hit during the quarter including F**kn’ Perfect, Firework, Just A Dream, Just The Way You Are, Only Girl (In The Word), Raise Your Glass, and “Tonight (I’m Lovin’ You).


• In Q1-2010, we saw an almost equal amount of songs showing strong elements of Dance, R&B/Soul and Rap/Hip Hop within their framework. Rock barely figured into the equation, comprising just 14% of current top 10 Pop songs.

• From Q1-2010 to Q2-2010, we saw a slight decrease in the amount of songs featuring Dance and R&B/Soul vibes, while Rock saw a modest jump, increasing from 14% to 24% of all top 10 Pop songs. Rap/Hip Hop remained pretty much stable, increasing by 32% to 33% of all songs.

• From Q2-2010 to Q3-2010, both Rap/Hip Hop and Rock saw moderate declines, having their influence drop by 9% and 5% of total songs respectively. Dance saw a 4% increase, while R&B/Soul saw the greatest increase, rising from 29% to 38% of all songs.

• From Q3-2010 to Q4-2010, Dance saw the largest increase, rising from 33% to 43% of all songs. R&B/Soul saw a moderate drop from 38% to 33%, Rap/Hip Hop remained constant at 24%, and Rock saw a 5% increase to 24% of all songs.

• From Q4-2010 to Q1-2011, Dance took off, increasing from 43% to 59% of all songs. R&B/Soul continued with its decline since Q3-2010, dropping from 33% to 27%. Rap/Hip Hop still remained pretty much steady since Q3, increasing to 27% in Q1-2011. Rock saw a significant drop off, decreasing from 24% to 14% Q4 to Q1-2011.

• As stated earlier, we’re in the midst of an Electro Pop/Dance fad. Based on the trends above, this will probably still continue for some time to come. Rock seems to be up and down, but never accounting for more than a quarter of all top 10 Pop songs. Rap/Hip Hop seems to be the most stable influence on the current Pop genre, having its influence fluctuate between 32% and 24% of all songs. R&B/Soul seems to be on a decline, but still has its influence accounting for a quarter to a third of all current top 10 Pop songs.

In the Q1-2011 Pop Trends Report you’ll find detailed trend analysis spanning 23 categories including song length, lyrical themes, lead vocal gender, primary instrumentation, intro and outro length’s, songs containing a solo, songs containing a bridge and much, much more!


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