If you've ever seen the viral clip of popular radio tunes that all use the same four chords, this latest study will, well ... strike a chord. The research published earlier this month in the journal Scientific Reports isn't about chords per se, but about rhythm and pitch—both of which scientists say have become increasingly less complex in pop songs over the past 75 years or so. Computational musicologists from Queen Mary University of London used mathematical models and algorithms to examine the top five songs on the Billboard charts from 1950 to 2023, which Smithsonian notes included such hits as the Beatles' "Hey Jude," Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," and Madonna's "Vogue."
Study leader Madeline Hamilton says they found that the complexity of both rhythm and pitch fell by about 30% over that time period in the more than 360 songs they listened to. The researchers also discovered that there were three distinct "melodic revolutions"—in 1975, 1996, and 2000—where song melodies became exceedingly simplified. Hamilton says that the mid-'70s shift came down right around the time disco and stadium rock came on the scene, while the later two tracked with the rise in popularity of rap and electronic music, as well as MTV.
Hamilton says that just because a melody is simple, it doesn't mean the song overall is, or that it's necessarily lacking. "It's not that music is getting less complex," she tells the New York Times. "The melody is getting less complex, but maybe the chords are getting more complex, or maybe the production." Hamilton says she needed "sanity checks" during her experiment, which at one point had her in COVID lockdown listening to songs in a dorm room for 10 hours a day. She says she now finds it difficult to listen to many popular songs, with one in particular that "haunts" her: UB40's 1993 cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love." Listen if you dare. (More songs stories.)
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