Pop Chart Wire: Week of December 10Th

Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com

Pop Chart Wire: Week of December 10th

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Note: * denotes a new addition to the top 5

Changes from last week’s chart:

Rihanna hits #1 with “We Found Love.” David Guetta’s “Without You” drops to #2. LMFAO climbs two spots to land at #3 with “Sexy And I Know It.” Gym Class Heroes featuring Adam Levine drops to #4 with “Stereo Hearts.” Adele’s “Someone Like You” drops out of the top 5, landing at #6. Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger” reenters the top 5 at the #5 spot.

New Arrivals To The Top 5:

“Moves Like Jagger” (Maroon 5 Featuring Christina Aguilera – Pop): Written by Adam Levine, Benny Bianco, Ammar Malik and Shellback, “Moves Like Jagger” is an ultra-infectious funk influenced Electro Pop/Dance song characterized by trebly “funk” guitars, a pounding kick driven “disco”/club beat, pulsating laser/fuzz synths and an exceptionally memorable whistle.

Songwriter Alert: Notice how the whistle melody that kicks the song off repeats itself both as a whistle and in the vocal melody during the last line of the chorus “I’ve got the mo-o-o-o-o-ves like Jagger.” It takes the infectious nature and memorability factor of the song to a whole new level.

Deconstruction:

Once again we have a mixed bag of sub-genre influences in the top 5, including dance, funk, hip hop, and straight-up pop. All are electro in nature, however. One song (“Stereo Hearts”) starts immediately with the chorus. The others begin with the verse (after the intro). Only one song possesses a straight-up A-B-A-B-C-B structure, though “Stereo Hearts” also follows the form after kicking off with the chorus. Three out of five songs feature a male lead vocalist, one features a female lead and one is a duet. Regarding when first choruses occur, one song kicks right off with the chorus (“Stereo Hearts,”) one occurs quite far into the song (“Without You,” at 36% of the way in,) one occurs a bit over a quarter of the way in (“Sexy and I Know It,” at 29%,) and two occur

1 / 2 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com

right around one-fifth of the way in (“We Found Love” at 17% and “Moves Like Jagger” at 22%). Primary instrumentation varies from song to song, though all feature a synth at some point in the mix. Four out of five songs contain “proper” intros. Of the four songs that contain “proper” intros, three of them land at 0:15 and one lands at 0:07 (“We Found Love.”) Two songs contain an outro section. “Sexy and I Know It,” (though it’s basically just a reversion back to the music that defined the chorus) and “Moves Like Jagger.” They land at 0:26 and 0:04 respectively. Three out of five songs contain a bridge, all of which occur after the second chorus. The two songs that do not contain a bridge are “Without You” and “We Found Love” (though the third verse does function in the same manner as a bridge from a backing music standpoint). None of the songs contain a “proper” solo.

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