Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com Q2 Hit Pop Sub-Genre Influences Overview This report spotlights the individual sub-genres that helped shape the 25 top 10 songs that landed on the Billboard Pop Songs chart during Q2-2013. Typically, these influences fall into one of the following categories: Dance Hip Hop/Rap Rock R&B/Soul Fusion/Other “Other” refers to songs that didn’t fall into one of the primary sub-genre categories detailed above (e.g. Folk, Singer/Songwriter, Dubstep, etc…). In regard to Fusion, this is where more than one primary sub-genre influences a song’s sound. Some recent examples include Electropop fusing with World/Indian (Come & Get It), Country fusing with Straight-Up Pop and Hip Hop/Rap (Cruise) and Dance (Disco) fusing with Funk and R&B/Soul under a retro 1970?s umbrella (Get Lucky). The Q2-2013 Primary Sub-Genre Category Breakdown 1 / 19 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com As you can see in the graph above, the vast majority of songs possessed either a Fusion of influences or were different in nature than any of the primary sub-genre categories (i.e. they weren’t primarily Rock, R&B Hip Hop/Rap or Dance). Note, however, that this category has been in decline over the past couple of quarters, reaching its lowest level in over a year by the end of Q2. The reason for the decline was due to the increased number of Rock, Hip Hop/Rap and R&B/Soul songs that entered into the Pop songs top 10 for the first time during the quarter. Dance (6 Songs) *Alive Don’t You Worry Child *Feel This Moment *The Other Side Scream & Shout Sweet Nothing Hip Hop/Rap (2 Songs) *Can’t Hold Us 2 / 19 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com Thrift Shop R&B/Soul (2 Songs) *Blurred Lines Suit & Tie Rock (3 Songs) It’s Time *My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark *Radioactive Fusion & Other (12 Songs) *Come & Get It: Electropop, World (Indian) *Cruise: Country, Straight-Up Pop, Hip Hop/Rap Daylight: Straight-Up Pop, Ballad *Get Lucky: Retro Funk, Disco, R&B/Soul *Heart Attack: Straight-Up Electropop *I Love It: Electropop, Punk I Knew You Were Trouble: Straight-Up Pop, Dubstep *Just Give Me A Reason: Straight-Up Pop, Ballad *Mirrors: Straight-Up Pop, R&B, Ballad Stay: Straight-Up Pop, Ballad *Troublemaker: Straight-Up Pop, Rock, Funk, Dance When I Was Your Man: Straight-Up Pop, R&B/Soul, Ballad *Denotes a “new arrival” to the Pop songs top 10 during Q2-2013. The other songs were top 10 carryovers from Q1. POP FUSION CATEGORY BREAKDOWN 3 / 19 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com 4 / 19 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com 5 / 19 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com There were 15 distinct sub-genres that mixed and matched with one another to help shape the sound of the 12 songs that landed in the Fusion/Other category during Q2-2013. As was the case during the preceding 2 quarters, the most popular sub-genre influence found in chart-topping Pop songs was Straight-Up Pop, helping to define the sound of all songs within the category. Ballads once again were the second most popular, helping to shape the sound of 42% of all songs. On the flip side, the 2 losers of the quarter were songs that feature a Pop/Rock influence (decreasing from 29% of songs to just 8%), as well as those that are Folk in nature (decreasing from 21% to 0% of songs). Sub-Genres on the Rise (these sub-genres increased in number from Q1 to Q2) Straight-Up Pop (Increased from 50% to 100% of songs) Ballads (Increased from 36% to 42% of songs) R&B/Soul (Increased from 14% to 33% of songs) Dance (Increased from 14% to 33% of songs) Hip Hop/Rap (Increased from 7% to 17% of songs) Funk (Increased from 7% to 17% of songs) Punk (Increased from 0% to 8% of songs) Country (Increased from 0% to 8% of songs) World (Indian) (Increased from 0% to 8% of songs) Sub-Genres in Decline (these sub-genres decreased in number from Q1 to Q2) Pop/Rock (Decreased from 29% to 8% of songs) Folk (Decreased from 21% of songs to 0% of songs) Singer/Songwriter (Decreased from 7% to 0% of songs) Reggae (Decreased from 7% to 0% of songs) New Wave (Decreased from 7% to 0% of songs) Sub-Genres that remained Constant (+/- 1%) 6 / 19 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com Dubstep FUSION CATEGORY SUB-GENRE PLACEMENT The chart below shows you where each sub-genre influence appears in the song 2 primary methods were utilized to fuse multiple sub-genres together within a single song – the full song blend and sectional segmenting. 7 / 19 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com Note that the blend category was up by 1 song relative to the preceding quarter, while sectional segmenting dropped from 5 songs in Q1 to just 2 in Q2. The Blend (i.e. multiple sub-genres are fused together in varying degrees throughout the entire song) Come & Get It Daylight Get Lucky Heart Attack I Love It Just Give Me A Reason Mirrors Stay Troublemaker When I Was Your Man Sectional Segmenting (i.e. one specific sub-genre defines a specific section of the song) Cruise I Knew You Were Trouble Back to Top SUB-GENRE CHART PERFORMANCE (Peak Placement on the Billboard Pop Songs Chart as of Q2-2013) 8 / 19 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com Dance Songs (6) None hit #1 3 landed in the top 5: Don’t You Worry Child (#2), Scream & Shout (#3), Feel This Moment (#4). Hip Hop/Rap Songs (2) Both of Macklemore’s songs, Can’t Hold Us and Thrift Shop, peaked at #1. R&B/Soul Songs (2) None hit #1 or landed in the top 5. Suit & Tie peaked at #8, while Blurred Lines peaked at #9. Note that Blurred Lines was new to the top 10 during Q2. Rock Songs (3) None hit #1 or landed in the top 5. It’s Time and Radioactive peaked at #10, while My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark peaked at #7. Note that My Songs and Radioactive were new to the top 10 during Q2. Fusion & Other Influenced Songs (12) 3 songs peaked at #1: I Knew You Were Trouble, Just Give Me A Reason and Mirrors. 7 songs landed in the top 5: The #1’s above plus Come & Get It (#3), I Love It (#3), Daylight (#4) and Heart Attack (#4). 8 out of 12 were new to the top 10 during the quarter: Come & Get It, Cruise, Get Lucky, Heart Attack, I Love It, Just Give Me A Reason, Mirrors and Troublemaker. 9 / 19 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com Back to Top SUB-GENRE COMPOSITIONAL COMPARISON 10 / 19 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com 11 / 19 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com Song Structure (Form) The straight-up A-B-A-B-C-B form was the most popular form utilized within the Rock and Fusion categories. The Dance, Hip Hop/Rap and R&B/Soul categories didn’t have 1 particular structure that accounted for the majority of songs. Song Length The R&B/Soul category possessed the longest average song length, while Fusion and Rock were the shortest. Dance and Hip Hop/Rap landed right in the middle. Intro Length The Dance, R&B/Soul and Fusion categories all possess average intro lengths that are relatively short and close to one another in length (0:13, 0:11, 0:11, respectively). The Rock, and especially Hip Hop/Rap categories possess average intro lengths that are quite long by mainstream standards (0:21 and 0:33, respectively). Songs That Contain An Intro All of the songs within all categories contain an intro within their framework except for the Fusion category, where 2 didn’t. Average Outro Length The R&B/Soul category possessed the longest average outro length at 0:29, while Hip Hop/Rap was the shortest at 0:06. The Dance, Rock and Fusion categories were all very close to one another at 0:19, 0:21, 0:21, respectively. Songs That Contain An Outro R&B/Soul was the only category where both songs contain an outro within their framework. It was the case with only one-third of songs within the Fusion and Rock categories, and half of songs within the Dance and Hip Hop/Rap categories. Average First Chorus Occurrence: Time On average, it took the longest amount of time for the first chorus to hit within the Hip Hop/Rap category and the shortest within the R&B/Soul category. Rock was on the longer end of the spectrum as well at 0:54, and Fusion and Dance hovered right around the Pop songs average of 0:42.