POP Quarterly Report Q3-2010 (July-September) deconstructed POP Q3 -2010 Report (July - September): Page 1 CONTENTS Q3-2010 Top 10 Song List Page 3 At-A-Glance: Structure Chart Page 4 At-A-Glance: Lyrical Theme/Writers/P.O.V Page 5 Summary Recap: #1 Hits Page 6 Summary Recap: Non-#1’s (#2-#10) Hits Page 7 Summary Recap: All Top 10 Hits Page 8 At-A-Glance Comparison Chart (#1’s, #2-#10, All) Page 8 Detail Recap: Song Structure Analysis Page 10 Detail Recap: Song Length Analysis Page 10 Detail Recap: Intro Analysis Page 11 Detail Recap: Outro Analysis Page 13 Detail Recap: 1st Chorus Hit – Timeframe Page 14 Detail Recap: 1st Chorus Hit – Percent of Total Song Page 15 Waveforms: #1 Hits Page 17 The Ideal Hit Pop Song: Q3-2010 Page 19 New Top 10 Hit Arrivals Chart: Q3-2010 Page 20 De-charted Top 10 Hits: Q2-2010 Page 21 New Q3 Arrivals / Q2 De-charted song comparison: #1 Hits Page 22 New Q3 Arrivals / Q2 De-charted song comparison: All Top 10 Hits Page 23 Q1 – Q3 Top 10 Pop Song Quarterly Comparison Chart Page 24 Q3 – Q2 Comparison Key Points Page 25 Q1 – Q3 Trend Analysis & Graphs Page 26 POP Q3 -2010 Report (July - September): Page 2 The Hit Songs Deconstructed Pop Quarterly Recap Report is based on the 21 Hit Pop Songs that entered the Billboard Pop Top 10 during Q3-2010. #1 Hit Pop Songs (6): Peak Position song artist #1 Nothin’ On You B.o.B #1 Love the Way You Lie Eminem featuring Rihanna #1 California Gurls Katy Perry #1 Your Love is My Drug Ke$ha #1 Break Your Heart Taio Cruz #1 Dynamite Taio Cruz #2 - #10 Pop Songs (15): Peak Position song artist #2 Airplanes B.o.B #2 I Like It Enrique Iglesias #2 OMG Usher #3 Cooler Than Me Mike Posner #3 Billionaire Travis McCoy #4 Teenage Dream Katy Perry #4 Alejandro Lady Gaga #5 DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love Usher #6 Just The Way You Are Bruno Mars #6 Bulletproof La Roux #7 Ridin’ Solo Jason Derulo #7 Take It Off Ke$ha #8 Find Your Love Drake #9 Misery Maroon 5 #9 Impossible Shontelle POP Q3 -2010 Report (July - September): Page 3 AT-A-GLANCE: Structure Longest Shortest The chart below provides a snapshot of key structural elements present within the top 10 Pop songs from Q3-2010. BB Peak song intro outro 1st % into song artist structure Position Length Length Length Chorus song Nothin’ On You B.o.B #1 B-A-B-A-B-C-B 4:30 0:04 0:23 0:04 1% Love the Way You Lie Eminem ft. Rihanna #1 B-A-B-A-B-A-B 4:23 n/a n/a 0:01 0% California Gurls Katy Perry #1 A-B-A-B-C-B 3:56 0:08 0:21 0:54 23% Your Love is My Drug Ke$ha #1 A-B-A-B-C-B 3:08 0:09 0:15 0:40 21% Dynamite Taio Cruz #1 A-B-A-B-C-B 3:24 0:07 0:09 0:32 16% Break Your Heart Taio Cruz #1 A-B-A-B-C-B 3:08 0:07 0:04 0:38 20% aVeRaGes FoR BiLLBoaRD #1 Hits 3:44 0:07 0:14 0:28 14% Airplanes B.o.B #2 B-A-B-A-B 3:01 0:08 0:27 0:09 5% I Like It Enrique Inglesias #2 A-B-A-B-C-B 3:50 0:22 0:28 0:52 23% OMG Usher #2 B-A-B-A-B 4:30 0:13 n/a 0:14 5% Cooler Than Me Mike Posner #3 B-A-B-A-C-B 3:35 n/a 0:34 0:01 0% Billionaire Travie McCoy #3 A-B-A-B-A-B 3:31 n/a 0:21 0:21 10% Teenage Dream Katy Perry #4 A-B-A-B-C-B-C 3:48 0:04 n/a 0:52 23% Alejandro Lady Gaga #4 A-B-A-B-C-B 4:34 0:43 0:43 1:13 27% DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love Usher #5 A-B-A-B-C-B 3:42 0:08 n/a 0:40 18% Just The Way You Are Bruno Mars #6 A-B-A-B-C-B 3:41 0:17 n/a 0:53 24% Bulletproof La Roux #6 A-B-A-B-C-Solo-B 3:28 0:15 0:12 0:48 23% Ridin’ Solo Jason Derulo #7 B-A-B-A-B-C-B 3:37 0:10 n/a 0:10 5% Take It Off Ke$ha #7 B-A-B-A-B-C-B 3:35 n/a n/a 0:01 0% Find Your Love Drake #8 A-B-A-B-A-B-C-B 3:29 0:11 0:19 0:28 13% Misery Maroon 5 #9 A-B-A-B-C-B 3:36 0:10 n/a 0:34 16% Impossible Shontelle #9 A-B-A-B-C-B-A 3:44 0:10 0:11 0:43 19% aVeRaGes FoR BiLLBoaRD non #1 Hits 3:42 0:14 0:24 0:31 14% TOTAL aVeRaGes 3:43 0:10 0:19 0:30 14% POP Q3 -2010 Report (July - September): Page 4 AT-A-GLANCE: Lyrical Theme / Writers / Point of View The charts below provide a snapshot of each songs lyrical theme and the perspective in which it’s communicated. #1 Hits song artist # of Writers Primary P.o.V. Lyrical theme Nothin’ on You B.o.B. 4 1st Love/Relationships Love the Way You Lie Eminem ft. Rihanna 4 1st Love/Relationships California Gurls Katy Perry 5 1st Props to California Girls Your Love Is My Drug Ke$ha 3 1st Love/Relationships Break Your Heart Taio Cruz 2 1st Love/Relationships Dynamite Taio Cruz 5 1st Partying/Clubbing • The majority of #1 hits (67%) have a lyrical theme that deals with love and relationships. • Each #1 hit was written from a 1st person perspective. • All were written by more than one songwriter. • Each song has a credited contribution from the performing artist. • There were a total of 23 songwriters involved in writing six #1 hit Pop songs. #2 - #10 Hits song artist # of Writers Primary P.o.V. Lyrical theme Airplanes B.o.B 5 1st Escaping to the old days I Like It Enrique Iglesias 4 1st Clubbing/Hooking Up OMG *Usher 1 1st Love/Relationships Cooler Than Me Mike Posner 2 1st Ego Issues Billionaire Travie McCoy 4 1st What to do if rich Teenage Dream Katy Perry 5 1st Love/Relationships Alejandro Lady Gaga 2 1st Love/Relationships DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love Usher 4 1st Clubbing/Hooking Up Just The Way You Are Bruno Mars 5 1st Love/Relationships Bulletproof La Roux 2 1st Love/Relationships POP Q3 -2010 Report (July - September): Page 5 song artist # of Writers Primary P.o.V. Lyrical theme Ridin’ Solo Jason Derulo 3 1st Post Relationship glee Take It Off Ke$ha 3 1st Drag Show Find Your Love Drake 4 1st Love/Relationships Misery Maroon 5 2 1st Love/Relationships Impossible Shontelle 2 1st Love/Relationships • The majority of hits that placed #2 - #10 (53%), deal with love and relationships, (this number was at 54% during the previous quarter). • The others songs deal with an assortment of themes as detailed above. • Only one song, “OMG” was credited to a single artist. Interestingly, that is also the only song that uses an outside songwriter with no credited contribution from the main performing artist. • All of the songs were written from a first person perspective. • There were a total of 48 songwriters credited in writing the 15 songs in this category. SUMMARY RECAP The information in this section provides a snapshot of the key findings present in songs that entered the Billboard Pop Top 10 during Q3-2010. It is broken down by #1 hits, non #1 hits, and all top 10 hits for comparison purposes. #1 Billboard Pop Hits Structure • Most Popular Song Structure: A-B-A-B-C-B (Occurs in 67% of #1 hit Pop songs) • Average Song Length: 3:44 • Top Song Length Range: 3:00 – 3:29 • Average Intro Length: 0:07 • Top Intro Length Range: 0:05 – 0:09 • Average Outro* Length: 0:14 • Top Outro Length Range: 0:20 – 0:24 • 1st Chorus Hit Average: 0:28 into the song • Top 1st Chorus Hit Range: 0:01 – 0:09 / 0:30 – 0:39 into the song • 1st Chorus Hit % of Song: On average, the 1st chorus hits 14% into the song • Top 1st Chorus Hit % of Song Range: 20% - 24% into the song • Songs with a Pre-Chorus: 67% of the songs have a pre-chorus • Songs with a Solo: 0% of the songs have a solo • Songs with a Bridge: 83% of the songs have a bridge POP Q3 -2010 Report (July - September): Page 6 Attributes • Most Popular Tempo: Mid & Mid/Up (50/50 split of #1 hit Pop songs) • Most Popular Tone (Acoustic/Electric): Electric (100% of #1 hit Pop songs) • Most Popular Primary Instrumentation: Synth (67% of #1 hit Pop songs) • Most Popular Primary Vocal Gender: 50% Male(followed by 33% Female, 17% Combo) • Most Popular Lyrical Theme: 67% Love/Relationships • Most Popular Style: 83% Electro (+ Pop or Hip-hop) • Heavy use of Auto-Tune on lead vocals: 50% of #1 hit Pop songs.