Is There a Formula for a Hit Song?

 What do hit songs have in common that can unite soccer moms with club rockers and hipsters? Literally creating one nation under a groove!

Two Rutgers master degree candidates created a presentation called "Visualizing A Hit" that maps popular songs against some of their musical attributes in an effort to find out what they share, and how they have changed over time.

First, they tapped Billboard’s chart data to build a database of over 4,200 popular songs, their peak ranking, Billboard “Hit Status,” and number of weeks they were on the charts.

They then cross-referenced that data against detailed musical information for each song — its key, mode (major, minor, etc.), tempo, loudness, “danceability level,” and “energy level” using data from The Echo Nest. (Disclosure: The Echo Nest, a music intelligence platform, publishes Evolver.fm.)

The resulting study revealed a number of interesting findings – among them, that Madonna is the overall queen of pop, songs are getting longer, louder, dancier and (barely) more energetic, and the optimal number of beats per minute over the past few decades was precisely 119.8:

“Madonna has had 36 songs [in the top 10 and] The Beatles are right behind her with 34″:

Check out the presentation here.

Might be interested in what you discover!

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