Increasing Similarity of Billboard Songs

It's not just you, others have also noticed that popular songs on the Billboard charts sound similar. But what you may not realize is that in the recent days, they're sounding even more similar. Andrew Thompson and Matt Daniels for The Pudding make the case: From 2010-2014, the top ten producers (by number of hits) wrote about 40% of songs that achieved #1 - #5 ranking on the Billboard Hot 100. In the late-80s, the top ten producers were credited with half as many hits, about 19%. In other words, more songs have been produced by fewer and fewer topline songwriters, who oversee the combinations of all the separately created sounds. Take a less personal production process and execute that process by a shrinking number of people and everything starts to sound more or less the same.

Comments

Surprised they are

[Anonymous Coward]

Surprised they are, when sales stagnate. Recording companies, complain to the Emperor they do. Longer copyright they want.

Re:Surprised they are

[Humbubba]

The music business has been declining for so long, by now they should have discovered Arne Saknussemm's skeletal remains at the center of the earth. I was just listening to an old clip of Frank Zappa talking about the decline of the music business. Back in the 60's the music industry was run by

"old guys who said 'I don't know. Who knows what it is. Record it. Stick it out. If it sells, all right.' We were better off with those guys than we are now with the supposedly hip young executives, you know, who are making the decisions about what people should see and hear..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZazEM8cgt0