July 9, 2011 editorial: comments

No doubt that some of you (admit it!) at some point or another thought that if you can only crack the formula for producing radio friendly hits you can pave the way to fame and fortune and life will be perfect.  Yes!  You would happily 'sell out' if you only knew The Formula for a Hit Song.  Well a couple of grad students from Rutgers have published a research project where they analyzed 50 years of Billboard Top 10 hits.  So is there a pattern here for a hit song?  I urge you to check out the full report, but for the lazy ones I will summarize the main findings:

• There is a clear trend which shows that songs peaking in the top 10 are increasing in danceability (songs that make you boogie).  So make sure your next track is good for the dance floor....
• Most hit songs were written in major key.
• Over the decades hit songs became 'louder'.
• There is an increase in the average amount of time songs spend on the Hot 100 over the last 50 years.  Hence, the rich get richer...
• Song energy has been trending upwards, though at a very slow, almost unrecognizable rate.  Looks like the 1980s were a particularly hyper decade!  The 90s, on the other hand, were a "green" decade...relatively low energy!
• As for tempo, most hit songs lingered right around that optimal figure of 119.80 BPM.

So there you have it.  The formula cracked, now get to work!

Us here at Audiofanzine this week, are also paving your way to a hit song by publishing some Vocals Processing Tips Part 1 and to all you DJs our Review of Traktor Pro 2 .

 

Voila!

Chater-La