Research from Queen Mary University highlights a 30% decrease in melody complexity in pop music over the past seven decades.
The study analyzed 1,131 melodies from 360 year-end singles on the Billboard charts from 1950 to 2022 and found that vocal melody complexity in popular music has decreased by 30% over time, with significant declines in 1975, 1996, and 2000.
The simplification of melodies could be attributed to the emergence of new music genres like stadium rock, disco, hip-hop, new wave, and the rise of digital instruments, which may have allowed for musical complexity to be expressed through sound quality rather than melodies.
While the complexity of song rhythms and pitch arrangements decreased, the average number of notes played per second increased, potentially balancing out the melodic simplicity. However, the increase in note density since 2000 may have limited the complexity of melodies in modern music.
The changes in music complexity do not necessarily mean that music is dumbing down, as the complexity of other musical components like timbre or harmony has not necessarily decreased. Different studies have identified revolutions in popular music at varying times, possibly due to focusing on different music features.
Melodic repetitions within songs have increased in the last two decades, related to the use of loops. Songs are now created with streaming and clicks in mind, leading to more repetitive and simple compositions that foster the development of earworms.
The decrease in melodic complexity may be an adaptation to modern musical trends and the digital age's demand for compressed language, as reflected in a 2023 study that showed Western Pop music is becoming simpler and angrier, with lyrics becoming more repetitive and using a smaller vocabulary.
Sources: The Guardian, The New York Times, Far Out Magazine, El País, Aussiedlerbote , Phys.org
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.
