Dr Michelle Dickinson: nanotechnologist on the study revealing pop song melodies have gotten simpler over the last few decades

The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

'They don’t make music like they used to'- you might say as you listen to the latest hits on the radio. Well, new research published in the journal Scientific Reports might prove you right.

In the study, researchers analysed 1,131 melodies from 360 singles that reached the top 5 US Billboard charts each year between 1950 and 2022.

They chose to study melodies because when asked to sing a popular song, most people would sing the melody rather than its bassline or drum pattern.

They found that the complexity of song rhythms and pitch arrangements continued to decline over the decades.

The big changes, which the researchers call ‘melodic revolutions’ were in 1975, 1996 and 2000.

In 1952, You Belong With Me was released by Jo Stafford and it contained a complex, rhythmic melody. While there is a beat in the background, Jo doesn’t sing on beat and instead flows over the music with her voice.

Moving to 1975, Love Will Keep Us Together was released by Captain & Tennille. Here, the singing is kept on beat and it’s a much simpler song rhythmically.

Then in 2009, we had Poker Face by Lady Gaga, where the same note is sung over and over again with a very simple melody.

While the researchers found that melodic complexity decreased over time, they also found that the average number of notes played per second increased, mostly due to technological advances.

In the 1950s, music production was limited to whatever physical instruments could be used in the song. However, today's digital music production software can create almost any sound imaginable.

So while melodies are getting simpler, chords are getting more complex - meaning the overall complexity of modern songs are the same as the golden oldies, it’s just the balance of melodies over production that has changed.

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