Media release

From: Springer Nature

Music: Popular song lyrics have become more negative since 1973

Over the past 50 years the lyrics of popular songs in the USA have become simpler, more negative, and contain more stress-related words, according to an analysis published in Scientific Reports. The authors suggest that their findings reflect the complex ways people use music to navigate stress.

Maurício Martins and colleagues analysed the lyrics of the top 100 most popular English-language songs in the United States each week between 1973 and 2023 (20,186 songs), according to the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The authors found that, in general, the lyrics of popular songs have become simpler and more negative over time and contain more stress-related words. They note that this has coincided with increasing rates of depression and anxiety and with increases in the negativity of news media and fiction books reported in previously published research. However, they also found that the popularity of songs with more complex lyrics began to increase from 2016 onwards and suggest that further research is needed to investigate the reasons for this.

When assessing potential factors influencing changes in listener lyric preferences, the authors did not identify associations with changes in median household income since 1973, but did identify some associations with major stressful events — such as the September 11, 2001, attacks and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. These events were associated with lyrics becoming more complex and positive and containing fewer stress-related words, or with no significant changes in lyrics. The authors suggest that this could be due to more positive and complex music being used as a form of escapism during stressful periods.

The findings highlight the role of music in both shaping and reflecting moods over time, according to the authors.