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Minor keys dominate global top 20

  • February 25, 2021
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In the context of music composition, it’s really interesting to find out what’s currently popular with the market at large and what characterises that music.

I analysed the top 20 tracks in the Apple Music Global Top 100 on February 25, 2021. In each case, I wanted to know the key, the tempo and the time signature. Here’s what I found …

TitleArtistBPMKeyTime Signature
Calling my PhoneLil Tjay, 6LACK105B minor4/4
UpCardi B166E minor4/4
Back in Blood (feat. Lil Durk)Pooh Shiesty147G# minor4/4
Drivers LicenseOlivia Rodrigo144A# major4/4
StreetsDoja Cat90E minor4/4
Good DaysSZA121E major4/4
Time TodayMoneybagg Yo137Eb minor4/4
On MeLil baby78F# minor4/4
Save Your TearsThe Weeknd117C major4/4
DynamiteBTS114E major4/4
Dry FlowerYuuri148G major4/4
Blinding LightsThe Weeknd171C minor4/4
For the NightPop Smoke126F# minor4/4
WhooptyCJ140C# minor4/4
DakitiBad Bunny, Jhay Cortez110E minor4/4
Wasurena / 勿忘Awesome City Club79E major4/4
You’re Mines StillYung Bleu87F minor4/4
Heartbreak AnniversaryGIVĒON130C major4/4
Without YouThe Kid LAROI93C major4/4
夜に駆けるYoasobi130C minor4/4
Global Top 20, Apple Music, 25 February 2021

What does this tell us?

  • Well, there’s a wide range of tempos, from 78 to 166
  • For someone like me, there are some really unusual choices of key here, which reflects the fact that music that is predominantly electronic is composed on keyboards rather than guitars. A guitarist would never choose Eb minor, because it’s a hard key to work with on a guitar whereas, on a keyboard, it’s all simple black keys.
  • What is much more surprising to me is that 12 out of the 20 tracks are in minor keys. Historically, this would be regarded as extraordinary but when you analyse it by genre, it is almost exclusively the hip-hop tracks that are in a minor key and it gives them a great jazz/soul feel.
  • Finally, and there’s no surprise here, all of the tracks are in 4/4. No-one is experimenting with different time signatures.

You would get very different results if you chose to analyse the most popular tracks in a wider range of genres and at different periods. There’s a task for another day.

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