Today’s music ain’t got the same soul? Study says music has gotten simpler

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Melodies in pop music have become simpler since the dawn of rock and roll, according to a new study.

A study of the biggest chart hits, dating back to 1950, identified two "significant" decreases in melodic complexity that occurred in 1975 and 2000, along with a smaller decrease in 1996.

The change in 1975 could be down to the rise of new musical styles such as disco and stadium rock while those in 1996 and 2000 could represent the rise of hip-hop and digital production, say scientists.

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London analyzed the most prominent melodies - usually the vocal melody - of songs that reached the top five positions on the US Billboard year-end singles music charts each year between 1950 and 2022.

Their findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, suggest that the complexity of the melodies of the most popular songs has decreased over the last eight decades.

Madeline Hamilton, a doctoral student in Queen Mary's School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, and Dr. Marcus Pearce conducted the research.

Corresponding author Hamilton said: "We found that the complexity of song rhythms and pitch arrangements decreased over this period as the average number of notes played per second increased.

"We also identified two significant decreases in melodic complexity that occurred in 1975 and 2000, along with a smaller decrease in 1996.

"The melodic changes that occurred in 1975 could represent the rise of genres such as new wave, disco and stadium rock.

"Those occurring in 1996 and 2000 could represent the rise of hip-hop or the adoption of digital audio workstations, which enabled the repeated playing of audio loops."

The research team noted that although the complexity of popular melodies appears to have decreased in recent decades, it does not suggest that the complexity of other musical components - such as the quality or combinations of sounds - has also decreased.

Hamilton said: "Decreases in melodic complexity could result from increases in the complexity of other musical elements, such as an increase in the average number of notes played per second, to prevent music from sounding overwhelming to listeners."

She says that expansions in the availability of digital instruments may enable musical complexity to be expressed through sound quality, rather than melody.

Hamilton added: "The findings provide further insight into the evolution of popular music over the past 70 years."