Why pop music is popular

Anyone who listens to pop radio regularly has probably been hit with this realization at one point or another – a ton of pop music sounds very similar. It seems like grandpa logic, but a growing body of research confirms what we all suspect: Pop music is actually getting more and more homogeneous. And now, thanks to a new study, they know why.

A new study, surveying more than 500,000 albums, shows simplicity sells best across all music genres. As something becomes popular, it necessarily dumbs down and becomes more formulaic. So if you're wondering why the top 10 features two Meghan Trainor songs that sound exactly the same and two Taylor Swift songs that sound exactly the same, scientists think they finally have the answer.

The study: In a recent study, researchers from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria studied 15 genres and 374 subgenres. They rated the genre's complexity over time — measured by researchers in purely quantitative aspects, such as timbre and acoustical variations — and compared that to the genre's sales. They found that in nearly every case, as genres increase in popularity, they also become more generic.

"This can be interpreted," the researchers write, "as music becoming increasingly formulaic in terms of instrumentation under increasing sales numbers due to a tendency to popularize music styles with low variety and musicians with similar skills." 

So music all starts simplifying and sounding similar. Not only that, but complexity actually starts turning people off of musical styles. Alternative rock, experimental and hip-hop music are all more complex now than when they began, and each has seen their sales plummet. Startlingly few genres have retained high levels of musical complexity over their histories, according to the researchers. And ones that have — folk, folk rock and experimental music — aren't exactly big earners. Unless, of course, they fit into the Mumford & Sons/Lumineers pop-folk mold.

The findings are somewhat intuitive. Of course a genre will sell more once it forms an established sound that listeners can identify with. But the science is only proving the now-dominant truth of pop music: Record companies are only comfortable promoting things they already know will sell. And they know that now better than ever.

Record labels are pouring resources into data analysis tools, using them to predict which songs will be the next breakout hit. According to Derek Thompson at the Atlantic, executives can use services like Shazam and HitPredictor to see which songs will break out next with surprising accuracy.

Once a worthy song or artist emerges from the data, radio conglomerates have mechanisms in place to ensure that music will connect with an audience. Clear Channel's "On the Verge" program is one of the most talked about. When a song is dubbed "On the Verge," every station in the Clear Channel network has to play it at least 150 times — blasting it to a potential network of about 245 million listeners. This undoubtedly helped launch Iggy Azalea to incredible new heights of success, which she may not have otherwise earned with her talent alone. And her success, in turn, is spawning legions of hip-hop pop imitators whom labels will choose to blast out because their chance at success has been proven. It's a cycle.

The study is right — and it's more of a problem now than ever. Iggy Azalea may be the harbinger of hip-hop's eventual homogenization, but she is only a pawn of the larger media circuit. As reported by the Atlantic, "Top 40 stations last year played the 10 biggest songs almost twice as much as they did a decade ago."

Human beings crave familiarity. Numerous psychological studies show that people choose songs they're familiar with over songs that more closely match their reported music tastes. Our somewhat manipulative music industry, which chooses familiar-sounding music and pushes it to listeners in massive quantities, knows well how to capitalize on those cravings. Genres standardize over time as a way to plug into this psychology. And then we hear the same songs, over and over again.

But there's a point at which that becomes tired, and the space opens for something revolutionary — something that totally shifts the way we think about music. If we're aware of these sort of trends and practices, we can better resist what they do to our music. We can champion the genuinely original and leave aside the derivative. We can make a better musical culture.

h/t Atlantic

Many people hear the words “pop music” and instantly think of top 40 hits and repetitive Ariana Grande songs on the radio. I would like to introduce you to pop music that isn’t just the radio hits, but the hidden gems that will show you why pop is the best genre. 

Pop music is universal. 

Some genres have a limited audience but pop and hip-hop are the two most universal genres in the world. Pop is especially universally because it’s catchy, fun and relatable. From Asia to Africa, everyone is loving and creating pop music. For example, look at Namie Amuro, a huge J-Pop idol, showing her love of pop music in this video.

Pop is the whole package.

Over the years the pop genre has become more than just singing. It’s becoming more about the music, singing and the dancing to hit as many people as possible. Many pop singers do not dance but they instead offer very visually appealing music videos. Which is great help for some of those musicians who are horrible dancers (looking at you, Lorde).

Anyone can get into pop. 

Pop is open to accepting different sounds in the genre. It’s the most sonically-diverse genre on earth so it’s easy to get into pop even if your music is influenced by unfamiliar instruments in the deep parts of the Sahara Desert. Psapp, a group known for using unusual instruments, makes electronic-pop music with the sounds of toys. One of their songs is the theme song for "Grey’s Anatomy." This goes to show that If the music has a catchy beat and relatable lyrics, you’re golden. 

Emphasis on production and artistic delivery. 

There are genres that either focus solely on production or solely on artistic delivery. With pop, it’s a combination of both and when the relationship between the two is just right, it’s downright kismet. 

Visuals. 

Pop music focuses on not just the music, but the visuals too. Hence why pop musicians are more likely to dance and do music videos than non-pop musicians. Dancing is visually appealing and a great music video can help a song stick out more to the audience. Selena Gomez & the Scene's music video for "Naturally" is a huge example of how visual effects pull people into liking a song.

Nelly Furtado in Promiscuous MV (N3lstars/Tumblr)

Pop allows musicians to experiment. 

Pop musicians are less likely to receive flak when changing genre to genre between albums. As long as it sticks to the pop guidelines, people will learn to deal with the change. There is some flack pop musicians receive if they change their music drastically. An example; Nelly Furtado received a lot of criticism because she went from a pop/rock to a hip hop/dance with her album "Loose." Many people were upset about the change and thought she sold out. In time, everyone grew to love and appreciate "Loose." It is now referred to as the best pop album of 2006.

When it’s famous, it becomes pop.

Seeing what a unique song can do for pop music is exciting to watch. Back in the 90s, many things changed with pop music in this era. Guitarists sprung to fame like Alanis Morrissette, Lisa Loeb and Sheryl Crow really giving off the message that Women rock. Bands like Green Day and Dave Matthews Band started getting big. Hip-hop and rap started hitting the charts and being known as pop music as well. Also boy bands and Spice Girls really changed the setting of pop music in the 2000s. So when a unique musician becomes famous it’ll mean a new change to pop. Lorde's different style, but relatable lyrics, proves that pop is always changing even in the 2010s.

Pop music talks about everything.

Most pop songs you hear are about love and that’s cute, but when you really dig (or just google) you’ll find so many pop songs that focus on other topics than love. Pop music talks about self-esteem, strength, courage, optimism and overcoming obstacles, politics, social issues, etc. An example of this is Lily Allen's song "URL Badman" which combats hateful bloggers.

Pop makes you energetic and happy.

Pop music contains many songs that are fast-tempo and talk about believing in yourself. When you’re having a bad day you listen to pop. When you’re angry and need to feel better, you listen to an uplifting song, more likely a hip-hop song that’s classified as pop. If you don't believe me check out this song.

What is pop?

The absolute best thing about pop is that you can’t pinpoint exactly what it is. There are so many musicians in the genre that are a big and famous talented acts to musicians that are underground and edgy innovators making pop music for fun. Musicians from Beyonce to Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, pop is a huge. It’s creative and it’s the best music genre on the planet.

Contact Staff Reporter Coral Rucker here or follow him on Twitter here.