WHAT'S GETTING CUT???
I am a creative mind. I don't like to think about the business side when Im writing a song. I like to immerse myself in the writing and just "be in" the song and the moment when I write. Whatever comes out comes out be it something I can pitch immediately or not. That's what building a catalogue is all about. However, when it comes to pitching songs, I put on my business hat. I like to know my market and understand trends, statistics, and the like. Now it's true that there is NO formula for pitching songs. But you can look at successes and see how things line up.
So I went back through all the #1 singles for 2011 and 2010 and broke down some numbers for myself. Once I got done, I thought.. hey! I should send this out to my peeps. Knowledge is power and I thought you would find this interesting.
Jimi
#1 COUNTRY SONGS FOR 2011
The Facts:
--In 2011, there were 34 #1 country songs.
--23 of these were male artists.
--4 were female artists.
--7 were vocal groups.
--50% of them were written with the artist
--50% of them were outside cuts.
--Of the 34 #1's, 19 of them were up tempos, 11 of them were mid tempos and 4 of them were ballads
Themes broke down like this:
-20 of them were about love.
-7 of them were about self empowerment/pride/culture/reflection/life, etc.
-5 of them were feel good/party songs
-1 of them was loss/sadness/regret songs
-1 of them was patriotic songs
The average # of writers on these songs were 3.
The average length of these songs was 3 minutes and 54 seconds.
NOW. LET'S BREAK DOWN THE OUTSIDE CUTS
The Facts:
--There were a total of 17 outside cuts that went to #1 on the charts.
--Of the 17 #1 outside cuts, 8 of them were uptempos, 7 of them were mid tempos and 2 of them were ballads.
Themes broke down like this: -9 were about love.
-6 were about self empowerment/pride/culture/reflection/life, etc.
-1 was about loss/sadness/regret
-1-was a feel good/party song
The average # of writers on outside songs were 3.
The average length of outside songs was 3 minutes and 59 seconds.
#1 COUNTRY SONGS FOR 2010
The Facts:
--In 2010, there were 29 #1 country songs.
--18 of these were male artists.
--4 were female artists.
--7 were vocal groups.
--45% of them were written with the artist
--55% of them were outside cuts.
--Of the 29 #1's, 18 of them were up tempos, 5 of them were mid tempos and 5 of them were ballads
Themes broke down like this:
-8 of them were about love.
-13 of them were about self empowerment/pride/culture/reflection/life, etc.
-5 of them were feel good/party songs
-3 of them were loss/sadness/regret songs
-0 of them were patriotic songs
The average # of writers on these songs were 3.
The average length of these songs was 3 minutes and 49 seconds.
NOW. LET'S BREAK DOWN THE OUTSIDE CUTS
The Facts:
--There were a total of 16 outside cuts that went to #1 on the charts.
--Of the 16 #1 outside cuts, 9 of them were up tempos, 4 of them were mid tempos and 3 of them were ballads.
Themes broke down like this: -3 were about love.
-10 were about self empowerment/pride/culture/reflection/life, etc.
-0 were about loss/sadness/regret
-3 were feel good/party songs
-0 were patriotic songs
The average # of writers on outside songs were 3.
The average length of outside songs was 3 minutes and 46 seconds.
So what did I learn here? Hmmm.. well...
1. I learned that there aren't a lot of #1's in a year hehe.
2. I learned that I was wrong about artist co writes. I was really expecting outside cuts to be about 20-30% and it's actually refreshing that it's a little more even than that.
3. I learned that the artist mostly writes party and drinking songs.
4. I learned that "themes" seem to follow a trend year to year.
5. I learned that tempos rule, but mids also work.
6. I learned that a song doesn't really have to be under 3 minutes and if its really extraordinary it can be over 4.
7. We girls need to step it up here in Music City!
8. Patriotic songs, while moving and beautiful aren't climbing the charts and artists aren't really releasing them.
9. Artists LOVE to sing about themselves. Especially in 2010
10. LOVE. ALWAYS. WINS. The best theme to write? Love. Makes sense, it's the most universal theme we can all relate to and it can be told a million different ways.
I hope you found this little study informative and maybe a little eye opening. I did.
Jimi
