
Every top 5 song from 1958 to 2016 - pzaich
http://polygraph.cool/history/
======
robbiemitchell
So. Cool.

1\. Playing around in nostalgia territory and am amused by how well pop music
re-uses itself over and over.

For instance, in May-Oct 1993, #1 spots were dominated mostly by three songs:

8 weeks: "That's the Way Love Goes" (Janet Jackson) --> samples "Papa Don't
Take No Mess" by James Brown (1974)

7 weeks: "(I Can't Help) Falling in Love with You (UB40) --> cover of "We
Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis (1961)

8 weeks: "Dreamlover" (Mariah Carey) --> samples "Blind Alley" by The Emotions
(1972)

2\. Compare that kind of pop-culture inertia to, say, 1974, where the top spot
cycled much more frequently, yet those songs have been sampled heavily in the
years since.

~~~
dikdik
I'm a music junkie and have been on a European-pop binge the last couple
months. It amazes me how many beats/songs/samples are reused in the European
market...and occasionally I'll find the exact song redone for Euro or American
consumption (especially popular with Spanish speaking artists to do the same
track in both English and Spanish for varying markets).

My most recent find is:

Yall - Hundred Miles (recently on Euro charts) ---> Beat rips off Major Lazer
& DJ Snake - Lean On (from last summer)

~~~
collinmanderson
whosampled.com is a nice website that catalogs samples. I've lots a lot of
time on that. :)

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tinkerdol
For those interested in discovering music over the decades from different
countries: [http://radiooooo.com/](http://radiooooo.com/)

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JusticeJuice
Shameless plug - if you want more nostalgic music, check out my project
[http://thenostalgiamachine.com/](http://thenostalgiamachine.com/)

~~~
LeoPanthera
You should add a country option. This seems to have a huge US bias.

~~~
JusticeJuice
It's based off the Billboard yearly top 100 chart, which only tracks american
music. I'd love to make more, but it's actually been quite hard to get charts
for other countries in a yearly format.

Interestingly despite being american music, country which most vistors are
from is....South Korea!

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madengr
Is it me, or did the 80's just have better music. Maybe it's just the when you
become cognizant of music. My first album was Men at Work. Wore that tape out,
and the music is STILL good.

~~~
leoc
Ian MacDonald in 1994, at the ending of _Revolution in the Head_ :

> Arguably pop music, as measured by the singles charts, peaked in early 1966,
> thereafter beginning a shallow decline in overall quality which was already
> steepening by 1970. While some will date this tail-off to a little later,
> only the soulless or tone-deaf will refuse to admit any decline at all.
> Those with ears to hear, let them hear.

After a couple more decades of continuing (though not uniform and consistent)
overall decline, the broad truth of this looks more evident than ever. In much
the same way that classical music probably peaked roughly around the death of
Beethoven, with the shallow decline in overall quality becoming steeper some
time in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century.

~~~
LanguageGamer
We have a lot more historical distance between us and pre-20th century
classical music, than we do with pop music. Just anecdotally, it seems people
are biased towards the music of their youth. At any rate, I grew up in the
nineties, and Nirvana is greatest rock band of all time.

~~~
cfmcdonald
But Nirvana was never a chart-topping band. Smells Like Teen Spirit peaked at
#6, and never makes it on this visualization. None of their other singles came
close to that.

The point is that The Beatles are better than Boyz II Men, not that Led
Zeppelin is better than Nirvana.

~~~
spenczar5
I think it's not quite right to say that Nirvana wasn't popular, though. Being
at #6 instead of #1 is a pretty minor difference in the grand scheme of all
the music that gets made.

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transfire
I listened all the way up to the 90s. I have to wonder how this chart is
determined. While obviously many of the popular songs of the period trend,
there are some places where it doesn't seem right. For example Michael
Jackson's Thriller never broke #3, and MJ barely made the top ten week chart
until BAD came out. That can't be right. I checked Wikipedia and it says all
MJ songs from that album made #1.

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delgaudm
What I would love to see is how many plays/streams each number one got "this"
week by comparison. It would be interesting to see the longevity of some of
the songs as a replacement for "good", i.e. are there hit songs from the 60's
or 70's that still get way more plays than hit songs from the 90's or 00's.

~~~
danielsf
THIS: [http://poly-graph.co/timeless](http://poly-graph.co/timeless)

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pathsjs
Is there a way to hear it in the background? Every time I switch tabs, it
stops playing. Also, it sometimes mixes up songs from different periods
(1958+1997)

~~~
mootothemax
>Is there a way to hear it in the background? Every time I switch tabs, it
stops playing. Also, it sometimes mixes up songs from different periods
(1958+1997)

A quick cheat for sites that stop "running" when switching tabs is to open
them in a new window of their own, with no other tabs open in it.

You can then return to your "main" browsing window and get back to whatever
you were working on previously.

~~~
y4mi
some sides (TED for example) still screw you over if you do that (the quality
drops to beyond worthless in TEDs case).

haven't visited that side in about 2 years now, and the main reason why i
stopped going there was that i couldn't activate a stream on my second monitor
while doing something else on my primary.

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vlehto
Interesting how some themes changed completely. You would never expect to hear
"ballad of green berets" as top song anymore.

I think there is noticeable deterioration in music quality of the top hit
during the past millenia. I guess it's combination of several factors: music
getting cheaper, youngsters getting more money. And people in their thirties
having more and more options on what to listen, so they are less likely to
herd the record store on any one given single. I'd say music was still good in
86. (I was born then.)

From 2001 onwards it seems the teens started to swarm billboard social 100 or
something. Boybands are out and music is suddenly OK again.

~~~
pazra
I think a big part of the deterioration of musical quality is connected to
three major factors:

1\. Recorded music has meant less need for such large numbers of musicians, as
a result the pool of potential talent is lower. Much less live music is
performed as a result, as a result the pool of musicians with great live
musical abilities has gone down.

2\. Multi-track and then computer recording has made it possible to make much
more 'effects' based music, which wows the ears sonically, but requires less
musicianship to back it up. The large producers of pop music has largely clung
to using these techniques to give their music a unique 'modern' sound, largely
fueled by the latest developments in technology.

3\. The ever progressing corporatization of the music industry.

~~~
CPLX
4\. Lowered attention spans. It's true across all media, our culturally
induced ADHD rewards novelty hits, least common denominator styles, and
especially demotes things that require more than 15 seconds to process and
understand before moving on. It's not just music it's clickbait headlines and
superhero movies too.

~~~
icebraining
Superhero movies? They seem quite long to me. In fact, the average length of
the most popular movies has been increasing.

~~~
mdk754
One could argue it's more about the "thrills-per-minute" counts going up. I'm
not saying I totally agree, but it is at least evident to me that movies from
past decades spend a little more time between "thrills" than your average
modern film.

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mwexler
I enjoyed this,but was surprised to see how the older stuff (1970s)
skyrocketed to the top, then PLUMMETED off after a week. Compare to 2000s
where a song can stay at top for a month, and may drift down.

As others point out, changes in how tracked (radio play vs. download sales vs.
streams) can change this, but it is fascinating to see visually.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
I wonder if different folks are listening (or reporting anyway). How did
popularity used to get tracked? Callin requests to radio stations? Is that
still how its done?

~~~
knodi123
> Is that still how its done?

Good lord, that would be shocking. I know very few under-20s who listen to the
radio for music, and I've never even met someone who had ever called into a
radio station to request a song.

Most likely it's a mix of itunes downloads, youtube clicks, spotify plays,
etc.

~~~
Brendinooo
It was five-ish years ago, but we had a period where we listened to the radio
a lot at my previous employer. Company Wi-Fi didn't allow for streaming music,
and I didn't have a smartphone at the time. Occasionally someone else did or
I'd bring in my iPod and play stuff, but it's a lot easier just to tune in and
let someone else be the DJ for you. It also takes off the pressure of picking
music that's appropriate/likeable for everyone - if a song that no one likes
comes on, we all could roll our eyes and sit through it or we could just
change the station.

Now that I work from home my radio usage is mostly limited to sports, though I
take a lot of road trips for family purposes and it becomes fun to scan
through the radio and seek out songs you know.

And I have called in to a station before - probably not for ten years, but
I've done it! It's interesting to see how they cut up the conversation to fit
the space they have.

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S_A_P
I got to the early 70s before i ran out of time. The 60s were an incredible
time for music. The sheer variety is amazing. Pop, soul, bossa nova, rock. I
think the 90s had a smaller creative burst with rock and hip hop and to some
degree dance/electronic genres. I'm ready for another music revolution.

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briHass
It's easy to forget just how well some modern artists fine-tuned the hit song
production process. Everyone thinks of The Beatles, but Mariah Carey, Rihanna,
and Beyonce (if we include her Destiny's Child time) all beat them for weeks
at #1.

Going by weeks at #1, Mariah Carey is probably the most popular artist of all
time (i.e., since Billboard started recording). She also had a collab ("One
Sweet Day") that still holds the record for most weeks at #1. Not only her raw
numbers, but her career delivered #1s spanning 3 decades.

I guess I never thought that she was as big as she is/was.

~~~
leoc
However, even over the course of the '80s singles sales plunged from their
'60s/'70s level, so those later long runs at #1 aren't as impressive in
absolute terms.

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mitchpron
Thank you for this! If anyone is interested in the evolution of pop music over
time (especially the last 20 years) and how hits are made, read "The Song
Machine: Inside the Hit Factory"

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oneloop
Is it just my imagination, or are black people overrepresented in the top 5?

~~~
JonnieCache
They are overrepresented in popular music generally. Pretty much all pop music
is derived from forms developed by african-americans: blues, jazz, disco,
techno etc.

~~~
duncanawoods
If you go back a step further, then you can say that those forms are derived
from White-European sources e.g. Christian gospel, folk music, krautrock,
experimental synth etc. so the question remains why/how it happened.

IMHO good art comes from adversity and novelty (mixing cultures). These were
active forces in the 19th century and sadly still active today.

~~~
jacobush
What is still sadly active? Gospel is white and European now? I don't
understand.

~~~
duncanawoods
>> What is still sadly active?

Adversity faced by the black community. Oppression, poverty and violence etc.
We probably wouldn't have hip-hop if everyone had a trust-fund. Art needs
something to say.

>> Gospel is white and European now?

Sure i.e. European Hymns as the principle influence of Southern Gospel music.
I believe the original music called "Gospel" was in European Christian
communities. I'm no expert and can be corrected.

I'm seeking to demonstrate that questions about cultural influences are better
explained by events (diaspora, oppression) than to just see race and stop
there as though its a sufficient explanation.

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philwelch
One fascinating point is the sudden collapse of disco in the summer of 1979.
This may be related:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco_Demolition_Night](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco_Demolition_Night)

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davidw
Hah, cool - Nel Cielo Dipinto di Blu (aka Volare) was the last Italian song to
get anywhere on US charts.

With good reason IMO - I'm not much of a fan of Italian pop. I go for a bit
more esoteric stuff like Fishbone, Oregon's own Cherry Poppin' Daddies, and
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs.

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lomnakkus
This is absolutely _wonderful_. Such a great idea and execution!

I have to wonder how many of these Nile Rodgers[1] is responsible for.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_Rodgers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_Rodgers)

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dbalan
Its quite easy tracking song popularity down to number plays, thanks to the
streaming services, but thats now. Any idea where the old data is coming from?
Couldn't find any links on the site.

~~~
danielsf
i made this. you can get much of it from billboard, though i used the whitburn
project.

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konart
Very cool project.

Had to stop the music at first. 1990s' western music (pop music that is, can't
see anything else there) was... well - bad. Didn't even realize up until now.

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ck2
As someone who never listens to the radio so I don't know what is currently
being paid-to-play this was very educational and entertaining.

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santa_boy
FWIW. I was wondering the source. This is top 5 per Billboard (in the title).
Is Billboard the global leader in tracking hits? (just inquisitive)

~~~
k-mcgrady
I think Billboard tracks in the US only.

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vladaionescu
I wish someone made a Spotify playlist for this.

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gerjomarty
I love this a lot, but every time I open it or switch back to it, it just
makes me want to go and listen to Skee-Lo's I Wish.

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danielweber
Is there a way to change the resolution from every day to every week or every
month?

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golfstrom
If you enjoyed this, I highly recommend the podcast episodes from The Gist
(from Slate) where they talk about Billboard #1 hits from various years.

[https://www.google.com/search?q=molanphy+the+gist+billboard](https://www.google.com/search?q=molanphy+the+gist+billboard)

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barbs
I like the concept though I kind of wish I could zoom out and see more than
the top 5

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mosselman
This is beautifully made. It works very well.

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kevindeasis
Good job, this is really cool

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taigeair
Very nice shameless plugs. Wouldn't mind seeing more.

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akhilcacharya
Amazing!

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visarga
I don't like most of the top #1 hits. Averaging the masses of people will give
average music.

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baddestpoet
Which is exactly the whole point of this.

~~~
reidrac
I don't agree with "Every top 5 song, from 1958 - 2016, so we can stop arguing
about when music was still good".

Because "top 5" doesn't mean "good", does it?

~~~
musha68k
Well, it once did if you go back in time.

