About 50 years ago, Willie Nelson lamented that he couldn’t get even with his cheating ex because “sad songs and waltzes aren’t selling this year.”
He’d have better luck these days.
Popular music in the English language is getting sadder and angrier, according to one new study. Examining the lyrics of songs on the Billboard Hot 100 each year from 1965 to 2015, the British researchers found a dramatic drop in words invoking positive emotions (happy, joy, love, etc.) and a considerable rise in words invoking negative emotions.
“Love” is half as likely to appear in a Hot 100 song today compared to 1965. “Hate,” meanwhile, didn’t appear in a single Hot 100 song in the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s, but now, it is much more common.
Positive emotions are still expressed more than negative emotions, but that gap is closing every year.
It’s not just the lyrics that are getting sadder. Hot 100 songs are progressively getting slower, and songs in minor keys appear on the Billboard charts more.
Why? Are we getting sadder? There are signs that depression is a growing problem.
Or is it the opposite? Are our material wealth and improving health leaving us to turn to music to find the gloom our souls always need?
The data suggested a different explanation: It is human nature to love sad songs, and a democratizing and decentralizing music market with fewer gatekeepers allows listeners to get what they want more quickly.
That’s no surprise. The Iliad, after all, is the most fabled song in Western history. Ring Around a Rosy has lasted a millennium. Rockabye Baby is the most venerable English-language lullaby.
It seems we’re all finally getting more of what we want, and it’s sad songs. Waltzes, on the other hand …
