What were the makings of a popular song in the early 21st century?
As emissaries of history, we are compelled to honor our predecessors by journeying back to the radiant epoch known as the 21st century.
This golden age was a period of vibrant cultures, boundless imagination, and the enigmatic allure of technological evolution.
The early 21st century was a watershed moment of so-called "pop", or popular, music.
The advent of the personal computer in the first decade of the 21st century democratized the electronic music medium, allowing for more and more ordinary people
to engage in music listening and production. Personal music "streaming" phone applications developed. One of the most popular
was a Swedish invention called "Spotify". This resulted in one of the most rich datasets known to human-history: a treasure trove
of Spotify listening data.
We are the historians Lily Orgeron, Kristina Thach, and Ayana Yaegashi. Follow us on our journey examining the listening habits of the young music imbiber of the
early 21st century. Let's get to it!
Select a 5-year period below!
Explore the most popular artists during this period,
and
keep scrolling
to learn more about how the
distribution of song lengths evolved over these 5 years!
Distribution of Song Duration
19992019
At any of the time frames, we see a similar trend: the typical song duration decreases!
This tells us that overall, the typical song duration decreased from about 5 minutes to 3 minutes!
Our Message
Our exploration of Spotify's dataset reveals how the presence of an artist grows and shrinks over time, highlighting the evolution of
listeners' preferences and the shape of popular songs.
Before we take a closer look at some of the most popular artists in the 21st century, we need to define some key terms.
Danceability: Tells you how suitable is the song for getting your groove on.
Acousticness: The prevalence of acoustics in the song.
Valence: The upbeat-ness of the song to bring a smile on your face.
Speechiness: The amount of spoken words other than your own as you appreciate the song.
Explore an artist! Pick your favorite genre of music:
