A lot can happen in the course of a year, especially when it comes to hit songwriting. However, sometimes things don’t change all that much.
Compared to this time last year, some of the most notable trend shifts are that the Electropop and R&B sub-genres are as popular as Hip Hop/Rap, and prominent drums/beats/percussion are as prevalent as the synth. Among the trends that remained the same are the top record label, most popular primary genre, and top first chorus occurrence categories.
What follows is a comparison of the top performing categories within the HSD Music Charts during the last week of October in 2014 and 2015.
*Note: Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off and Wildest Dreams are not included in the 2014 and 2015 Spotify playlists, respectively.
| Categories | Then | Now |
| Top Lyrical Theme | Love/Relationships | |
| Top Electric Vs. Acoustic Instrumentation Category | Primarily Electric | |
| Top Primary Genre | Pop | |
| Top Record Label | Republic | |
| Top Lead Vocal Category | Solo Male | |
| Top Song Length Category | 3:00 – 3:29 | |
| Top First Chorus Occurrence Category | Moderately Late (0:40 – 0:59) | |
| Top Intro Length Category | Moderately Short (0:10 – 0:19) | |
| Top Songwriter Count | Three-Writer Teams | |
| Categories | Then | Now |
| Top Song Title Word Count Category | Three Words | Two Words |
| Top Primary Instrumentation Category | Synth | Prom. Drums/Beats/Perc. Synth |
| Top Sub-Genre/Infuencer | Hip Hop/Rap | Electropop Hip Hop/Rap R&B/Soul |
| Top Song Title Appearance Category | 6 – 10 Appearances 21+ Appearances |
6 – 10 Appearances |
