This report details the compositional and industry trends relating to the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 during the first quarter of 2019.
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In Q1 2019, there were 20 songs, 24 credited performing artists, 108 credited songwriters, 31 credited producers, and 8 record labels that landed in the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10.
Ariana Grande took over as the top artist in Q1 with three Top 10 hits and two #1 hits. Post Malone followed closely also with three Top 10 hits and one #1 hit. Looking at songwriters, Louis Bell had the most songwriting credits with 5 Top 10 hits and three #1 hits. He also had the most producer credits (4).
When it comes to labels, Republic came out on top landing seven songs in the Hot 100 Top 10. Interscope followed with four. Unlike previous quarters, both labels had more Pop songs charting in the Top 10 in Q1 2019 than Hip Hop songs.
And speaking of Pop songs, for the first time since Q4 2017, the number of Pop songs in the Top 10 surpassed the number of Hip Hop songs. Furthermore, all six #1 hits from Q1 were Pop as well.
A few additional highlights include:
- VOCAL DELIVERY: EXCLUSIVELY SUNG VOCALS
- Songs with exclusively sung vocals surpassed those with a combination of sung and rapped vocals for the first time since Q2 2017.
- INFLUENCES: ROCK
- One-third of songs possessed a Rock influence. The last time we saw a Rock influence at that level was way back in Q1 2015.
- LYRICAL THEMES: LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS
- Love/Relationship themed songs were the most popular for the first time since Q4 2017.
- INSTRUMENTS: ELECTRIC GUITAR
- Almost half of songs made prominent use of electric guitar. The last time electric guitars were at this level of prominence was in Q4 2017.
- AVERAGE TEMPO: 90 BPM
- The last time average tempo was this high was in Q4 2017.
- AVERAGE SONG LENGTH: 3:13
- This is the shortest average song length in more than 5 years.