There were only 3 #1 songs on the Hot Country Charts in a year when we went through so many changes to our lives. The charts not only reflects chart position but also look at digital and physical sales as well as streaming. We find they were only written in 4th form. There are 7 forms. I call them forms for lack of a better word for the songs, but these songs were only written in 4th form.
One again there were 12 songs that went to #1 on the Billboard pop charts. These were mainly 4th form, which is verse, prechorus, chorus, verse, prechorus, chorus, middle 8/bridge, instrumental, chorus and out, and 3rd form which is verse, chorus, verse, chorus, instrumental, bridge/middle 8, and chorus and out. There were 89 songwriters and again the writers could not be more different. One hit the #1 spot as a solo writer and the other went to #1 with the help of 30 writers, but they as artists, all had #1 records There’s something unreal about that.
Every year I look at what's just happened at #1 on the Billboard Charts to get a snapshot of what's trending....fascinating as always!
Let's look at intros first...how many were looking at radio. The interesting thing is that 8 of the 9 have a average of 10 seconds...that is by adding all the intros together and dividing...only one, Taylor Swift, "Bad Blood" had a "zero start"(no intro), and that was only 85 BPMs so it was kind of aimed at radio..her other #1, "Blank Space" was close BPM wise at 86 BPM.
Ralph Murphy
....I reiterate, that every year I look at the #1s on the previous years Billboard Charts so I can get a sense of "listener expectations" for the New Year. I do this as a business person, not a songwriter, because I'm in the "Music Business"....for better or worse!
There were 11 #1s on the Billboard Hot Country Charts in 2015
All of them had intros which means they were probably designed to accommodate the radio format...14.4 seconds
....again, every year I critically eye what goes on at #1 on the Billboard Charts, to see what the consumer expects at #1..every year is different, but kinda the same...check out what I mean.
There are some very interesting things that will strike you when you take a look at the the comparison between the Country Airplay #1s and the Hot Country #1s.
Firstly, is the sheer number of Airplay #1s compared to the Hot Country #1s....38 Airplay #1s compared to 11 Hot Country #1s.....over three times as many....
The one thing that you can count on in the Music Business as in life, is change. And change was certainly the theme for 2011! The number of songs reaching #1 was at an all time high of 34 and the number of writers matched that all time high in climbing to 80. Again this year, 50% of the singles that reached #1 (17) were written in whole or in part by the artist.
Was 2010 the end of a volatile time in country music, or the calm before the storm? Well no matter what your personal perception was, 2010 was an interesting year at #1 for songwriters. In 2010, 71 songwriters contributed to twenty-nine #1 records. Because a few of those songwriters wrote on more than one #1, the total # of writers that actually had a #1 or more in 2010 was 53.
According to Phyllis Stark (Stark Country) there were 205 singles released in 2010 so about 15% went “all the way”.
I get a lot of heat for studying only #1 records. Strangely enough, not from the writers, publishers or artists that have one. My feeling is that if the “business” feels it is worth promoting, pushing, bullying or outright buying a record to the top, they must be pretty confident in the “foundation” that the artist’s career is built on…..the song. So, no matter how they got to the dance, here are the songs that went to the #1 ball. In line with “no one throws a # 2 party” this is a look at what made it to No. 1 in 2009.
I'm straying from our usual format just a bit because I feel the need to speak to you about how to make your songs stronger in the long-term rather than in the short term.
For a small business owner such as a songwriter/publisher, knowing the market is vital. Budgeting for success means looking at income (when it decides to come in!) and making informed decisions about how to spend it most effectively. Up near the top of the list of expenditures (almost right next to eating) are demo costs. The financial outlay for demonstration recordings has risen to $750 - $1,000 per song. So, if you write 30 songs a year and only have $10,000 in your demo budget, you're going to have to make some hard choices.
After the obvious "Don't give up your regular job," there are more tips on songwriting than a golfer has excuses. A few that come to mind are:
A song should have a beginning, a middle and an end. For an example -- you did that, I did this, and now we're doing that and (INSERT YOUR HOOK HERE.)
As you go through your song's story and the verses, check your rhyme scheme. Whatever it is -- change it in your chorus. For instance, change an A B A B rhyme scheme to A B C B .
The reason you do this is to subtly alert listeners that something important is coming. A change in rhyme scheme combined with the change in melody going into the chorus should have them ready for the hook.
A couple of effective ways to get the most out of your hook (90 percent of the time, your title is the final line or hook) are to:
You are going to co-write with someone you have never worked with before, so do your homework.
Ask them to give you a CD or link to two or three of their songs that they are excited about. This applies even to a hit writer, because past hits may not necessarily reflect his or her current attitude toward writing.
If the co-writer is an artist, get a copy of his or her latest recorded work. Ask them if they loved or hated it, because either way, you will have a sense of direction when you sit down to write with them.
Every time a writer (or writers) finishes a song, the inevitable question comes up: How should this piece of work be demoed? Let's start by defining what we are taking about. Demo is short for "demonstration," which Webster's Dictionary tells us means "an explanation by example, a practical showing of how something works or is used."
So, step back from your song and take a long, hard look at it. What are its strong points, and what is the simplest, most eloquent way to show it off, i.e. to demo it?
In the last Murphy's Law, I discussed assembling your demo for presentation; however, before you dress up your song and walk it out in public, take a long, hard look to make sure you've given it the full benefit of your craft. Here is a limited checklist:
Have you kept your pronouns consistent? If it's "she" in the verse, it should not be "you" in the chorus (unless you left "she" for "you").
After performing at a songwriters' showcase recently, an A&R person I'd known for years asked me why -- as I obviously sang reasonably well -- she had never heard my voice on any of the song demos I'd pitched to her. Here are the four reasons I gave -- think about them:
The next time you attend a songwriting seminar, take advantage of some of the tips I've discovered -- and a few pet peeves I've encountered -- along the way:
1. Arrive fully prepared.
Be ready to take notes. Buy a small, lined, book that does not have removable pages. Also bring two pens or two pencils or both. (The other Murphy's Law will prevail and at least one of the two won't work.)
2. Be sociable.
I was having lunch recently with a new writer just signed to his first major publishing deal. He told me that his publisher had been setting up co-writing appointments for him with established writers, and that he had some questions on how to approach writing on such a different level. I thought addressing his two biggest questions here might be useful to writers in similar situations.
Many times, in trying to get the listener's attention, writers will fixate on song-crafting devices such as story, story development, metaphor, alliteration and imagery, while forgetting to pay attention to the little personal pronouns. HE, SHE, IT, THEY, THEM, US, WE, I, YOU, and ME may not look like much, but they define who does what to whom. They also can affect the writer's marketablity and, therefore the value of his or her work.
I'm straying from our usual format just a bit because I feel the need to speak to you about how to make your songs stronger in the long-term rather than in the short term.