97% of pop is in 4/4... let’s look at the 3% that's not

This video was made possible by the HD piano. Learn the best piano songs at hdpiano.com. We all know that time signature 44 is the most common time signature, especially in pop music, but how common is it? I just listened to the top 40 best sellers. songs from each year from the year 2000 to the present day and I noted what time signature or time signatures the songs were using and what I found is that 96.5 7% of 21st century pop music is in 44 beats , so that's quite a bit, but what about the other 3.43%? What time signatures do those songs use well?

Today we are going to review the 32 pop songs of this century that are not in 44 beats. Let's start in the year 2000 and move forward to today. Now, in fact, in the year 2000, the top 40 best-selling songs of that year were actually only in 44 beats, so let's go straight to the year 2001, where we find our first pop song of the century that is not four4 and it is by Alicia Keys in falling is on 68 beats, which means we have six eighth notes in each measure of the music, but in practice what this really means is that we effectively have two main beats in the measure, each of which is divided into 38 notes, so it's a bit like being on two, four beats with triplets on each beat, that's what beat 68 is, so let's move on to 2002 and here we have once again a song that's not on time. 44 and also, once again, it's on beat 68.

You'll soon realize that 68 is basically the second most common time signature we have this song is Hero by Chad Kroger of Nickelback Fame featuring Josie Scot. I'm at number 203, once again we have a song that is not in 44 beats and once again it is in 68 beats, it's I'm with you by Chad Kroger's wife, aine, so now we come to 2004 and for For the first time we have not one, not two, but three songs that are not four times among the 40 best-selling songs of the year and we have another song by Alicia Keys. If I don't have you, you want everything, but I don't want it, baby.

If I don't have you, it's on 3 four times, although it's a swing 3 four times, which means we have triplets on every beat of the bar. So you might think this is in 98 beats but almost every transcription I could find put it in three four beats so I'll count it as a three four song which 2004 also gave us from Outcast if we

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at the notation for it we can see there's about 4 fours in there but the thing is they're not all 4 fours H is an example of a song in a mixed time signature because it switches between two different time signatures 44 and 24 H is based on a six time loop Loop where we get three bars of 44, a bar of two fours and then two more bars of 44 and the third song this year that wasn't completely in 44 is the song Overnight Celebrity from Twister, but the thing is, this song is actually very much . in 44 it only has an intro in 68 oh you didn't think we could do it again so I included it here but it's like one more song in 4, four beats, it's really okay, going to the year 2005 and I get two songs that don't They are from Four4 and both are at 68.

We have Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson. I will spread my wings and learn to fly. I will do whatever it takes and we have you and me in the house of life now. we enter the second half of the decade, we reach what I would describe as the Shuffle era because, as you'll see now for the rest of the decade, the only 44-beat divergence we're going to get is 128 beats, for example. in 2006 we got SOS by Rihanna EXC me. Beat 128 is effectively the same as beat 44, but with a triplet on each beat of the measure. Because of this, songs on 128 are sometimes still transcribed on beat 44, but with triplets on each of the four beats. of the bar is now split into three eth notes instead of just two like it would in 44, it gives the music this swaying, skating sound that we describe as shuffle and this Shuffle sound really came into vogue in the second half of the 2000s in 2007. we got Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani in 2008 we got two different songs in 128 I Kissed A G by Katy Perry and So What by Pink in 200 n we got two other songs in 128 time Right Round by FL Rider and Womanizer by Britney Spars 2010 we have Cooler Than Me by Mike Posner which is on 128 times the same year, there was another song I Just Haven't Met You Yet by Michael Bé which I almost wanted to count as a 128 song but instead I counted it as song four4 and this is because sometimes it is not so clear whether to consider a song in 44 swing time or in 128 time, some transcriptions of I just haven't met you yet put it in 44 but with an instruction to swing the rhythm like this and some put it at 128, this is because as I mentioned before, both 128 and 44 have four beats in the measure, but in 128 it is effectively as if we have triplets on each beat of the measure, any song that is in a 4 in four beats it could technically be transcribed in 128, but sometimes it would complicate things too much as I see it, if the song regularly uses the three eth notes, then it is more efficient to transcribe it and think about it in 128 beats, for For example, I can see this in Mike Pner's CER Than Me, the simp plays on every note of the triplet, so if we put this in 44 beats we'd have to use a bunch of triplets all the time, but in some songs they're just really making use of the first and third notes of the triplet so we can still think of it as normal eighth notes, but just instruct the player to balance it and this is the case for some songs I've over

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ed until now. for example, Holiday by Green Day which came out in 2005 and Love Song by Sarah ber Alis which came out in 2008.

Technically you could transcribe these songs in 128, but I think it's better to count them as 44 with swing, as you can see sometimes by putting a The beat of a piece of music can complicate it more than necessary. Rhythm and meter are often something that musicians feel innately and subconsciously, and therefore reading rhythm on a page of sheet music can make it more difficult for some musicians to learn a song. In fact, today's Piano HD Sponsor offers a really great alternative way to learn songs on the piano that doesn't require sheet music. They have a huge library of famous songs where they are all presented in this really accessible tutorial system where the notes fall from the top. and all you have to do is tap to start learning songs today with piano HD.

Use the links below in the description. Thank you so much. Now if we move forward to 2011 we have a great example of 44's and 128's used in it. song That Song Is Just Can't Get Enough by blackeyed peas this song starts in a very normal time of 44, but then it changes to a random fill, it changes to 12 eight times, it changes so let's go to 2012 and in 2012 there. there was one song in the top 40 best selling songs of the year that was not in 44 and it was the song I Won't Give Up by Jason Moratz which was in 68 times in 2013 there was no song that was not four 4 in the top 40 songs best sellers, so let's go straight to 2014 where we have two songs: Say Something by A Great Big World, which is on 68 times, Say Something I'm Give on You and we also have Latch by Disclosure featuring Sam Smith, which is on 128.

In 2015, we win it on the weekend, which is 68 times a week, and we also get a pretty interesting example: Take me to Hosia Church. I actually made a dedicated analysis video about the song before, so check it out for more details, but sure enough, this song starts at 34 or 64 depending on where you count the tempo and then for the chorus it goes to 44 . 2016, we have Danger Woman by Ariana Grande, which is in time 68. Make me feel like in 2017, we have love on the brain. Rihanna, who is on 68 counts and we also have Believer by Imagine Dragons, who is on 12 counts.

In 2018 we got two songs in 128 beats, Young Blood by 5 Seconds of Summer and Perfect by Ed Shar Perfect by Ed sharan is a good example of how when 128 slows down when played at a slower tempo it starts to sound less like 44 but with triplets in each measure and it starts to sound more like 68. When at a slower tempo, 128 can effectively be considered two measures of 68. stuck together and sure enough, if we look at different transcriptions to see if they are perfect, some of them are in 68 beats, once again showing how they can cross between different time signatures. 2019 once again did not give us four songs, so we move on to 2020, which gave us one before going by Louis Kalii, which is on 128 beats, so before going in 2021, we have the song Traidor by Olivia Rodrigo, which It is in 68 times.

In 2022, we have another 68 song, Wasted On You by Morgan Wallen, wasted on you in 2022. I also got something in orange by Zack Brian that has a time signature that can be considered in two different ways. Personally, I would describe it as a mixed time signature of 68 and 98, so we regularly switch between time signatures of 68 and 98. 98 I don't know much, there's not everything, but I've also seen transcriptions of this song in 3 four beats, which makes it makes it a little easier to read. Because you don't have to keep changing the time signature anymore, but it's less true. description of what the meter is actually doing here and that brings us to our last full year, which is the 23rd, where we got two songs no 4, four, rock and a hard place by Bailey Zimmerman, which is a very similar example to If I Ain't Got You. by Alicia Keys is at 34 but the 34 is balanced so you can see it as 98 beats and Ella B Sola by eson armed and featherweight was at 68 beats so that's it, we can see that if a pop song is not going to be in 44 it will probably be in 68 or 128, maybe 34 and maybe in a mixed time signature, as you can see there are no odd time signatures here like 54 or 74, but that doesn't mean there haven't been 54 or 74 pop songs in the century in which I just haven't made it to the top 40 best-selling songs of that year, for example, in 2014, Hosia released from Eden, which is on 54 beats and I would count it as a pop song, but as you can see, it didn't do well enough. to make the year-end charts, another example would be Taylor Swift in 2020, who released two different songs in 54 times, tolerate and close, which I would consider pop songs, but they were not released as singles, tolerate, they ended up on the charts from certain areas, but it certainly didn't become a worldwide hit and it wasn't one of the 40 best-selling songs of the year and this lack of odd meters in the 40 best-selling songs of the year is not even a 21st century thing, one of the top.

A well-known example of an odd meter song is Pink Floyd's Money, released in 1973, but despite being a relatively big hit, it was only the 92nd-selling song on the US charts that year, so which is still a long way from the top 40 best-selling songs of that year, so we have the 32 pop songs of the 21st century that differ from Pure 4 four times, as we just mentioned, just look at the top 40 best-selling songs of each year It doesn't necessarily mean we get to listen to every big song that came out that year, so let's leave it at that.

Let me know in the comments below if you can think of any four important songs other than 4 that have come out in the last 24 years.