Sure, we all love a good bop, but more substantial songs – the kind built around characters and narratives – can be just as compelling. Researchers at UC Berkeley have released a study ranking Billboard hits from the past 60 years based on their storytelling, and a Taylor Swift song made the top 10.
The research team analyzed the lyrics of more than 1,000 hit songs to identify which “narrative storytelling elements” they contained. Using those findings, they trained an algorithm to score thousands of tracks on their level of storytelling or “narrativity.” In total, more than 5,000 pop songs that appeared on Billboard Hot 100 year-end lists between 1960 and 2024 were examined.
Landing at #6 on the list was Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault),” the tale of heartbreak that topped the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release. Other songs in the top 10 included rapper Ice Cube‘s 1993 hit “It Was a Good Day,” Tone Loc‘s 1989 banger “Wild Thing” and Craig David’s 2001 2-step classic “Fill Me In.”
The top 10 also featured Harry Chapin‘s 1972 classic “Taxi” and Jeannie C. Riley‘s 1968 hit “Harper Valley PTA,” a song so compelling it inspired both a film and television series. Coming in at #2 was Bobbie Gentry’s 1967 song “Ode to Billie Joe,” which also inspired a movie adaptation.
Taking the top spot was Vicki Lawrence‘s 1973 Southern gothic murder ballad “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” which later became a huge country hit for Reba McEntire in 1991.
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