A lot can happen in the course of a year, especially when it comes to hit songwriting.
When you compare today’s trends with those of this time last year, a few notable shifts are that today the most influential sub-genres include Electropop, Hip Hop/Rap, and Trap, in addition to R&B/Soul. Solo Male Lead Vocals are currently outshining Duet/Group Vocals, and Two-Word Song Titles have become more popular than Single-Word Titles.
Among the categories that remained the same are the top Lyrical Theme and Primary Genre categories. Additionally, the #1 songs on both Hot 100 charts possess a strong Reggae influence (Rude in 2014, Cheerleader in 2015).
What follows is a comparison of the top performing categories within the HSD Music Charts during the third week of August in 2014 and 2015.
[Header 1 header=”Songs In The Hot 100 Top 10″]
[Header 1 header=”Remained The Same From 2014 to 2015″]
| Categories | Then | Now |
| Top Lyrical Theme | Love/Relationships | |
| Top Electric Vs. Acoustic Instrumentation Category | Primarily Electric | |
| Top Song Title Appearance Category | 6 – 10 Appearances | |
| Top Primary Genre | Pop | |
| Top Record Label | Republic | |
[Header 1 header=”Changed From 2014 to 2015″]
| Categories | Then | Now |
| Top Lead Vocal Category | Duet/Group | Solo Male |
| Top Sub Genre/Influencer | R&B/Soul | Electropop, Hip Hop/Rap, R&B/Soul & Trap |
| Top Song Length Category | 3:00 – 3:29 | Under 3:00, 3:00 – 3:29, & 3:30 – 3:39 |
| Top First Chorus Occurrence Category | Moderately Early (0:20 – 0:39) |
Moderately Late (0:40 – 0:59) |
| Top Intro Length Category | Short (0:01 – 0:09) |
Moderately Short (0:10 – 0:19) |
| Top Song Title Word Count Category | One Word | Two Words |
| Top Primary Instrumentation Category | Synth | Synth, Prominent Drums, Beats, Perc. |
| Top Songwriter Count Category | Two & Three-Writer Teams | Two & Four-Writer Teams |