In 2019, 58 songs landed in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Of them, only 15 occupied the coveted top spot.

Many of 2019’s number ones possess a blend of unique and standout qualities that separated them from their contemporaries. Some of the most notable are:

• 7 Rings, which stands out through its interpolation of The Sound of Music’s My Favorite Things
• Bad Guy, whose home-grown production and highly atypical structuring of sub-genres broke conventional standards of what a #1 hit could sound like
• Senorita, which is in and of itself a masterclass on how to recycle the same hook in both familiar and fresh ways throughout a song
• Someone You Loved and Lose You To Love Me, which were the only essentially drumless ballads to rise to the top in the past five years along with Ed Sheeran and Beyonce’s Perfect
• Sucker, which stands out through its super-infectious whistle hook and funky drum break
• Truth Hurts, which proved that persistence and a unique personality can send a song to the top of the charts years after its initial release

However, as much as the class of 2019’s #1 hits differed from one another, there were certain commonalities that they shared that made them sound familiar to audiences and more easily connect.

80% featured a love/relationship lyrical theme, which surpassed the lifestyle theme for the first time since 2016. This shift was mainly due to Pop surpassing Hip Hop as the most popular primary genre, accounting for 73% of the year’s number ones. However, though Hip Hop as a primary genre took a downturn in 2019, it flourished as a sub-genre influence, playing a role in 60% of songs across varied primary genres. Also jibing with the diminished popularity of Hip Hop was vocal delivery style, with exclusively sung vocals more than doubling to 73% of songs in 2019 and surpassing sung/rapped combo songs for the first time since 2016.

Songs performed by a single artist were also back on top, rising to their highest level of popularity in well over five years at 73% of songs.

And while songs with exclusively male lead vocalists continued to be most popular, female leads gained significant ground in 2019, skyrocketing from 8% of #1 hits in 2018 to 40% in 2019, their highest level since way back in 2014.

Structurally, major and minor keys were neck and neck in 2019; average tempo jumped by 15 BPM to 94 BPM, which is the fastest it’s been since 2015; and later (yes, later) first chorus occurrence ranges (0:40-0:59 and 1:00+) increased in prominence, while earlier ranges (0:01-0:19 and 0:20-0:39) dropped. And, for the fourth straight year, there weren’t any #1 hits that kicked off with the chorus.

Most notable of all, songs got significantly shorter in 2019, which was welcome news for shrinking audience attention spans. The average song length of #1 hits dropped by 39 seconds from 3:44 in 2018 to just 3:05 in 2019. This was due in part to the skyrocketing of songs landing under three minutes in length from just 8% of songs in 2018 up to 47% in 2019.

These are just a few highlights from our trend report, The State of the Hot 100 Top 10: 2019 in Review,  being released later this week – stay tuned!