Pop Songs Went Minor, 1959–2025
Topic: Culture & Entertainment
In this chart: The year's top 20 hits, Second Layer
About this chart
The violet line is the share of the top 20 hits in a minor key, averaged over five years; the faint dots are single years. The readout gives the year, the five-year share and that year's own count; the record and the low are marked. Point at any year, or tap it, to read its numbers. The animation draws the years from 1959 to 2025 over fifty-six seconds, holds on the last year for three seconds, and loops. The scrubber under the chart marks each year and pauses on any of them.
Method
The songs are the top 20 of Billboard's year-end Hot 100 for every year from 1959 to 2025, 1,340 songs, as the chart is reproduced on Wikipedia's “Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles” pages; a year-end chart covers Billboard's chart year, which does not match the calendar year exactly. The details of each song were compiled for DataSlapper from Wikipedia's song and artist pages, SongBPM and other song pages, with a cited page for every value, and checked by DataSlapper: every year's top 20 against Wikipedia's page, and a random sample of 112 songs against the pages cited. A value no source gave is left out, not guessed; a double-sided single that holds one chart position counts as one song.
A song's key and mode come from published sheet music, as Wikipedia cites it, or from SongBPM's software analysis of the recording. Both are estimates: software can mistake a song's key for a closely related one, most often a major key for its relative minor, and where two sources disagree the first is used. 987 of the 1,340 songs have a known key, from 9 to 20 in a year; the rest are left out. The line pools each year with the four before it and so begins in 1963; the dots are single years.
Data sources
- Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles, 1959–2025, the top 20 of each year, as reproduced by Wikipedia
- Song keys and modes: published sheet music as cited by Wikipedia's song pages, and SongBPM, compiled for DataSlapper
Data table
Every year's top 20 hits from 1959 to 2025: how many have a known key, how many of those are in a minor key, and the five-year share the chart draws. Keys are estimates. Compiled by DataSlapper.
Show all 67 rows
| Year | Songs with a key | Minor | Major | Minor share | Five-year average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | 19 | 2 | 17 | 10.5% | |
| 1960 | 12 | 2 | 10 | 16.7% | |
| 1961 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 18.2% | |
| 1962 | 14 | 2 | 12 | 14.3% | |
| 1963 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 0.0% | 11.8% |
| 1964 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 18.2% | 13.3% |
| 1965 | 12 | 3 | 9 | 25.0% | 15.0% |
| 1966 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 11.1% | 13.8% |
| 1967 | 17 | 5 | 12 | 29.4% | 18.0% |
| 1968 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0.0% | 19.0% |
| 1969 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 36.4% | 22.4% |
| 1970 | 14 | 2 | 12 | 14.3% | 20.0% |
| 1971 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 0.0% | 16.7% |
| 1972 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 41.7% | 18.0% |
| 1973 | 15 | 3 | 12 | 20.0% | 20.9% |
| 1974 | 14 | 1 | 13 | 7.1% | 15.7% |
| 1975 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 18.2% | 16.4% |
| 1976 | 17 | 4 | 13 | 23.5% | 21.7% |
| 1977 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0.0% | 14.7% |
| 1978 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 61.5% | 22.7% |
| 1979 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 40.0% | 29.0% |
| 1980 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 33.3% | 31.8% |
| 1981 | 13 | 2 | 11 | 15.4% | 30.6% |
| 1982 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 64.3% | 43.1% |
| 1983 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 50.0% | 40.9% |
| 1984 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 50.0% | 43.1% |
| 1985 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 46.2% | 45.7% |
| 1986 | 12 | 2 | 10 | 16.7% | 46.4% |
| 1987 | 17 | 3 | 14 | 17.6% | 36.1% |
| 1988 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 23.1% | 31.0% |
| 1989 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 31.3% | 26.8% |
| 1990 | 14 | 5 | 9 | 35.7% | 25.0% |
| 1991 | 14 | 1 | 13 | 7.1% | 23.0% |
| 1992 | 16 | 4 | 12 | 25.0% | 24.7% |
| 1993 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 64.3% | 32.4% |
| 1994 | 14 | 2 | 12 | 14.3% | 29.2% |
| 1995 | 16 | 3 | 13 | 18.8% | 25.7% |
| 1996 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 23.1% | 28.8% |
| 1997 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 36.4% | 30.9% |
| 1998 | 14 | 5 | 9 | 35.7% | 25.0% |
| 1999 | 18 | 5 | 13 | 27.8% | 27.8% |
| 2000 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 43.8% | 33.3% |
| 2001 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 58.3% | 39.4% |
| 2002 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 40.0% | 40.0% |
| 2003 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 43.8% | 41.6% |
| 2004 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 53.8% | 47.2% |
| 2005 | 17 | 6 | 11 | 35.3% | 45.2% |
| 2006 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 53.8% | 44.6% |
| 2007 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 50.0% | 46.8% |
| 2008 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 46.7% | 47.4% |
| 2009 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 41.2% | 45.0% |
| 2010 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 40.0% | 46.2% |
| 2011 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 57.1% | 46.8% |
| 2012 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 42.1% | 45.0% |
| 2013 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 44.4% | 44.6% |
| 2014 | 18 | 7 | 11 | 38.9% | 44.0% |
| 2015 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 43.8% | 44.7% |
| 2016 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 64.7% | 46.6% |
| 2017 | 19 | 11 | 8 | 57.9% | 50.0% |
| 2018 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 40.0% | 49.4% |
| 2019 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 43.8% | 50.6% |
| 2020 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 50.0% | 51.9% |
| 2021 | 20 | 7 | 13 | 35.0% | 45.2% |
| 2022 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 47.4% | 42.9% |
| 2023 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 47.4% | 44.3% |
| 2024 | 20 | 5 | 15 | 25.0% | 40.2% |
| 2025 | 20 | 5 | 15 | 25.0% | 35.7% |
Updated 2025
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