4-Chords Songs List - Part 1 | I-V-VI-IV (1-5-6-4) Progression

Greetings.

This video is the first of two that make up a collection of over 200 songs that use the same four chords; 1, 4, 5, & 6.

Many of these songs were included in the famous music video by Axis of Awesome simply titled "Four Chords". The songs that make up the first half and ending of that video follow the progression "1-5-6-4", while the songs in between follow the progression "6-4-1-5". This video is dedicated to songs of the former, and is made up of 103 songs that all follow the 1564 pattern. When the second video comes out, it will be dedicated to the latter, being made up entirely of songs following the 6415 pattern (none of which were included in this video).

The songs in this video are organized based off of tempo, starting with the slowest first. The audio cuts are left janky on purpose, as I cut each song based on the background chords and not on the vocals. This is not supposed to be a "mashup" like Axis of Awesome's four chords video is; this is first and foremost a comprehensive list of all the songs I could find that follow the 1564 pattern.

If you feel you know of a song that is missing from this list, most likely it's not here because it doesn't follow the 1564 pattern, or if it does, it's only by technicality, as I came across several songs that barely even counted as having the right progression, and sounding significantly different from the traditional 1564 pattern, were not included in this list.

Part two will be coming soon. 1564 songs in this video are as follows.

1. Same Mistakes - One Direction
2. Out Of The Woods - Taylor Swift
3. Photograph - Ed Sheeran
4. Just Keep Breathing - We The Kings
5. Love Story - Taylor Swift
6. Picking Up The Pieces - Paloma Faith
7. Eyes Open - Taylor Swift
8. Flashlight - Jessie J
9. May We All - Florida Georgia Line
10. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
11. Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri
12. Auld Lang Syne - Robert Burns
13. Mistletoe - Justin Bieber
14. You're Beautiful - James Blunt
15. Up&Up - Coldplay [MUTED DUE TO COPYRIGHT]
16. I Miss You - Miley Cyrus
17. Mario Kart Love Song - Sam Heart
18. Perfect Two - Auburn
19. Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver
20. California King Bed - Rihanna
21. Made In The USA - Demi Lovato
22. Price Tag - Jessie J
23. How Far I'll Go - Auli'i Cravalho
24. Fight Song - Rachel Platten
25. No One - Alicia Keys
26. Where'd You Go - Fort Minor
27. The Call - Regina Spektor
28. Demons - Imagine Dragons
29. Rise Up - Imagine Dragons
30. F*ckin' Perfect - Pink
31. The Story - Brandi Carlile
32. Introducing Me - Nick Jones
33. Happy Ending - Mika
34. Hey, Soul Sister - Train
35. Torn - Natalia Imbruglia
36. Where Is The Love - Black Eyed Peas
37. Amazing - Alex Lloyd
38. Fall At Your Feet - Crowded House
39. She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5
40. Be Alright - Justin Bieber
41. Pictures Of You - The Last Goodnight
42. Superman (It's Not Easy) - Five For Fighting
43. Time To Say Goodbye - Andrea Bocelli
44. Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson
45. With Or Without You - U2
46. Move Along - The All-American Rejects
47. Wherever You Will Go - The Calling
48. Neopolitan Dreams - Lisa Mitchell
49. Friend Zone - Your Favorite Martian
50. Paparazzi - Lady Gaga
51. Glycerine - Bush
52. Don't Stop Believing - Journey
53. Pork And Beans - Weezer
54. Not Pretty Enough - Kasey Chambers
55. Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus
56. Forever Love - Danna Richards
57. Thought Balloon - Freezepop
58. Waka Waka - Shakira
59. Beautiful Drug - Zac Brown Band
60. Swing Swing - The All-American Rejects
61. Can You Feel The Love Tonight - Elton John
62. I'm In A Hurry (And Don't Know Why) - Alabama
63. Gold Forever - The Wanted
64. Prison Bound - Social Distortion
65. The Edge Of Glory - Lady Gaga
66. Someone Like You - Adele
67. Let It Go - Idina Menzel
68. Don't Matter - Akon
69. Hold On - Good Charlotte
70. No One Else - Weezer
71. Almost - Bowling For Soup
72. Forever Young - Alphaville
73. Wagon Wheel - Old Crow Medicine Show
74. 100 In A 55 - Pop Evil
75. We Didn't Start The Fire - Billy Joel
76. Cruise - Florida Georgia Line
77. Let It Be - The Beatles
78. No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley
79. Sex & Candy - Marcy Playground
80. Under The Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers
81. Vanilla Twilight - Owl City
82. You're So Last Summer - Taking Back Sunday
83. Caramelldansen - Caramella Girls
84. Take On Me - A-Ha
85. Taylor - Jack Johnson
86. John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16 - Keith Urban
87. Scar - Missy Higgins
88. America's Funniest Home Videos Theme - Dan Slider
89. Soul To Squeeze - Red Hot Chili Peppers
90. Westbound Sign - Green Day
91. Gone - Jack Johnson
92. The Horses - Daryl Braithwaite
93. Summertime - Bon Jovi
94. Love Yourself - Justin Bieber
95. When I Come Around - Green Day
96. Good - Better Than Ezra
97. Down Under - Men At Work
98. I Wanna Talk About Me - Toby Keith
99. You've Been On My Mind - Dave Days
100. Crazy Game Of Poker - O.A.R.
101. Waltzing Matilda - Banjo Paterson
102. My Name Is Jonas - Weezer
103. What's My Name Again? - Blink-182

[azme]

When you break it down, music is just melodic Math and some formulas just work.
For ppl trying this out w/ a guitar or piano just remember to throw in the 'minor' in one of the numbers (usually the VI) in the progression.

[rutwickgangurde]

As a new music student, you have no idea how helpful this is. THANK YOU!

[AnOriginalYouTuber]

The salt and pepper combo of the music world. Few prefer it but no one straight up hates it. A safe decision for a broad audience.

[ManiacalForeigner]

I think the video might get noticed more if you put the progression in the title in Roman numerals, which to my knowledge is how chord progressions are usually written out: "I–V–vi–IV"

[justdope]

Watched this again and I notice that the only thing that elevates any of the songs is when they're performed by incredible vocalists. 95 percent of these sound the same, but Bono, Elton, Paul etc. singing over simple chords suddenly becomes alright.

[thethrashyone]

There's a few artful usages of this progression on this list, like those by The Beatles or Bob Marley. But holy cow, most of this list is little more than conveyor belt garbage. It's clear to me that a lot of pop songwriters see this chord progression as "easy mode".

[dumnnenier]

actually some in the list are I iii vi iv, which are kinda different from I V vi iv

[DJAZfake]

I guess you could include "Demons" by Imagine Dragons.

Eb - Bb - Cm - Ab
I V vi IV

[johnrottler]

You know a fun fact if you take the 1 5 6 4 chord progression and swap the 4 for a 3 you will get the the first part of the chord progression from Pachabel’s Canon

[kidzbopisstraightfire]

So what does the 1-5-6-4 actually mean? I don't understand what the numbers represent... Obviously not a music student

[youplayfootballright]

“Price Tag” is actually I-iii-vi-IV, not I-V-vi-IV

[guitargreat]

Great video. Some of the songs got a 3rd in the bass, which makes the descend a minor 2nd, watch out :)

[BlendedMozart]

Such a shame that YouTube made you silence Up&Up

[maxigol]

The music version of LI pizza and/or chicken nuggets w french fries.

[UncleJamie]

The Orange and Teal of chord progressions.





(Was the silencing of Coldplay at 3:40 a bit of a Freudian Slip then? Understandable if it was.)

(Oh, and RIP Jimmy as well obviously (sorry Jimmy).)

[moptopzzz]

A lot of forgettable songs. And that's due to the digital very overproductuction.

[scifiartman]

My god what a parade of dull, lifeless music! A few sparklers in the mix, but mostly an expose of the blight of modern music! Maybe we've just squeezed poor to death...

[thekingofelfland]

Thanks for the video. Really is awful candy store pop. Need a good shot of Black Sabbath after this. Had to listen to the video because I'm studying this in music theory right now. I call it MMM. Money Making Muck. Thanks again.

[del]

While some great early songs have been written with this sequence it's now used cynically simply to garner hits. I now can't stand it

[jasondavis]

This progression should be banned by international moratorium - I wonder if the musicians who use it know how unoriginal it is? Maybe pop songs are all composed by algorithms now? At least change the progression a bit - it's like eating the same meal over and over again.