97% of pop is in 4/4... let’s look at the 3% that's not

Most pop music is in 4/4 time, but not all of it. I've listened to each of the 40 best selling songs (on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart) from each year of the 21st century and taken note of which time signature(s) they use. So that's a sample size of 933 songs (it would be 960 but sometimes the same song is in the top 40 best selling two years in a row so I didn't count those twice in the data). Out of those 933 songs, only 32 diverged from pure 4/4 time, so let's take a look at them today and see what other options exist beyond good old reliable 4/4.

And, an extra special thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇

0:00 Introduction
0:40 2000
0:49 2001
1:28 2002
1:53 2003
2:09 2004
3:45 2005
4:09 2006
4:59 2007
5:10 2008
5:28 2009
5:48 2010
6:14 12/8 vs. Swung 4/4
7:50 HDpiano
8:22 2011
8:55 2012
9:14 2013
9:19 2014
9:45 2015
10:26 2016
10:36 2017
10:57 2018
11:19 12/8 vs. 6/8
11:47 2019
11:53 2020
12:03 2021
12:15 2022
13:00 2023
13:38 Review
15:05 Patreon

[camerondrew]

Now it's time to do Progressive Metal songs that ARE in 4/4

[Roflmaolinde]

I basically have no idea what you guys are talking about but I’m happy to be here!

[maverator]

Once again Nickelback fearlessly pushing musical boundaries.

[aepokkvulpex]

1:05 You gave me the best explanation I've ever heard of what distinguishes 6/8 time from 3/4, god thank you

[oscarramage]

That’s dedication, listening to 960 songs for a 15 minute video

[richarddoan]

The "shuffle era" makes you realize how much producers follow the trend.

[juangiraldo]

Outkast with Hey Ya really hides that 2/4 really well.

[wulfleyn]

Love the little fadeouts of the music. Specifically when it kinda cuts off fast but still fades out in a satisfying way.

[Hoozeewoozee]

Electric Feel by MGMT. Something felt oddly hypnotic about it. Years later I realized the feel really was electric - it’s in 6/4.

[frtzkng]

There should be an award for "Second Song in 7/4 that hit the Top 40" cuz the first one was probably _Solsbury Hill_ and that was decades ago

[Local_Hitman]

The dedication is there but the way you said "Ella baila sola" killed me.

[Nina-noqj]

Don’t forget Into the Unknown!! I had a whole argument with someone about how it was in 12/8 and not 4/4. I REFUSE to be wrong and your video’s proving me right

[proxyprox]

I'm obsessed with weird time signatures and this channel is a treasure to me

[nicolasbuitrago]

incredible how I swallowed the whole video not understanding any of what you said but enjoying the video

[abhi]

It's all just 1/1 with tempo changes

[Smoke---]

I KNEW there was something different about “Hey Ya”! It’s always thrown me off every few bars 😂

[MedlifeCrisis]

This filled in so many blanks in my head about why certain musical eras ‘felt’ a certain way, without realising what I was noticing were the time time signatures. But the first time I remember noticing a non 4/4 beat in pop music was Artful Dodger’s ‘Do you think about me’ back in 2000, I guess it wasn’t big enough to make the top 40 for the year. Congrats on 1 million!

[larkermouse]

Differentiating a swung 4/4 and 12/8 by whether or not they use the second note in the triplet is actually a really succinct and straightforward way to put it. Gonna use that from now on.

[azureviolet]

This is the most effective time signature teaching tool that I've ever randomly encountered on the internet
The differences between 3/4, 6/8, and 12/8 had always confused me, and having all these examples lined up really helps

[SMFAHgirl]

Sooo happy you brought up From Eden. It's one of my favorite songs ever since it came out. The time signature and his blues style in general always felt so fresh to me, glad to know it's for good reason!