Song: the palm of vocabulary … to rappers! – Point

American rappers Eminem and Jay-Z are using a rich vocabulary when they write their songs, well ahead of Bob Dylan or the Beatles, according to a study by the specialized site musiXmatch, based in Bologna (north-center of the Italy). Researchers Varun Jewalikar Vail and Nash studied the lyrics of 93 artists among the most sold in the world, who exercise their talents in 25 different styles of music (hip hop, hard rock, country, reggae, grunge, soul. . ..)

Six other “top-selling” – Bruce Springsteen, Chicago, Def Leppard, Journey, The Beach Boys and The Doors – are not part of the study, because they allow musiXmatch not to use their words, the study says.

Eminem explodes average

With the basic site data, which lists more than 7 million songs in 38 languages , Jewalikar and Vail were able to highlight the variety of vocabulary used by these artists. Some, considering the longevity of their careers, are the authors of more than 400 songs, other, younger, less of 100. Only have therefore been taken into account the 100 most “dense” songs (those with the most words).

The winner is Eminem, who used 8818 words, while the general average is 2677 words. This is also the Detroit rapper who uses the most words by an average song (1 018.5). In second place, another major artist of the American hip-hop singer and producer Jay-Z (6899 words). Finally, the poet rapper Tupac Shakur, who was murdered in 1996, completes the trifecta (6569 words). Kanye West, another star of the American hip-hop, is fourth (5069 words), followed by folk singer Bob Dylan (4883 words) and the Black Eyed Peas (4539 words).

The monuments bottom of the rankings

Then the “polyglot”: the Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias (4323 words), the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli (4306 words), Japanese pop rock group B’z (3959 words) and the Latin singer Gloria Estefan (3419 words). Among Francophones, the Quebec Céline Dion is the 10th (3954 words) while Johnny Hallyday plays a honest 25th place (2891 words). Among the dunce caps, crooner Barry White (88th, 1731 words), the British band The Police (73rd, 1885 words), Nirvana (83rd, 1835 words), ACDC (87th, 1788 words) or Spice Girls (91st, 1497 words).

Finally, the artists who made the biggest selling albums of all time found in the soft belly or even the bottom of the rankings, such as the Beatles (76th, 1872 words), Elvis Presley (38th, 2531 words) and Michael Jackson (42nd, 2503 words), making researchers say that the more you write “simply”, you sell more records.