These are the "Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Artists" as established by Billboard Magazine. The song lyrics were (generally) collected from The Music Lyrics Database.
For our purposes, complexity is a measure of lack of repetition and is scored from 0-100, with higher scores indicating more complexity (or less repetition) in the lyrics. The chart shows a histogram of complexity for all of the songs for that artist.
Sentiment is a measure of the positive or negative emotions conveyed by the lyrics. Scores can range from -100 to 100 with scores greater than 0 indicating positive emotions. Again, each chart aggregates all of the songs for that artist.
| Rank | Artist Name | Songs | Complexity | Readability | Sentiment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Beatles | 215 | 50 | b' ' |
78.86 | 15 | b' ' |
| 2 | Madonna | 203 | 52 | b' ' |
70.29 | 14 | b' ' |
| 3 | Elton John | 434 | 66 | b' ' |
71.97 | 8 | b' ' |
| 4 | Elvis Presley | 661 | 57 | b' ' |
78.03 | 17 | b' ' |
| 5 | Mariah Carey | 168 | 54 | b' ' |
70.87 | 17 | b' ' |
| 6 | Stevie Wonder | 227 | 51 | b' ' |
75.94 | 17 | b' ' |
| 7 | Janet Jackson | 137 | 54 | b' ' |
77.15 | 17 | b' ' |
| 8 | Michael Jackson | 113 | 47 | b' ' |
73.88 | 11 | b' ' |
| 9 | Whitney Houston | 101 | 55 | b' ' |
76.12 | 20 | b' ' |
| 10 | Rihanna | 48 | 49 | b' ' |
79.47 | 11 | b' ' |
| 12 | Paul McCartney | 308 | 52 | b' ' |
72.39 | 14 | b' ' |
| 13 | Bee Gees | 398 | 52 | b' ' |
74.16 | 14 | b' ' |
| 14 | Usher | 125 | 52 | b' ' |
74.44 | 9 | b' ' |
| 15 | Chicago | 205 | 61 | b' ' |
74.39 | 16 | b' ' |
| 16 | The Supremes | 313 | 56 | b' ' |
74.63 | 18 | b' ' |
| 17 | Prince | 158 | 61 | b' ' |
74.37 | 12 | b' ' |
| 18 | Hall & Oates | 183 | 62 | b' ' |
72.89 | 7 | b' ' |
| 19 | Rod Stewart | 309 | 55 | b' ' |
73.94 | 12 | b' ' |
| 20 | Olivia Newton-John | 249 | 56 | b' ' |
73.50 | 17 | b' ' |
| 21 | Drake | 68 | 58 | b' ' |
80.87 | 10 | b' ' |
| 23 | Marvin Gaye | 16 | 59 | b' ' |
77.32 | 26 | b' ' |
| 24 | Taylor Swift | 68 | 51 | b' ' |
72.74 | 10 | b' ' |
| 25 | Katy Perry | 58 | 48 | b' ' |
69.72 | 11 | b' ' |
| 26 | Phil Collins | 105 | 52 | b' ' |
76.96 | 11 | b' ' |
| 27 | Billy Joel | 108 | 60 | b' ' |
69.25 | 8 | b' ' |
| 28 | Diana Ross | 357 | 53 | b' ' |
76.52 | 18 | b' ' |
| 31 | Donna Summer | 175 | 50 | b' ' |
72.67 | 18 | b' ' |
| 33 | Lionel Richie | 71 | 53 | b' ' |
77.28 | 19 | b' ' |
| 34 | Bruno Mars | 12 | 42 | b' ' |
79.21 | 14 | b' ' |
| 35 | Neil Diamond | 106 | 56 | b' ' |
78.21 | 16 | b' ' |
| 36 | Carpenters | 187 | 61 | b' ' |
73.96 | 17 | b' ' |
| 37 | Maroon 5 | 29 | 52 | b' ' |
70.53 | 2 | b' ' |
| 38 | Boyz II Men | 135 | 60 | b' ' |
74.62 | 20 | b' ' |
| 39 | The Jacksons | 34 | 58 | b' ' |
80.86 | 21 | b' ' |
| 40 | Connie Francis | 40 | 60 | b' ' |
77.81 | 19 | b' ' |
| 41 | Beyonce | 86 | 50 | b' ' |
74.05 | 20 | b' ' |
| 43 | Kenny Rogers | 30 | 62 | b' ' |
76.96 | 20 | b' ' |
| 44 | Barbra Streisand | 245 | 62 | b' ' |
74.66 | 20 | b' ' |
| 45 | Bryan Adams | 206 | 59 | b' ' |
78.13 | 13 | b' ' |
| 46 | Cher | 159 | 59 | b' ' |
76.45 | 12 | b' ' |
| 47 | George Michael | 84 | 56 | b' ' |
77.26 | 12 | b' ' |
| 51 | John Mellencamp | 94 | 54 | b' ' |
71.69 | 9 | b' ' |
| 53 | Huey Lewis & The News | 66 | 57 | b' ' |
74.50 | 11 | b' ' |
| 54 | Gloria Estefan | 24 | 52 | b' ' |
74.35 | 5 | b' ' |
| 55 | Bon Jovi | 168 | 54 | b' ' |
76.42 | 9 | b' ' |
| 57 | Ray Charles | 38 | 54 | b' ' |
80.83 | 12 | b' ' |
| 58 | Foreigner | 80 | 51 | b' ' |
76.72 | 10 | b' ' |
| 59 | Chris Brown | 57 | 50 | b' ' |
81.55 | 13 | b' ' |
| 63 | Duran Duran | 147 | 53 | b' ' |
67.52 | 9 | b' ' |
| 64 | Justin Timberlake | 33 | 45 | b' ' |
81.99 | 15 | b' ' |
| 66 | Eagles | 116 | 57 | b' ' |
75.26 | 10 | b' ' |
| 67 | Lady Gaga | 66 | 42 | b' ' |
73.34 | 14 | b' ' |
| 68 | TLC | 80 | 57 | b' ' |
76.23 | 11 | b' ' |
| 70 | Barry Manilow | 235 | 59 | b' ' |
76.10 | 16 | b' ' |
| 72 | Heart | 57 | 55 | b' ' |
74.18 | 12 | b' ' |
| 73 | Nelly | 165 | 58 | b' ' |
75.87 | 7 | b' ' |
| 74 | The Everly Brothers | 21 | 62 | b' ' |
78.16 | 13 | b' ' |
| 76 | R. Kelly | 143 | 57 | b' ' |
78.78 | 11 | b' ' |
| 78 | Paula Abdul | 50 | 58 | b' ' |
74.75 | 18 | b' ' |
| 79 | Eminem | 159 | 66 | b' ' |
70.90 | -3 | b' ' |
| 80 | Alicia Keys | 47 | 52 | b' ' |
73.21 | 13 | b' ' |
| 81 | Kelly Clarkson | 129 | 50 | b' ' |
75.51 | 9 | b' ' |
| 82 | Linda Ronstadt | 175 | 55 | b' ' |
76.53 | 10 | b' ' |
| 83 | Richard Marx | 94 | 63 | b' ' |
72.13 | 11 | b' ' |
| 84 | Starship | 96 | 54 | b' ' |
75.13 | 15 | b' ' |
| 85 | Destiny's Child | 116 | 51 | b' ' |
76.10 | 19 | b' ' |
| 86 | Kanye West | 70 | 60 | b' ' |
74.41 | 7 | b' ' |
| 87 | Celine Dion | 358 | 54 | b' ' |
77.26 | 19 | b' ' |
| 88 | JAY-Z | 189 | 63 | b' ' |
74.64 | 3 | b' ' |
| 90 | Bob Seger | 99 | 62 | b' ' |
74.26 | 10 | b' ' |
| 91 | Fleetwood Mac | 216 | 53 | b' ' |
76.26 | 14 | b' ' |
| 93 | Justin Bieber | 77 | 42 | b' ' |
77.85 | 17 | b' ' |
| 94 | Bruce Springsteen | 379 | 61 | b' ' |
75.40 | 6 | b' ' |
| 96 | John Denver | 218 | 57 | b' ' |
69.42 | 17 | b' ' |
| 99 | 50 Cent | 132 | 61 | b' ' |
79.86 | 1 | b' ' |