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Analytics

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''