Measuring the Stories in Contemporary Songs

Lyric poetry--the poetry of song--is often defined in opposition to narrative. In this work, we examine this relationship by carrying out an empirical study to measure the degree of narrativity present in contemporary songs, using a dataset of popular (Billboard Hot 100) and prestigious (Grammy-nominated) songs spanning 1960-2024. While we might expect the 1960s (with ballad-driven folk singers like Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel) to be a high-water mark for narrativity, we find the opposite: narrativity has been steadily increasing over this period, largely due to the rise of the strongly narrative genres of hip hop and rap. We also find that it is a marker of prestige for country music, with Grammy-award nominated "Best Country" songs displaying significantly higher narrativity rates than non-nominated songs from the same album.