Are Complex Songs Doing Better On the Charts?
Or worse?
The Superstition
Keep it simple stupid. Don’t bore us, get to the chorus. I’ve consistently heard and used these bits of folk wisdom in studio sessions and writing rooms over the years. But do simpler song structures actually associated with stronger chart performance? Today I explore my unique data set of all songs that appear in the Hot 100 charts from 2020 to 2025 to see if I can pull this superstition out of the shadows. If you’re new, you can find details about me and this data project here.
The Setup
First, we have to define song complexity. For this examination lets consider the presence of additional unique sections beyond the typical verse and chorus to be a reasonable indication of added complexity. So we’ll look at songs in three bucket:
Songs without Pre-Chorus, Post-Chorus or Bridge1
Songs with at least one of the above mentioned sections.
Songs with at least two of the above.
The Finding
Curiously, the primacy of simplicity in song writing might be the actual myth itself! Seen below, increased complexity was actually connected to better chart performance even after being adjusted for differing sample sizes in 2024 and 2025.
The Obvious Critique
At least, it’s the critique that seemed immediately obvious to me: could this trend have nothing to do with song complexity itself but simply be explained by a shift in genre preference? Since Pop makes the most frequent use of these additional sections, perhaps Pop doing particularly well over the past couple years explains the trend. Put another way - maybe it’s just the case the people are more into Pop these days and since Pop uses these additional sections more often, it may only seem like it’s the added complexity that is associated with enhanced performance. To address this, I had my custom ChatGPT segment songs by genre.
It turns out, genre does matter. But there is a twist.
The Twist
Pop is indeed responsible for quite a bit of the enhanced chart performance associated with song complexity. However, within genres there remains a complexity performance bump over these two years as well. It was most pronounced in Pop but also present to a lesser extent in Urban/Black American music. The effect was insignificant in Latin and Country.
The Summary
Added structural complexity was associated with stronger chart performance and that relationship was not just a genre artifact: it existed within key genre’s as well.
At least, that was the case over 2024 and 2025. Perhaps there is some deeper cycle or trend to this finding over the past half decade? If you’re interested in a deeper dive into the nuances of this trend, reach out to me directly for a custom report.
Defined as a section situated before the final chorus having a progression unique within the rest of the song