Science Daily is getting right down to the meat of science by asking, "Why was Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' a number one hit on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1983, but other songs, like Madonna's 1999 'Nothing Really Matters,' flounder at 90 or below?"
Potentially the most scientific answer ever?
Back-up singers.
Music lover and Professor of Marketing at the USC Marshall School of Business Joseph Nunes, and doctoral candidates at the USC Thornton School of Music scrutinized thousands of songs from Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 lists from the past 55 years.
Andrea Ordanini, professor of marketing at Bocconi University in Italy, co-published with Nunes "I Like the Way It Sounds: The Influence of Instrumentation on a Pop Song's Place in the Charts" in Musicae Scientiae, the Journal of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music.
"Using background vocals in your song increases your chances of reaching the top of the charts," Nunes said, according to Science Daily.
Researchers considered all 1,029 number one songs on Billboard's Hot 100 between 1958 and 2012 and compared each to the 1,451 songs that never climbed above No. 90. Graduate students lead by Ph.D. candidate Brad Sroka, at USC Thornton acquired as many audio recordings of those songs as they could find and coded the types of instruments and vocals used in each song, according to Science Daily.
The sounds in Prince's 1986 hit "Kiss" and Jay Z's "Hey Papi" from 2000 are examples of what researchers found in the number ones:
- background vocals, synthesizer and clean guitar
- background vocals, synthesizer and distorted electric guitar
USC Marshall School of Business
The core of songs that never passed the 90th spot, like Aretha Franklin's "Try a Little Tenderness" from 1962 and 1986's Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime," fit one of these combinations:
- acoustic guitar, acoustic piano and no strings
- clean guitar and acoustic piano
- bass guitar, synthesizer and no electric piano
USC Marshall School of Business
The only common thread between the hits is the background vocals and the common tie between the duds is the lack of background vocals, according to the study.