Has music become more political? Are there more protest songs? Let’s ask statistics!
I’m always getting questions about modern protest songs. Does it exist? Why don’t we hear more of it? Why aren’t things like they used to be in the 1960s and early 70s? Here are my answers:
- Yes, but you have to look for it.
- There’s too much music out there with 100,000 songs uploaded to streamers every day, adding to the 205+ million songs available to anyone with a phone.
- The news cycles move too fast. Music is seen as more disposable than ever. Social media is now king when it comes to political discourse. Back in the 60s and 70s, music via radio was our social media when it came to protesting.
When Trump was first elected in 2016, I made a prediction that we’d see a huge increase in angry music and a renaissance in rock. It didn’t happen for reasons I’m still trying to determine. Then came COVID and four years of Biden. But with an insane and unbelievably corrupt second Trump administration, shouldn’t people start expressing their rage more through music? Has music become more political over the last nine months?
Statsignificant looked at the situation. Let’s start with this graph.
So, yes. Political language in music has increased, but it’s still below its historic peak. Rock continues to lead the way with the most political lyrics (0.74% of songs) followed by country (0.60%) and rap/hip-hop (0.58%).
Here’s a slightly different graph that focuses on political songs on the Billboard Hot 100. And yes, there’s an uptick.
Are we heading towards a new era of protest and political music? It seems so.
