Why does it take so many people to write a song these days?

Back in the day, we had powerful songwriting teams like Lennon and McCartney, Jagger and Richards, Tyler and Perry, all four members of U2. Songwriting was contained within the confines of a band. When it came to solo artists, we had Bob Dylan and Springsteen writing their own material. Today, though, it seems like it takes an army to write just one song. Take, for example, Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode.” It needed a staggering 28 people to write. Drake and Cardi B have used up to 15.

The average number of songwriters for any given song in the Billboard Hot 100 has written from 2.0 in 1970 to 4.5 today. Here’s a chart that outlines everything (via WordTips.)

A site called Word.Tips did a little sleuthing to find out which of today’s artists write songs on their own.

Zach Bryan is the king today, writing roughly 91% of his songs with zero outside help. Hozier is a distant second. Note where Taylor Swift sits on this chart. She’s written just 69 songs by herself.

So who needs the most help? Thank you for asking.

Here’s the situation with hip-hop solo writers.

And these rappers need the most help.