This is how the lyrics of nominees to Song of the Year at the Grammys would look like if they were charts

Have you ever wondered which are the most common words in pop songs? There is a chance that the first words that come to your mind are “baby”, “yeah”, “oh” or “love” but are those really? Check out these cool graphics to find out. Feel free to interact with them! 

The 60th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be held next January 28th in New York. As every year since 1958, The Recording Academy will share recognition of the mainstream music industry in 78 different categories and one of the most expected by the general public is Song of the Year.

Song of the Year goes only to the composer or composers of the single and it is one of the four most prestigious Grammy Awards, which according to The Recording Academy "are a celebration of excellence.” More than 350 music experts are involved in the yearly selection of both nominees and winners.

The content and distribution of words might have an impact on the quality of the lyrics and numbers might have some clues.

The numbers behind nominees to Song of the Year 2017

The nominees to Song of the Year 2017 are 1-800-273-8255 - Logic, That’s what I like - Bruno Mars, 4:44 - Jay Z, Issues - Julia Michaels and Despacito Remix - Luis Fonsi ft. Justin Bieber. The winner will be announced next January 2018. In total, the five lyrics have 1,216 words, 492 different ones. In average, each song has 243 words, 98 of then different. This means that two out of every ten words are mentioned only once and the other eight are repetitions.

Logic’s 1-800-273-8255, one quarter of the words are mentioned once, it has 273 words in total and 105 different ones. The word “wanna” represents a tenth on the song, it is mentioned 27 times.

That’s what I like by Bruno Mars has a total of 221 words, 100 different ones. This means that 25% of the words are mentioned only once. The word “like” is mentioned 27 times and accounts for 11% of the whole song.

The song 4:44 by Jay-Z has 210 words, 159 different ones. The words mentioned once represent 62% of the song. The most repeated word is “apologize” but only accounts for 3% of the lyrics. This song is the most diverse among the nominees.

Issues, by Julia Michaels has 151 words in total, 50 different ones. Three out of ten words are either “got”, “cause” or “issues” and only two out of ten words are mentioned once.

Finally, Despacito Remix by Luis Fonsi featuring Justin Bieber has 367 words in total, 184 different ones. Three out of ten are mentioned only once and the words “que” and “woah” are the most repeated, each one mentioned 16 times. This song has the longest lyrics among the nominees. This is the longest song among the nominees.

What about Song of the Year 2016?

The nominees to Song of the Year 2016 were Formation - Beyoncé, 7 Years - Lukas Graham, Love Yourself - Justin Bieber, I took a pill in Ibiza - Mike Posner and Hello - Adele. The winner was the latter. In total, the five lyrics have 1,045 words but only 376 different ones. That means that only a quarter of the words are mentioned just once and the other three quarters are repetitions (once, twice or even 47 times, as is the case of the word “slay” in the lyrics of Formation).

There are 311 words in Beyoncé’s Formation, 19% of them are mentioned once which means that eight out of ten are repetitions. In total, there are 120 different words in the lyrics. “Slay” is mentioned 47 times and “okay”, 41, accounting together for 28% of the entire song.This is the one with the highest amount of words from all the nominees.

In I took a pill in Ibiza by Mike Posner, 37% of the words are mentioned once, which makes it the most diverse of the nominees to Song of the Year 2016. The lyrics have 208 words in total, 104 of them different.

In Justin Bieber’s, Love Yourself, 80% of the words repeated, only two out of ten are mentioned just once. The song has a total of 169 words, 76 different ones.

Finally, the winner. Hello, by Adele has 139 words, 63 of them different. Only 25% are mentioned once and the rest are repetitions. This is the shortest of the nominees.

So, what?

The five most common words in nominees to Song of the Year 2016 are “slay”, “okay”, “cause”, “like” and “years”, respectively. The five most common in nominees to the same category for 2017 are “like”, “got”, “wanna”, “baby” and “que”. The more words a song has, the higher the likelihood that most will be repetitions.

The richest songs in terms of word diversity, or the ones that had the lowest percentage of repetitions and the more words mentioned only once were I took a pill in Ibiza By Mike Posner for 2016 and 4:44 by Jay - Z for 2017.

Which song do you think will get the Award to Song of the Year 2017 next January 28th? What do you think about the most popular words in Grammy's favourite songs? Let me know in the comments below!