Has anyone ever tried working out the average bpm of pop songs from each year?

Okay, that may sound like a daft question, but...

I'm trying to make a decade's-end mix of roughly 8 mins per year (10 tracks on a CD), mixing these in Acid. It suddenly struck me that in around the early-mid 90s you got a lot of drum'n'bass-influenced pop songs ("Sound Of The Underground", "Addicted To Bass", "Good Luck" by Basement Jaxx, even some of the Radiohead stuff off Hail To The Thief) all of tempos between 155 and 170 bpm.

It made me think about how rocksteady music in Jamaica gained popularity over ska in the mid-60s, mostly due to some particularly hot summers and the fashion for black suits among the rude boy crowd. People just preferred a slower beat to groove to, and so a style was born.

So yeah, I doubt anyone's been dorky enough to do it but I'd be interested in knowing whether the average bpm of a top twenty hit changes from year to year (or season to season? Christmas songs do tend to be pretty slow compared to summer jams).

average bpm of rap hits presumably slower than 10 years ago

Wonder if we'll see a major slowing down in UK pop if Dubstep continues to seep into the mainstream.

dubstep is 140bpm!

Oh, I thought it was more like 120. It certainly feels slower.

it feels like about 70 yeah.

haha

Not quite what yr after but, average bpm of number ones over the years:

http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/bpm.png

nice

Cliff Richard bringing the doom rock there.

we need a super-fast #1 to oust The Beatles. Dizzee & Sub-Focus collab?

is can't buy me love really faster than 160bpm?

cant buy me love +160bpm :o

I'm sure that 'Making Your Mind Up' was faster.

Just measured it - starts off at a frenetic 176 but the boys flag and it finishes on 166.

^^^ that's for "Can't By Me Love" BTW

"Making Your Mind Up" is ~174 all the way through.

Lots of ballads getting to number one in the 90s...

righteous brothers in the 1990s list lol (I know it was in a movie but still)

Might be obvious but I shoulda said that they were the best sellers for each year, graph is from Times Labs' Britain’s top-selling singles, ranked by beats per minute

You Brits like some weird music.

esp. weird American music

wot wot wot!

I'd never realised quite how fast She Loves You actually is - not sure any of the more recent fast number ones (Firestarter, Sound Of Underground) even come close.

Pretty sure 'Going Underground' by The Jam is faster than She Loves You though.

That graph is the biggest selling single of each year, presumably?

yes. presumably this year it is now 'Fight For This Love' (gaaah) which must be around 125-130bpm at a guess.

why are they counting she loves you in halftime

help! 192 bpm
i wanna be your man ..196-204bpm

ha, this is fun

wasted a bit of time did a bit of research on US #1 hits over the past two years

2008:

129 Low
69 Love in This Club
104 Bleeding Love
79 Touch My Body
74 Lollipop
82 Take a Bow
138 Viva la Vida
130 I Kissed a Girl
125 Disturbia
75 Whatever You Like
126 So What
80 Live Your Life
139 Womanizer
97 Single Ladies

Average: 103

2009:

119 Just Dance
145 My Life Would Suck Without You
84 Crack a Bottle
125 Right Round
119 Poker Face
130 Boom Boom Pow
128 I Gotta Feeling
132 Down
135 3
90 Fireflies
72 Whatcha Say
87 Empire State of Mind

Average: 114

The 2009 average was 124 before these last three.

I like Lady Gaga pitching one beat below "traditional" 120 BPM.