An analysis of 93 of the biggest selling artists to determine highest vocabulary size and new word interval. (Why 93? Because among the top selling artists, some did not give permission to Musixmatch to do the analsys, specifically Bruce Springsteen, The Doors, Beach Boys, Def Leppard, Chicago, Journey).
Should be noted that artists who record in multiple languages are going to have an advantage here: (Gloria Estefan, Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, Julio Iglesias, Japanese group B’z. Julio has recorded in at least seven languages).

1. Eminem 8818
2. Jay-Z 6899
3. Tupac Shakur 6569
4. Kanye West 5069
5. Bob Dylan 4883
6. The Black Eyed Peas 4539
7. Julio Iglesias 4323
8. Andrea Bocelli 4306

3000-3999 words
9. B’z
10. Celine Dion
11. Prince
12. Red Hot Chili Peppers
13. Genesis
14. Gloria Estefan
15. Beyonce
16. Barbra Streisand
17. Robbie Williams
18. Pink Floyd
19. Billy Joel
20. Mariah Carey

2500-2999 words
21. REM
22. Aerosmith
23. Linda Ronstadt
24. Madonna
25. Johnny Hallyday
26. Elton John
27. Garth Brooks
28. Rod Stewart
29. Metallica
30. Rolling Stones
31. Santana
32. Abba
33. Frank Sinatra
34. Meatloaf
35. U2
36. Queen
37. Green Day
38. Elvis Presley
39. Van Halen
40. Taylor Swift
41. Katy Perry
42. Michael Jackson

2000-2499 words
43. Lady Gaga
44. Janet Jackson
45. Guns ‘n’ Roses
46. Barry Manilow
47. Kenny Rogers
48. Alabama
49. Rihanna
50. Motley Crue
51. Bon Jovi
52. Tina Turner
53. Dire Straits
54. George Strait
55. Eagles
56. Neil Diamond
57. Reba McEntire
58. Cher
59. Britney Spears
60. Earth Wind and Fire
61. The Carpenters
62. Led Zeppelin
63. Bryan Adams
64. Aretha Franklin
65. Tom Petty
66. Olivia Newton John

1500-2000 words
67. Donna Summer
68. George Michael
69. Scorpions
70. Kiss
71. Paul McCartney
72. Whitney Houston
73. The Police
74. Depeche Mode
75. Bee Gees
76. The Beatles
77. Enya
78. Bob Marley
79. Stevie Wonder
80. Backstreet Boys
81. Fleetwood Mac
82. Phil Collins
83. Nirvana
84. New Kids On The Block
85. Shania Twain
86. The Who
87. AC/DC
88. Barry White
89. Foreigner
90. Lionel Ritchie

<1500 words
91. Spice Girls
92. Bruno Mars
93. Kenny G

Details:

To prevent the analysis from being skewed purely by the number of songs released, the vocabularies are compared across the 100 densest songs (by total number of words) that they have released. Only 6 of these musicians have released less than 100 songs, so it is a good threshold. Also, 100 songs comprises 8 to 10 albums of music which would span at least 5 to 10 years of work. This should give a fair idea of the overall vocabulary of these musicians.

Here are some definitions you should be acquainted with

• VOCABULARY SIZE The number of unique words (across any language) used by a musician in 100 (or less) densest songs across their career.

• LYRICAL DENSITY The total number of words (across any language) used by a musician in 100 (or less) densest songs across their career.

• NEW WORD INTERVAL (N.W.I) On average, the number of words after which a new word is used by the musician. This is the ratio of (Lyrical density / Vocabulary Size). An N.W.I of X means every Xth word in the lyrics of the artist is a new word, that is, a word he/she has never used before in any of his earlier songs.

http://lab.musixmatch.com/largest_vocabulary/

I thought it was interesting that Phil Collins’s lyrical vocab was so much lower than that of Genesis, be interesting to see a similar analysis for Peter Gabriel.
Whereas Paul McCartney’s was hardly any better than the Beatles.

Hey thanks. I’m still collecting word lists and this one is great.

I don’t trust that list ‘cos Nana Mouskouri isn’t on it.

shouldn’t this data be collected by composer instead of by artist?

sarahs mum said:

shouldn’t this data be collected by composer instead of by artist?

Assuming by composer you mean lyricist, it would be interesting to do that analysis, to separate the various Beatles etc, or to see whether Carey’s self-written works were more vocabularious than those songs that had other writers.

dv said:

sarahs mum said:

shouldn’t this data be collected by composer instead of by artist?

Assuming by composer you mean lyricist, it would be interesting to do that analysis, to separate the various Beatles etc, or to see whether Carey’s self-written works were more vocabularious than those songs that had other writers.

okay. lyricist.

Eminem – Lose Yourself

Eminem (and other rap artists) would have an unfair advantage here. He blurts out as many statements as can fit into each song, and with the need for rhyme, it’s easy to throw in numerous “random” words.

As we progress down the list, it’s clear that the music becomes “easier” listening. Doesn’t always reflect on an artist’s vocabulary, but rather their desire to sell albums.

sarahs mum said:

shouldn’t this data be collected by composer instead of by artist?

It is OK in the case of Bob Dylan but in say the case of the Who, 99.99% were penned by Pete Townshend rather than the Who.

Speedy said:

Eminem – Lose Yourself

Eminem (and other rap artists) would have an unfair advantage here. He blurts out as many statements as can fit into each song, and with the need for rhyme, it’s easy to throw in numerous “random” words.

As we progress down the list, it’s clear that the music becomes “easier” listening. Doesn’t always reflect on an artist’s vocabulary, but rather their desire to sell albums.

Why is there a silent, and omitted “c” in front of rap artists?

No Simon & Garfunkel either. I would have thought they’d sold at least as many records as The Carpenters.

bob(from black rock) said:

Speedy said:

Eminem – Lose Yourself

Eminem (and other rap artists) would have an unfair advantage here. He blurts out as many statements as can fit into each song, and with the need for rhyme, it’s easy to throw in numerous “random” words.

As we progress down the list, it’s clear that the music becomes “easier” listening. Doesn’t always reflect on an artist’s vocabulary, but rather their desire to sell albums.

Why is there a silent, and omitted “c” in front of rap artists?

same reason there is a silent, and omitted “o” in your name bob…

Bubblecar said:

No Simon & Garfunkel either. I would have thought they’d sold at least as many records as The Carpenters.

Yes.

Bubblecar said:

No Simon & Garfunkel either. I would have thought they’d sold at least as many records as The Carpenters.

Checking a few sources, they don’t appear to be in the top 100.

It was also interesting to hear Graham Nash say that he left the Hollies to join Crosby and stills largely because the Hollies lyrics were a bit twee and short on vocab.
Also the better harmonies.

Trump at lower speed, lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pex6o6f3YE

I listen to band who all learned German so they could sing in that language

Eminem sure has a lot of f words in his music though. I agree with Speedy though, with rap music you need to rhyme a lot of random words. I wonder if Marshall Mathers is any good at Scrabble?

Cymek said:

I listen to band who all learned German so they could sing in that language

When Laurie Anderson toured Japan she hired a translator to translate her lyrics, and had him record the lyrics so she could rewrite the music to suit the new pronunciation. After her concerts she was talking to her promoter (in English), who said, “Why is it that you stutter in Japanese, but not in English?” The translator had a stutter, which he added to the Japanese pronunciation, and for which she wrote new music. By then it was too late to change the music (and she said she liked the sound of the stuttering anyway), so she kept the stutter.

btm said:

Cymek said:

I listen to band who all learned German so they could sing in that language

When Laurie Anderson toured Japan she hired a translator to translate her lyrics, and had him record the lyrics so she could rewrite the music to suit the new pronunciation. After her concerts she was talking to her promoter (in English), who said, “Why is it that you stutter in Japanese, but not in English?” The translator had a stutter, which he added to the Japanese pronunciation, and for which she wrote new music. By then it was too late to change the music (and she said she liked the sound of the stuttering anyway), so she kept the stutter.

That’s rather amusing

Divine Angel said:

Eminem sure has a lot of f words in his music though. I agree with Speedy though, with rap music you need to rhyme a lot of random words.

Well you certainly need to rhyme a lot of words, but not randomly.

I wonder how the number of words used compared to actual profoundness of what’s being sung.

Cymek said:

I wonder how the number of words used compared to actual profoundness of what’s being sung.

Well it seems a fair reflection when you compare it to the Beatles, with their simple love songs and Readers Digest style platitudes.

I dunno but people seem to like quoting Drake songs.

Divine Angel said:

I dunno but people seem to like quoting Drake songs.

Nick or Charlie?

It would be interesting to see the numbers for some less mainstream artists.
Richard Thompson or Robin Williamson for instance.

But I don’t think the number by itself means a lot, other than an indication of how many different words there are.

This song for instance:
Mingus Eyes

has only 35 different words (I counted).

The Rev Dodgson said:

Divine Angel said:

I dunno but people seem to like quoting Drake songs.

Nick or Charlie?

Aubrey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_(rapper)

The Rev Dodgson said:

Divine Angel said:

I dunno but people seem to like quoting Drake songs.

Nick or Charlie?

It would be interesting to see the numbers for some less mainstream artists.
Richard Thompson or Robin Williamson for instance.

But I don’t think the number by itself means a lot, other than an indication of how many different words there are.

This song for instance:
Mingus Eyes

has only 35 different words (I counted).

Around the world by Daft Punk has three words.

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Divine Angel said:

I dunno but people seem to like quoting Drake songs.

Nick or Charlie?

It would be interesting to see the numbers for some less mainstream artists.
Richard Thompson or Robin Williamson for instance.

But I don’t think the number by itself means a lot, other than an indication of how many different words there are.

This song for instance:
Mingus Eyes

has only 35 different words (I counted).

Around the world by Daft Punk has three words.

Their best work is the soundtrack for Tron Legacy

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Divine Angel said:

I dunno but people seem to like quoting Drake songs.

Nick or Charlie?

It would be interesting to see the numbers for some less mainstream artists.
Richard Thompson or Robin Williamson for instance.

But I don’t think the number by itself means a lot, other than an indication of how many different words there are.

This song for instance:
Mingus Eyes

has only 35 different words (I counted).

Around the world by Daft Punk has three words.

Tequila, a 1958 #1 hit for The Champs, has only one word, though it’s repeated thrice.

Divine Angel said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Divine Angel said:

I dunno but people seem to like quoting Drake songs.

Nick or Charlie?

Aubrey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_(rapper)

I guessed that.

But I had to look him up first :)

Enters old codger mode:

It’s a sad world when some so-called “rap” singer has greater fame than Sir Francis Drake, or for that matter Charlie .

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Divine Angel said:

I dunno but people seem to like quoting Drake songs.

Nick or Charlie?

It would be interesting to see the numbers for some less mainstream artists.
Richard Thompson or Robin Williamson for instance.

But I don’t think the number by itself means a lot, other than an indication of how many different words there are.

This song for instance:
Mingus Eyes

has only 35 different words (I counted).

Around the world by Daft Punk has three words.

But does it tell a complete and complex story?

Just my 2c of course, but I don’t find Around the World to be profound.

I’m not a Drake fan. I’ve never heard anything by him that couldn’t be greatly improved with a little more work, so I consider him half-arsed. But sometimes he says simple things that I find touching such as:

Made me feel I ain’t have it like that.
Or I was average like that.
Started drinking way more than I used to.
People form habits like that.
Yeah, man enough to tell you I was hurt that year.
I’m not even Christian, I still went to church that year.
Guess I just had to pretend that year.
I ain’t even see my friends that year.

The Rev Dodgson said:

Divine Angel said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Nick or Charlie?

Aubrey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_(rapper)

I guessed that.

But I had to look him up first :)

Enters old codger mode:

It’s a sad world when some so-called “rap” singer has greater fame than Sir Francis Drake, or for that matter Charlie .

Gotta love The Drake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO5GWJJP3FM

The Rev Dodgson said:

Divine Angel said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Nick or Charlie?

Aubrey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_(rapper)

I guessed that.

But I had to look him up first :)

Enters old codger mode:

It’s a sad world when some so-called “rap” singer has greater fame than Sir Francis Drake, or for that matter Charlie .

In fairness, it has been the case your whole life that entertainers are more famous than historical figures.

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Nick or Charlie?

It would be interesting to see the numbers for some less mainstream artists.
Richard Thompson or Robin Williamson for instance.

But I don’t think the number by itself means a lot, other than an indication of how many different words there are.

This song for instance:
Mingus Eyes

has only 35 different words (I counted).

Around the world by Daft Punk has three words.

But does it tell a complete and complex story?

Absolutely.

Divine Angel said:

Just my 2c of course, but I don’t find Around the World to be profound.

I think it’s worth saying though, that with a song the words are not everything.

Take the traditional Irish song “She Moves Through the Fair”. The words are trite in isolation, or attached to an inappropriate tune (try them with “On top of Old Smokey”), but sung with feeling it is in my opinion one of the most emotionally powerful songs in the English language.

I think we may be in danger of debating matters of taste here.

Which, as we all know, is not allowed.

You don’t even have to understand the words to find music emotionally powerful.

“link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCoxGV7j71c”

Divine Angel said:

You don’t even have to understand the words to find music emotionally powerful.

“link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCoxGV7j71c”

And good music spoilt (but in an amusing way) by people making a parody of it.

Divine Angel said:

You don’t even have to understand the words to find music emotionally powerful.

“link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCoxGV7j71c”

Good example of the matters of taste thing.

I mean it’s pretty bloody amazing that a 13 year old girl can sing like that, but for me on an emotional power scale of 0 to 10, it’s about -1.

The Rev Dodgson said:

I think we may be in danger of debating matters of taste here.

Which, as we all know, is not allowed.

Discussing. No point debating it.

Whereas the numerical data in the OP are objective.

I don’t find it particularly thrilling either, tbh.

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

But does it tell a complete and complex story?

Absolutely.

I started listening, but it got too repetitive and I gave up.

And I didn’t even get to the first of the three words.

Divine Angel said:

You don’t even have to understand the words to find music emotionally powerful.

Very much this. My favourite piece of music is the final movement of Beethoven’s 9th. Wouldn’t have a clue what they’re rabbiting on about.

sibeen said:

Divine Angel said:

You don’t even have to understand the words to find music emotionally powerful.

Very much this. My favourite piece of music is the final movement of Beethoven’s 9th. Wouldn’t have a clue what they’re rabbiting on about.

Have you tried YouTube?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pbMUEHvoAo

Divine Angel said:

sibeen said:

Divine Angel said:

You don’t even have to understand the words to find music emotionally powerful.

Very much this. My favourite piece of music is the final movement of Beethoven’s 9th. Wouldn’t have a clue what they’re rabbiting on about.

Have you tried YouTube?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pbMUEHvoAo

What’s that?

Divine Angel said:

sibeen said:

Divine Angel said:

You don’t even have to understand the words to find music emotionally powerful.

Very much this. My favourite piece of music is the final movement of Beethoven’s 9th. Wouldn’t have a clue what they’re rabbiting on about.

Have you tried YouTube?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pbMUEHvoAo

And here are the words to Beethoven’s 5th (translated from the original Japanese):
Breakfast

sibeen said:

Very much this. My favourite piece of music is the final movement of Beethoven’s 9th. Wouldn’t have a clue what they’re rabbiting on about.

Saxomophone
Saxomophone…