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Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us about the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves
Popular music history collides with data analytics, charts, and numbers in this insightful and surprising look at the greatest hits and musicians, fads, forgotten artists, and much more. Data analyst and musician Chris Dalla Riva reframes everything you thought you knew about music.
Did you know that hit songs in the late 1950s were regularly about gruesome death? That a US vice president wrote a number one hit? That while TikTok has spawned countless hits, it's made artists more anonymous than ever before? That pop songs have shaped race relations in the United States? That the key change died around 2003? And that's just the beginning.
Coupling hard data with engaging anecdotes, Uncharted Territory is both a takedown and celebration of popular music and provides new ways to think about your favorite songs, genres, and artists from the last 6 decades using unexpected statistics and playful visualizations. This entertaining history is filled with the most popular musicians of all time from The Beatles and The Bee Gees to Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, and beyond. Whether you danced the twist or the dougie at your senior prom, you're sure to never listen to music again in the same way.
Did you know that hit songs in the late 1950s were regularly about gruesome death? That a US vice president wrote a number one hit? That while TikTok has spawned countless hits, it's made artists more anonymous than ever before? That pop songs have shaped race relations in the United States? That the key change died around 2003? And that's just the beginning.
Coupling hard data with engaging anecdotes, Uncharted Territory is both a takedown and celebration of popular music and provides new ways to think about your favorite songs, genres, and artists from the last 6 decades using unexpected statistics and playful visualizations. This entertaining history is filled with the most popular musicians of all time from The Beatles and The Bee Gees to Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, and beyond. Whether you danced the twist or the dougie at your senior prom, you're sure to never listen to music again in the same way.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 25, 2025
This is not a real study of top songs. It doesn’t really breakdown the trends that lead to the sounds being at the top of the charts or even dive into most of those songs.
It’s often a bunch of personal musings that ramble on with no particular insight made. The actual examination of the songs didn’t occur until the last 2-3 pages of a chapter.
This was really a bunch of ideas for blog posts/newsletters about the music industry strung together by a conceit of examining top songs at the very end.
It’s often a bunch of personal musings that ramble on with no particular insight made. The actual examination of the songs didn’t occur until the last 2-3 pages of a chapter.
This was really a bunch of ideas for blog posts/newsletters about the music industry strung together by a conceit of examining top songs at the very end.
Displaying 1 of 1 review