# Current top 40 music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2016, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290 "2016-07-07T05:23:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/21 "2016-07-07T15:28:20Z")
You got old, it happens to everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/22 "2016-07-07T15:56:12Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > Yes, in a way. But I can remember my parents liking some of the music from the 80s. Especially groups life Chicago, Toto etc. 1980s Chicago is the epitome of sucky music. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/23 "2016-07-07T16:55:28Z")
It may be the natural evolution of music for the top 40 to be less of an option for musical minds than the whole back catalog of things they need to explore and can on their computer. SO top 40 wouldn’t be “current” in the sense it was before. Which could be said to “suck” comparatively. Maybe it’s the time of year, or maybe it’s the time of man. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/24 "2016-07-07T17:52:08Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > How good can music be, when a virtual monopoly corporation (Sony BMG) is creating a lowest common denominator global market taste and the cheapest possible music product to fill it? It’s like expecting inBev and SABMiller to make good beer. To continue the analogy, there’s a lot more real/craft ales out there than there used to be. You just have to seek them out. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/25 "2016-07-07T18:08:26Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > Maybe I’m just getting old, but I just can’t seem to enjoy any of today’s pop music. Give me some Fleetwood Mac, .38 Special, Boston etc. anytime. FWIW, those bands weren’t exactly chart-toppers in their own day - Fleetwood and Boston only had one #1 each (“Dreams” and “Amanda” respectively, not exactly their most rockin’ numbers), while 38 Special peaked at #6 with “Second Chance”. If you review the “[best #1 single of the year](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=744358)” series of threads I did a few years ago, I think you’ll find a few things to be true; pop music was just as bad then as it is now, there’s very little overlap between “stuff that was popular back in the day” and “stuff that we now consider to be classics”, that pop music in every era is targeted primarily at teens and young adults and isn’t necessarily going to relate to older listeners, and that, when we look at the past with nostalgic eyes, we’re comparing the best of the best of what came from that era to _everything_ that’s currently in rotation. FWIW, I wish there was more guitar music and rock in the pop charts these days, and I never need to hear another song about bitches, bling, and gettin’ turnt up in the club for as long as I live, but there’s plenty of good stuff in the pop charts as well. Hell, even [Justin Bieber](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMSIR210mRg) and [Justin Timberlake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ2ClPjFnB8) have had good singles this year. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/26 "2016-07-07T18:33:04Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > People say there’s still great music being made today, you just have to look for it. But that’s the problem. It’s too difficult and time-consuming to have to go ferreting around in Youtube or wherever to try to find someone putting out good music. That’s what was so great about Top 40 (and FM) radio in previous decades. They played songs they thought people would like, and if you liked someone’s music, great, you could buy their singles and albums and explore their music. If you didn’t, you changed the station until you found something else you did like. But rummaging around trying to find some obscure musician or band whose music you do like? Ain’t nobody got time for that! :dubious: I have to disagree with this. Finding music to suit your tastes has never been easier than it is now. Internet searches for similar artists or genres, youtube videos, IHeartRadio apps, on-line music stores where you can sample EVERYTHING, asking siri “what song is this” at a touch of a button. It’s awesome. Before the internet finding music you liked was horrendous. You might hear a song somewhere randomly and you had no way of ever finding out what it was. You couldn’t sample anything anywhere. You often had to purchase an album blindly and hope for the best. Tons of music that was out there that had no chance of finding it’s way to you. If you didn’t like what the local stations were playing well then it sucks to be you cause there’s pretty much no where else to hear it. I spent too much of my youth sitting through closing credits of movies to find “that one song” that was by some obscure artist no one ever heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/27 "2016-07-07T18:35:31Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Before the internet finding music you liked was horrendous. You might hear a song somewhere randomly and you had no way of ever finding out what it was. You couldn’t sample anything anywhere. You often had to purchase an album blindly and hope for the best. Tons of music that was out there that had no chance of finding it’s way to you. If you didn’t like what the local stations were playing well then it sucks to be you cause there’s pretty much no where else to hear it. Indeed - it’s been so long since Napster changed the music world that it’s hard to remember what the before-time was like. It took me _10 years_ to figure out that the song that goes “The best I ever haaaaaaaaaaaaaaad” was “Bargain” by the Who. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/28 "2016-07-07T18:40:08Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Indeed - it’s been so long since Napster changed the music world that it’s hard to remember what the before-time was like. It took me _10 years_ to figure out that the song that goes “The best I ever haaaaaaaaaaaaaaad” was “Bargain” by the Who. Or endless searches in the CD aisle trying to find which Who album had “Teenage Wasteland” on it. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/29 "2016-07-07T19:02:29Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > FWIW, those bands weren’t exactly chart-toppers in their own day - Fleetwood and Boston only had one #1 each (“Dreams” and “Amanda” respectively, not exactly their most rockin’ numbers), while 38 Special peaked at #6 with “Second Chance”. > > If you review the “[best #1 single of the year](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=744358)” series of threads I did a few years ago, I think you’ll find a few things to be true; pop music was just as bad then as it is now, there’s very little overlap between “stuff that was popular back in the day” and “stuff that we now consider to be classics”, that pop music in every era is targeted primarily at teens and young adults and isn’t necessarily going to relate to older listeners, and that, when we look at the past with nostalgic eyes, we’re comparing the best of the best of what came from that era to _everything_ that’s currently in rotation. > > FWIW, I wish there was more guitar music and rock in the pop charts these days, and I never need to hear another song about bitches, bling, and gettin’ turnt up in the club for as long as I live, but there’s plenty of good stuff in the pop charts as well. Hell, even [Justin Bieber](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMSIR210mRg) and [Justin Timberlake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ2ClPjFnB8) have had good singles this year. You are pointing out the difference between top 40 and AOR which coexisted and thrived. But the bad music of that time was more interesting than today’s monotonic brainwash. It was lovable, occasionally idiosyncratic and remembered quite fondly. It also was not as “forgettable” as the top 40 today. Some people absolutely hate that old music which is really another form of love. Musicians don’t care about the top 40 today which is really a death for a piece of music and why the bad music of the 70s has been more influential than the median tracks of the 21st century. Saying that it must always be equivalent is not logically or musically grounded. The top 40 is a technology. Even 12 year olds have seen technologies go obsolete. How many technologies have done that since 1965? The top 40 was dependent on other technologies too, which have become obsolete. It doesn’t have to be the same as it was. It doesn’t even have to be music at all. It might just be pop records and have left musical considerations behind completely. There are no guarantees or promises. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/30 "2016-07-07T19:07:17Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > The top 40 is a technology. Even 12 year olds have seen technologies go obsolete. How many technologies have done that since 1965? The top 40 was dependent on other technologies too, which have become obsolete. Actually, the way Billboard calculates the Hot 100 has evolved _multiple_ times as technology has changed over the years. In the '60s, it was based on Arbitron ratings of major market radio stations and telephone surveys of record stores asking them what songs they’d sold the most 45s of. Today, it collects precise sales figures electronically from every physical and digital music retailer in the country, receives live updates on playlists from terrestrial and satellite radio stations, and tracks Youtube listens to calculate what the most popular songs are week-by-week. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/31 "2016-07-07T21:39:53Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Actually, the way Billboard calculates the Hot 100 has evolved _multiple_ times as technology has changed over the years. In the '60s, it was based on Arbitron ratings of major market radio stations and telephone surveys of record stores asking them what songs they’d sold the most 45s of. Today, it collects precise sales figures electronically from every physical and digital music retailer in the country, receives live updates on playlists from terrestrial and satellite radio stations, and tracks Youtube listens to calculate what the most popular songs are week-by-week. They added Youtube to the mix I guess. Actually it doesn’t sound all that changed from before. Sounds more accurate and yet somehow more awful. My main point is that in making the statement 'X happened between 1965 and 1975" you can’t say “therefore X must also have happened between 1995 and 2005” and certainly not “X will happen in 2020.” unless you reduce the argument to “What happened is X no matter what happened. You know, like everything changes but it always stays the same” which is meaningless musically. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/32 "2016-07-07T21:46:40Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Indeed - it’s been so long since Napster changed the music world that it’s hard to remember what the before-time was like. It took me _10 years_ to figure out that the song that goes “The best I ever haaaaaaaaaaaaaaad” was “Bargain” by the Who. The elusiveness and rarity of something musical was a special gift to people who grew up with that. It wasn’t a handicap to me at all. I learned about everything I needed to know eventually. I have a feeling though, that todays"cheapness" may be a problem in the future for art and imagination not even to mention the music industrys creators. my god man. Who’s next has been played constantly since before CDs were sold. What an example to use. Sometimes I think that there is some kind of thing going on where every time my NPR gets broken into by the big classic rock station the song must be from Who’s next. It was invariable for a few years there, like some kind of natural law. ---
**Author:** ![heartsplayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d9b06d/32.png) [@heartsplayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heartsplayer)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/33 "2016-07-07T22:17:51Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Exactly. The Top 40 is the top 40 songs of the WEEK. Of course it can’t compare with even the top 200 songs of a decade. > > And although I’m as curmudgeonly a curmudgeon as you can find, and can often look at a top 40 list and not recognize a single song or artist, what in the wide wide world of sports was **Starving Artist** thinking when he singled out Taylor Swift as a mediocre talent? She’s a once in a generation talent, IMO. I don’t mind the modern day top 40 songs, but I do agree, there’s no comparison between the week’s top 40 and the decade’s top 100/200 etc. Most songs that I come across are reasonably good, but trying to find 200 genuine excellent songs that stand out from the rest, is a bit of a hard task. Though having said that, the same could be said about previous era’s music - finding 200 genuinely talented songs from a decade’s worth of music just isn’t going to happen. And IMO, Taylor Swift is definitely mediocre. She’s also inconsistent as well. Most of her songs (until the last 2 years) were all about break ups, and people who broke her heart. GROW UP TAYLOR. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/34 "2016-07-07T22:31:35Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I know you’re being sarcastic but the truth is you’re correct. Today’s music is rubbish compared even to them. I agree. I don’t even want to know what I’ll think about popular music in 10 years when my nephews are probably going to get into it. Then again, my older nephews (ages 4 and 2.5) listen to adult bands like Nirvana, Vampire Weekend, and Explosions in the Sky. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/35 "2016-07-07T23:50:20Z")
> [@heartsplayer](#): > > And IMO, Taylor Swift is definitely mediocre. She’s also inconsistent as well. Most of her songs (until the last 2 years) were all about break ups, and people who broke her heart. GROW UP TAYLOR. FFS, she was writing and singing hit songs at 16. What do you expect her to sing about, convertible debentures? ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/36 "2016-07-08T04:15:08Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I have to disagree with this. Finding music to suit your tastes has never been easier than it is now. Internet searches for similar artists or genres, youtube videos, IHeartRadio apps, on-line music stores where you can sample EVERYTHING, asking siri “what song is this” at a touch of a button. And Pandora etc. Look at the lineups of festivals like Coachella and Bonnaroo. I don’t have time to listen all the great new music that’s out there. It takes a little effort, but not all that much. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/37 "2016-07-08T12:26:01Z")
> [@heartsplayer](#): > > Most of her songs (until the last 2 years) were all about break ups, and people who broke her heart. GROW UP TAYLOR. Yeah, also - GROW UP [PETER CETERA.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32GdEFADy6s) :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![heartsplayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d9b06d/32.png) [@heartsplayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heartsplayer)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/38 "2016-07-08T13:10:47Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > FFS, she was writing and singing hit songs at 16. What do you expect her to sing about, convertible debentures? But she made LOTS and LOTS of songs on the same fundamental topic! It’s good that she’s making her own songs, however - at least have a bit of variety, don’t write 16 songs about the same thing. Link to prove things, thanks to Doc Buckley from ADoseOfBuckley: (potentially nsfw) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjM3retWtp4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjM3retWtp4) - T.S - I Knew You Were Trouble [https://youtu.be/JQLBZc05NlI?t=4m41s](https://youtu.be/JQLBZc05NlI?t=4m41s) - T.S. - 22 Quoted from the 2nd video, at time t=5:05, this is all of the songs that she has released, which are pretty much about the same thing: > [@](#): > > No. Song (what the song was about) > > 1. Teardrops On My Guitar (a boy who didn’t notice her) > 2. Our Song (a guy she always fought with, then made up) > 3. Picture To Burn (a boyfriend who screwed her over) > 4. Shoulda Said No (same as no.3) > 5. Love Story (Romeo & Juliet) > 6. White Horse (a boyfriend who wasn’t what he seemed) > 7. You Belong With Me (same as #1) > 8. Fifteen (a boy who broke her heart) > 9. Fearless (imagining a perfect “first date” with a boy) > 10. Mine (a boy she liked) > 11. Sparks Fly (falling in love with a boy when you shouldn’t) > 12. The Story Of Us (same as #8) > 13. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together > 14. I Knew You Were Trouble > 15. 22 > 16. Shake It Off > Plus any more that I may have missed (Buckley’s list stops after no.14!). And this doesn’t include anything from 2015. Yawwwwwwwwwwwwwn! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/39 "2016-07-08T13:40:00Z")
I’m not a generation snob, but pop music as of right now, starting about two years ago, has been pretty awful to me. I’m sure things will turn around though, they always do. We seem to be in a bit of a transition where pop music is incorporating some indie influences, so now every song has to have acoustic instruments and a lot of “whoa oh oh” for like half the song. I had no idea that Wanted was a boy band. I thought it was a popified indie group, but then I guess someone not familar with N’Sync in 2000 would have thought them a more popish R&B singing group. R&B, hip hop, and dance are at a low point, IMO, concerned more with beats than hooks or lyrics. Rock, I’m not sure what the heck is going on, not much new going on. Something will probably change soon, some big new group will hit the scene with a new sound. Country is still doing its thing though, better than ever actually, with a lot of artists incorporating urban music into the mix, like Luke Bryan, or pop music, like Thomas Rhett. Metal rules, and continues to innovate, as always. It is true: Heavy metal will never die. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290/40 "2016-07-08T16:14:13Z")
Oddly enough, I’m listening to Top 40 more than any other time of my life except maybe for eighth grade. I really don’t understand what people hear that is so terrible about it. My only complaint s that by its nature, a handful of songs are in heavy rotation durbg any given week, so no matter when I turn on the radio today, I’m sure to hear Bieber within a half hour. (Whom I have grown to like.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-top-40-music/759290.md?page=3)