'Love' trumps 'sex' in music

What do Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Black Eyed Peas and Chris Brown have in common?

They're pervs.

Over the past five years, they've used the word "sex" in their music more than anyone else.

Somehow, I'm not surprised.

So then guess what Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts, Toby Keith and Keith Urban have in common?

They're saps.

Over the past five years, they've used the world "love" in their music more than anyone else.

I know all this because I just read a super-cool study about the use of "sex" and "love" in pop music.

A health website called Superdrug Online Doctor did the study, going back over the past 55 years to count every single instance of the words popping up in the Billboard Hot 100 music chart.

What they discovered, aside from the fact that Mars needs several cold showers, is that "sex" has gone up and up, grown bigger and bigger, over the past half-century.

In 1960, the word was basically never used.

It rose bit-by-bit in the 70s and 80s before finally exploding in the 90s and 2000s, peaking in 2009 with more than 1,500 mentions.

Now, before you get all outraged or whatever, you should know that "sex" is still no match for "love".

Love songs have always been popular and will always remain popular.

The peak of "love" was achieved in 1988, with an impressive 25,000 mentions.

"Love" averages well over 10,000 mentions per year, and is every bit as overused now as it was in the 60s.

Here are a few more interesting factoids:

Rock band Journey were the "love" masters of the 80s.

TLC were the "sex" champs of the 90s.

Madonna, of all people, has more "love" hits than anyone, ever.

Black Eyed Peas have the most "sex" hits.

It's a really fun study, but it's obviously flawed.

Even when musicians didn't use the word "sex", they were still singing about sex.

When the Beatles sang I Want To Hold Your Hand, do you really think that's all they wanted to do?

jjohnson@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on November 4, 2015.
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