Special VD Edition: What Do Hit Music Titles Reveal about Our Lovin’?

An utterly frivolous post in a series examining the Billboard Hot 100 from 1958 to 2023 and how time and technology have changed our understanding of hit music.

Valentine’s Day. Is it about love or lechery? Do more people find everlasting love or loneliness?

Our relationships generate every imaginable emotion, and our society governs them by complex and evolving rituals. Is there anything our most popular songs through the years can reveal about our romantic feelings and mores?

To find out, I’ve examined the official titles of every top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 from the chart’s inception in 1958 through the end of 2023. I’ve searched the titles of each song for 102 different words and phrases one might associate with Valentine’s Day.

With findings no actual social scientist would take seriously, here are a dozen things I uncovered—including the most romantic year in pop music:

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#1: LOVE WINS

Of all the romance-signifying terms I examined, the most common category is overwhelmingly “love”. Optimistically, “Love” songs outnumber songs about the pain love can bring (such as “hurt”, “breaking up”, and, “heartache”) by three to one.

Other themes that emerge:

• We’re over one-and-a-half times more likely to sing about non-sexual physical contact (kissing, touching) than about sex.

• Singing about what time of day we’d like to be romantic (most notably tonight) is among the most common themes in top 10 titles.

• Pet names for our lovers and hearts are particularly popular themes in hit titles.

#2: THE ‘70s HAD THE MOST “LOVE” BUT THE ‘80s HAD MORE “LOVERS”

#3: THE ‘60s HAD MORE HEARTACHE THAN ANY OTHER DECADE

We culturally associate the sixties with “Love,” but at least in song titles, it was the decade of pain. People did a lot more crying in the sixties, according to their Top 10 song titles. In the 1970s, people were the most “alone.”

Unfortunately, some things are just timeless: Breaking up and saying goodbye is still common in the 2010s.

#4: THE ‘60s WERE THE POSSESSIVE DECADE

When we break out first-person references by grammatical case (sorry for the high school English flashbacks), the seventies live up to their self-centered reputation: Titles containing “I” or “me” were more common during the leisure suit years than any other decade. In the sixties, songs that treat one’s lover as an object to possess were more common than any other decade.

While the ‘60s were the most common decade to sing about your lover possessively, The ‘80s were the most common decade to sing about your stuff.

Overall, lovers are more likely to sing about themselves than about their lover in the titles of top 10 songs. For all the romance, there are surprisingly few songs about “us.”

#5: THE ‘70s WERE THE “YOU” DECADE

While still having more first-person singular song titles, beating the sixties by one tone, the seventies were a clear standout for “you”. There are 16 more song titles with second-person references during the 1970s than in both the 1960s and the 1980s.

True to the Millennial generation’s reputation for collectivism, “we” appears to be making a comeback in the 2010s.

#6: WE LIKE WOMEN MORE THAN MEN—BUT SING ABOUT BOTH GENDERS LESS THESE DAYS

In every single decade, it’s more common to sing about your female love interest than your male lover. Starting in the 1990s, songs about a specific gender of lover became a lot less common.

Girls and girlfriends are the most common, as are boys and boyfriends.

While we have had several top 10 hits from non-binary artists in recent years, we haven’t yet had a top 10 hit that referred to a lover in the title as “they/them.”

#7: PET NAMES AREN’T FASHIONABLE THESE DAYS…

After the sixties, there were less than half as many song titles containing cutesy names for one’s lover in any given decade. By far, the most common of those pet names is “baby.”

#8: …BUT COMMENTING ON YOUR BODY IS MORE POPULAR THAN EVER

Not surprisingly, we weren’t shy about calling our love interests “beautiful”, “sexy,” or “hot” in the 1970s. It’s even more common in 2000-2009, though.

#9: JUST “DO IT”

We describe the ultimate VD deed in different ways, but the most common way we describe sex in song titles is to “do it.” 

All four “f***” songs were top 10 hits in the 2010s when streaming popularized access to non-censored songs. Two of those songs included alternative official titles so radio could play them.

Sex really took off in the seventies…

#10: WE’RE GETTING STINGY WITH THE GIFTS

Roses and flowers remain the most popular gifts mentioned in song titles. However, not all flowery songs are happy, especially if “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers Anymore,” or if—like Roxette—your love is, “Fading Like A Flower.” (Bet you haven’t thought of that song since 1991.)

#11: THE NIGHT IS THE RIGHT TIME

Among the 130 songs about a good time for lovin’, only one is in the afternoon. (If you remember the ‘70s, I’m sorry that it’s now in your head.)

#12: THE MOST ROMANTIC YEAR WAS…

This one requires some explanation: I compiled every word and phrase examined that is about love and romance in a positive context. Then, I looked at the percentage of songs each year that contained those terms. (As we’ll explore very soon in a future post on Graphs About Songs, the number of songs that are top 10 hits each year has changed significantly, so examining percentages makes year-to-year comparisons valid.)

And the year with the highest percentage of love songs? 1976.

The Summer of Love year (1967) came in second, tied with 1962.

Ironically—but totally and unsurprisingly fittingly—the year with the least “love” was the year with the least of anything good: 2020.

Finally, here are 11 findings from the Hot 100’s top 10 titles that don’t lend themselves to graphs:

1. There’s plenty of kissing, but no hits about hugging.

2. Despite the allure of popping the question, only two titles contain wedding" and there are no "marry" songs.

3. While there are 458 songs that sing of “love,” only six titles have “hate.”

4. The same number of songs sing of sadness as sing of happiness. (nine to be exact.)

5. There are plenty of girls (plural), but only three titles about “women.”

6. There are five "guy(s)" but no "gal(s)". (Now I want a burger.)

7. No song titles call their lover “cute” or “handsome.”

8. While plenty of songs are about “mine” or “yours”, no titles contain “ours" or "ourselves."

9. There are four separate songs called "Cherish", only one of which is a remake.

10. There is only one song with "bling" and it's not the jewelry kind. (That hit can only mean one thing.)

11. There are zero top 10 hits about your “valentine.”

Think I overlooked a song? Tell me about it in the comments—but before you “well,, actually” me, pull out your Joel Whitburn and make sure the song indeed reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. (Yes, it pains me personally, too, but The Fixx’s “Are We Ourselves?” only reached #15).

Here’s hoping your VD is filled with love, hearts and doin’ it with your baby.