Common Words in Country Songs
One of the most common perceptions of country music is that “all songs sound the same” or feature many of the same words and topics. While compilations from the likes of BuzzFeed and Sir Mashalot have aimed to offer video evidence, we decided to take a visual approach using lyrics from the most popular song on Spotify for 18* of our top-selling country artists.
*For Garth Brooks and Jason Aldean, a best-selling song was used instead
Created using Wordle, the word cloud below features lyrics from the following:
Luke Bryan - Play It Again (2013)
Garth Brooks - Friends in Low Places (1990)
Kenny Chesney - American Kids (2014)
Jason Aldean - Dirt Road Anthem (2011)
Shania Twain - Man! I Feel Like a Woman! (1997)
Zac Brown Band - Chicken Fried (2007)
Eric Church - Springsteen (2011)
Florida Georgia Line - Cruise (2012)
Lady Antebellum - Need You Now (2010)
Miranda Lambert - Somethin’ Bad (2014)
Tim McGraw - Highway Don’t Care (2013)
Keith Urban - Cop Car (2013)
Blake Shelton - Boys ‘Round Here (2013)
Brad Paisley - Whiskey Lullaby (2003)
Carrie Underwood - Blown Away (2012)
Dierks Bentley - Drunk on a Plane (2014)
Hunter Hayes - Wanted (2011)
Sam Hunt - Leave The Night On (2014)
Results:
*With 49 references, "oh" was the overall winner thanks to its significant prominence in nine of the 18 songs, including "Play It Again," "Friends in Low Places," "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" "Springsteen," "Cruise," "Need You Now," "Somethin' Bad," "Highway Don't Care," and "Boys 'Round Here."
*In second with 41 references was "wanna," thanks mostly to "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!," "Cruise," and "Wanted." Other 30+ reference words included "like (39)," "baby (37)," "know (30)," and "little (30)."
*For words often thought to be common to country music songs, "beer" was featured 14 times, followed by 13 references to "drunk," and "truck" tallied six mentions.