The New Billboard Global Chart: An Analysis of the Top 100

Last week (Sept 14) saw the launch of the Global Billboard Chart which ranks the biggest hits from over 200 international territories. As you would expect, there are many common artists which feature across both Global and US charts, but the new chart features a new ranking system which includes purchase, selling, streams and downloads. 

With Cardi B, BTS and BlackPink featuring at the top of the charts, we scanned the audio files and tagged the top 100 tracks to find out what are the dominant musical elements that make up the music that is topping the charts globally. Here are the findings:

Genre

Hip Hop and Pop dominate the charts with Hip Hop making up a whopping 39% of tracks in the top 100. With Hip Hop artists such as Drake, Machine Gun Kelly and 24Goldn, it is safe to say that the US dominates this part of the chart. When looking at Pop however, Dua Lipa, Harry Styles and Lewis Capaldi all feature, bringing a strong British representation, while BTS and BlackPink also feature bringing a welcome dose of Korean superstardom to the global chart.

Mood

From a mood perspective, global listeners are seeking out powerful and romantic tracks, with quirky and relaxed music also featuring prominently. Interestingly, in July this year, Musiio analysed the US chart, and while Powerful, Romantic and Relaxed tags all featured, quirky did not. Quirky tracks include one by Powfu, a Canadian Rapper that shot to international fame for a 15 second part of his track, Death Bed, which blew up on TikTok. Quirky isn’t probably the first word that springs to mind when you hear WAP by Cardi B, but from an audio perspective our AI recognises sonic elements that are fresh and challenging… hardly unexpected from Cardi B.

Energy

And finally looking at energy, it seems to be the middle of the road - medium energy - that works for a global audience. Energy takes into account the amount of instrumentation that features in a track, how loudly the instruments are being played and also, the BPM of the track.

Interestingly, the only low energy track in the entire chart is Dan + Shay - I Should Probably Go To Bed at number 54 in the chart. 

Blinding Lights by The Weeknd is the highest charting high energy track at number 5. With layered synths, 80 reverb-laced vocals and a BPM of 171, it’s easy to see why it’s registering in the higher echelons. 

With the Billboard Global Chart still in its infancy, we’re excited to see who the movers and shakers will be from around the world and how global tastes will impact the international sound. To keep up to date on what’s going on and for more analysis like this, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter.