Spotify's Insights blog took to the streaming service's massive music catalogue with the intent of figuring out what keys were most popular among the 30 million tracks. Every song is based around one of 12 possible notes, as well as major or minor scales (generally major for "happier" music and minor for "sad"). That results in nearly every piece of Western music being played in one of 24 possible keys. Jazz pianist Kenny Ning moonlights as a data analyst for Spotify and he charted the results of what he found. So what key was most popular?
G Major represents 10.7 percent of the music on Spotify, which won't come as a surprise to most songwriters. Generally, those composing music have two options, based on whether they're using piano or guitar (apologies to drummers, but these two instruments are more popular as starting points). E works well for guitars and C works well for pianos...but not vice versa. G, however, is convenient for those using both. Obviously quite a few songs have been composed in G Major...but we'll cite "let It Be" by The Beatles as an example.
C Major comes next, followed by a whole slew of Major options. It's not until no. 7 that we finally get a Minor option, as a mere 4.8 percent of songs. Although obviously coming across as much darker than G Major, A Minor isn't quite doom 'n' gloom. Consider The Animals' classic "House of The Rising Sun" for example.
So what's the least popular of our 24 options? That would go to D# Minor, which is utilized by a minuscule 0.9 percent of music on Spotify. It's not a totally alien concept however, and even makes appearances in the most popular of music. Bruno Mars used the key for his smash "Locked Out of Heaven" during 2012.
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