Music is the soundtrack to our lives, but there’s a science to creating hits.

Certain features make a song more popular, some intrinsic to the music and others external.

Musicians need to understand both.

So how can you create your next hit wonder? Here’s what science says and what it means for artists hungry for the spotlight.

How friends influence hits

Researchers from the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna wanted to crack the code on what really makes a song a hit.

Their goal was to determine if adding social dynamics — such as who listens to what and who influences whom — could boost predictions about song popularity.

They grabbed data last.fm, the largest online music service, analyzing 300 million listening events from 2.7 million users. They examined both intrinsic features of songs (lyrics, melody, etc.) and extrinsic factors like the artist’s past hits.

But they added a twist: the social component — how friends influenced each other’s listening choices.

The scientists mapped user connections based on listening habits, creating a social chart. This would allow them to track how often users got their buddies to listen to the same track within a given time. It’s like seeing who’s the DJ of their social circle.

So what did they find?

• About 32.5% of new song listens were influenced by friends. Friends act like personal radio stations, sharing their favorite songs.

• Friends had a high similarity in music taste. Compared to random users, friends listen to similar songs.

• Researchers created a model that could predict which songs would hit 1000 listens in a month with a 50% accurate rate. Before adding the social metric, their success rate was between 14% and 20%.

By incorporating the social component, scientists got way better at predicting hits without as many false alarms. At the end of the day, we’re social beings and we can’t deny its influence in everything we do, including music.

How do artists make their music popular?

It’s important to create quality music, but if you want to turn your track into a hit, you have to learn how to leverage social dynamics.

Focus on getting those tunes into the right ears:

1. Get your music into the hands of key listeners. These people can make your song spread like wildfire.

2. Build your tribe. Foster a community of listeners who enjoy your style through social media groups, sharing behind-the-scenes content, and engaging with them frequently. Their word-of-mouth will be your secret weapon.

3. Encourage your fans to share your tracks. Don’t be shy! Sometimes you have to ask them one by one to help you out. Every share is a step closer to the top of the charts.

You have to learn to play the social game right.

The acoustic secrets to mainstream hits

A separate study from the University of Liverpool focused on intrinsic song features to predict chart-topping hits.

Researchers dug into data from the Billboard Hot 100 and Spotify, spanning from 1998 to 2016, and looked into variables such as:

• Artist’s fame: number of previous songs.

• Genre: seven categories.

• Main acoustic features: 12 variables including danceability and happiness.

• Other acoustic features: 30 detailed metrics related to timbre and pitch.

So which songs are more likely to be at the top?

1. Songs that are more danceable and convey positive emotions are more likely to become top-ten hits. Think of those that get everyone moving and smiling.

2. Songs with rich and diverse timbres (i.e. a mix of smooth and rough textures) are more likely to be hits. Variety keeps listeners engaged.

3. Songs that have dynamic pitch variations — a good mix of high and low notes — tend to perform better. Keeping it exciting and unpredictable basically.

4. If the artist has had hits before, they have a better shot at making it again. Those artists already have the brand recognition element on their side.

5. Genres that are more likely to produce hits are pop, dance/electronic, hip-hop, rock (especially alternative rock, pop rock, and hard rock), and R&B.

With these studies it seems that music is more than art — it’s a science.

With data, we can demystify what makes a song a hit.

Some might say data should guide your creativity, while others would say to stick with what comes from the inside.

A balance between the two could be the best approach if you want to get to the top.

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