Scientific Study: Beatles, Stones Eclipsed By Hip-Hop Impact

The unusual study found three revolutions on the charts: the 1991 emergence of rap and hip-hop on mainstream charts; the synth-led new wave movement of 1983, and the advent of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who and other British rockers in the early 1960s.

Although the Beatles – paced by the songwriting of John Lennon and Paul McCartney – enjoy perhaps the highest place in critics’ esteem, the researchers found the hip-hop movement more profound.

They wrote that the rise of rap and related genres represents “the single most important event that has shaped the musical structure of the American charts in the period we studied.”

By contrast, the British bands – heavily influenced by U.S. stars like Chuck Berry and Little Richard – were found to have followed existing trends.

The study, released on Wednesday, was conducted by the University of London and Imperial College

The researchers analyzed 30-second snippets of roughly 17,000 songs from the U.S. Billboard pop charts from 1960 to 2010.

Computer programs were used to categorize each song based on musical properties, instrumentation used, chord patterns and other elements.

Lead author Matthias Mauch said some may disagree with this scientific approach to a very personal subject but asserted the study breaks new ground.

“For the first time we can measure musical properties in recordings on a large scale,” he said. “We can actually go beyond what music experts tell us, or what we know ourselves about them, by looking directly into the songs, measuring their make-up, and understanding how they have changed.”

The study is not likely to be popular with aging musicians who peaked in the mid-1980s, which the researchers found to be the most static period in the study.