Songwriters, did you know that EVERY #1 song of 2015 has only two verses? In fact, the current #1 song, "Strip It Down" by Luke Bryan only has one and a half! It's a real art for songwriters to be able to condense everything they need to say into just 2 verses. The current #1 songs prove that it definitely works!
Also, no verse of the #1 songs of 2015 uses more than 4 chords. In the Luke Bryan example, the song is in the key of A, and there are only 3 chords in the verse: Bm, D, and A. In fact Bm, D, and A are the only chords in the entire song! Every section (verse, chorus AND bridge) use this pattern: Bm Bm D D A A A A.
Girl Crush by Little Big Town (#1 for 13 weeks!) uses just 4 chords for the verse: C Em F G.
Take Your Time by Sam Hunt (#1 for 11 weeks!) is in the key of B and uses only 2 chords in the verse: G#m and C#m.
Don't get me wrong - there are many hit songs that have more than 2 verses (some are favorites of mine). I'm just supplying facts about the current #1 songs.
I'm not implying that writers need to rewrite songs they've already completed, but I think it's a great idea for writers to have songs in their catalog that fit this pattern .
According to the #1 songs of 2015, writing songs that have no more than 2 verses (with no more than 4 chords in each verse) is an extremely commercial way to write songs.
All the best with your music!
- Larry Beaird
