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For decades, the subject of 'Love' has been a cornerstone for the music industry and especially music which gains large popularity. Our charts present data in fifteen year periods displaying the leading subjects or themes of the top 40 tracks in the United States and the United Kingdom utilising data from the Billboard 100 and Official UK Singles Charts, dating back from 1965 until the most recent complete data set from 2024.

Through research into the topic, it is clear that the most expansive theme of popular music in selected decades is 'Romance'. It was particularly influential in 1965 on popular music and also had a noteworthy resurgence in 2010 and 2024. The Love categories selected: Romance, Heartbreak, Love for a Place and Love for an activity, are dominant in the combined Top 40s of the USA and UK charts, with said categories covering a formidable 45% (2010) to 67% (1980) of the Top 40 charts collected for the periods, with strong emphasis on the 'Romance' category.

1965 -

There are various factors for the reasoning behind why love songs had risen to such high levels of popularity in the 1960s, it was the height of the Cold War, the Korean War had just ended twelve years before the date used in the research. Thousands of people were losing lives in armed conflict every year in a long series of proxy wars between the United States and the Soviet Union. Hence, love songs had become significant due to their hopeful message. Nevertheless, the themes of loneliness and heartbreak were clearly common (as per the project's research) - songs about losing loved ones or being forced to abandon them elevated in both American and British charts. Moreover, it was a time of significant social change, the rise of huge movements advocating for peace such as the 'Hippie' subculture and ever-increasing presence of desire for freedom and independence by the youth meant that music would become a powerful tool to express emotions, concerns and a message.

In a musical context, it was the rise of the 'Love song' in completely new forms previously unexplored by earlier artists (Songs about Heartbreak, Loneliness and Longing have become noteworthy themes of the period) - Rock n' Roll was at its height (with the likes of Elvis Presley carrying the mantle for the second half of the 1950s onwards), and Motown Record Corporation, the world famous label which signed dozens of equally world famous artists (Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Temptations, Stevie Wonder and The Supremes, and later the Jackson 5 to name a few) had been established in 1959. The 'British Invasion', with the likes of The Beatles, The Kinks and The Rolling Stones at its helm had taken the United States by storm in the early 1960s. The common factor amongst all of these artists was that all of them had the talent to create love songs in an efficient manner, and a medium which would be new and interesting to the rebellious and innovative teenagers and young adults of the time.

1980 -

Love songs were a common theme within 1980, the year marked the rise of synthesizers in music, seeing a surge in synth-pop ballads, often with the common theme of love and becoming anthems that are still popular today. This caused the early years of the decade to be a blend of all genres, from guitar driven rock to synth-pop and piano love ballads. Although the charts were dominated by love songs, there were many protest songs during 1980, due to police brutality, racial tensions and economic hardship. Songs that charted such as ‘London Calling’ by The Clash and ‘Breathing’ by Kate Bush, were a part of an Anti-War and Nuclear Disarmament protest just before new genres such as rap began to grow into the charts.

The rise in technology allowed for artist development, discovering different sounds and melodies that hadn’t been explored before. 1980 was also a year often romanticised by media, TV and film, which influenced music trends and implemented the year in cultural memory of those who lived through the decade. The cultural emphasis on romance at the time heightened the demand for love songs, beginning what most call ‘the golden era’ of love songs between 1980 and 1990.

1995 -

1995 saw a difference in style to the love songs that came before it, as the musical landscape at the time was shifting to a more mature and introspective sound to pop music. In the UK 1995 marked the rise of Britpop, featuring major bands such as Oasis and Blur, as well as the further progression of electronic music, which countered the rise of grunge music in the US in the early 90s. In the US 1995 also marked the major cultural event of O.J Simpson being found not guilty of muder after the highly publicised trial that began in January, which affected how music was created, marketed and perceived from audiences, especially within the US. Protest songs from groups such as N.W.A that were already released gained popularity again within the year.

1995 was the product of the beginning of genre blending that started in 1980, with fusion of genres such as pop, R&B and alternative music taking the limelights within the charts. This made the common theme of love more accessible and appealing to a wider audience than ever before. Although the generic theme of love was common, the types of love portrayed within the lyrics became more diverse, exploring themes of heartbreak, self-discovery, freedom and ambition which resonated within audiences across the UK and US.

2010 -

2010 was a year of confusion. The Western world was recovering from the severe economic recession between late 2007 and early 2009 which struck particularly the global financial markets, with particularly heavy hits on the USA and the UK. It was the deepest recession since the Second World War and this meant that many people had lost their entire livelihoods within the span of mere days in many instances. It was a tough period of hardship, and was characterised by the music which was released at the time. In the contemporary period, it is often described as 'Recession Pop', a genre of pop music which was vibrant, upbeat and feel-good. Examples of such artists during the time being Kesha, Rihanna or Pitbull. It was a genre of music focused on the message of forgetting about the ongoing problems in life, living day by day and having a good time.

In a sense, this genre of music also was themed around love, particularly romance, and to a degree - lust, as a large portion of songs would be sexually suggestive (e.g. Pitbull's 'Hotel Room Service', Usher's 'DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love Again' or Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance').

2024 -

2024 was still seeing the devastating effects and aftermath of the global Covid-19 pandemic! Several years of isolation and loneliness across the entire world, including both the United Kingdom and the United States meant that it was a time of significant hardships in terms of social interactions. Hence, in music, there was a revival of the love song due to the positive connotation and the ever-increasing desire for connection between people to be restored once again. It notably gave a rise to new chart topping artists such as Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan as well as reinforced the stardom of Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish amongst many others.

Moreover, 2024 was a time of major political changes in the West. The clash between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in the American elections and the change in government in the United Kingdom were significant events in the shaping of popular music due to the beliefs in several sectors of society that previous government had let down the people in relation to the Covid-19 Pandemic and the Economic Inflation Crisis after. Hence, in the face of heavy political tensions, it was also necessary to build the hopes of the receding nations once again, and music had become a source of that through messages of love, but on a more individualistic level. This was also partly due to the rise of TikTok, where music selections in short videos would be much more personalised through algorithms, creating the sense of individualism.