Pop music hits vs non-English hits: world still wary of language diversity

University of Canberra researchers have been looking into the success of pop music globally, finding global chart success is largely confined to English lyric hits.

Dr John Hawkins and Dr Michael Walsh have found that despite the changes to music access over the years, pop songs lag behind other industries in globalisation, especially in terms of the language in which they are sung.

“There are plenty of hitmakers from non-English speaking countries including Abba, Ace of Base, Aqua and Avicii – just some of the artists starting with A from Scandinavia who had number one hits both in Australia and the UK,” said Dr Walsh, Assistant Professor in Social Science. “But they primarily sing in English.”

According to the research, only ten of the over 1,300 number one singles in the UK since 1953 have been sung in a language other than English, while in Australia, there have only been eight number one singles in languages other than English.

Dr Walsh says pop music has a long way to go to be reflective of global diversity.

“However, there needs to be balance. Too much convergence and national musical cultures may be undermined; too little musical exchange would mean being unable to enjoy musical sounds from around the globe.”

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