In fairness, a lot of pop music is created with algorithms today. I used to be a DJ and was generally obsessed with music in my teens and twenties. There has always been garbage pop music, but the control of pop music is becoming more and more controlled by just a handful of producers who all want to play it safe and have hits. In the late 60s and early 70s, hits were often unique, strange, had an important political message, and such. There are a few hits like that these days, but not regularly. Hits today are pretty paint-by-numbers and created with algorithms by producers. It’s especially bad today because every hit song “needs” to fit a Spotify playlist or have a catchy ten-second bit for Tik Tok. IMHO Tik Tok is awful for the quality of music just like back when ringtones could influence whether a song got big or not. Like.. Laffy Taffy by D4L and Peaches by Bieber seem equally awful to me.
i don't understand how you can say music is terrible in 2022, when we have apps like spotify and apple music that allow you to access millions of songs in seconds. there is so much music coming out, in every type of genre. you have to look a little deeper than the billboard, but it's so easy to find music that fits your taste, and to find a lot of it. popular music is made to have sufficient appeal to the widest amount of people. it's not going to be anybody's favorite music if they explore the world of sound deeply, but it's passable, mostly, and anybody who is truly interested in music will find stuff that fits there taste that is being made in 2022. there's never been a better time for music.
It's probably more accurate to say that the #1 hits are mostly terrible. Although that's true for nearly any year, it really felt that way in 2023, at least to me. When you have a bland country song by a controversial singer stay at the top of the charts for nearly half a year, you know something's wrong.
I guess I'm a lot more tuned into popular music now than I have been in the past. Got everything from 2021, and only missed 5 from 2020. Compared to 60% for the 2010s, and below 30% in all the other decades.
Although if you were to give me a quiz on the #1 hits on Christian radio, I probably could get 100% going back to 2003 at least. (With the exception of maybe this and last year, interestingly)
Is it me, or do the band names seem as formulaic as the songs? Yes, I know that there have always been plenty of stupid/weird band names, but "Jawsh 365" is like a bad discussion board nickname, Megan Thee Stallion is a bad p*rno name, etc. They just seem totally unimaginative and trite.
I believe many of them are rap names, which have honestly always been pretty weird. It's just that there are more and more rappers in the mainstream now
20 out of 31. A LOT better than I thought I would do. Then again - the majority of the songs I missed - I would probably know to hear. I just wouldn't know who recorded them. ;)
I'm living for the fact that Mariah will prob have a #1 hit every year from now until... the end of billboard? or they change their rules? Love to see it.
Agreed - "All I Want for Christmas" is on this list twice for the same year (2022). Since it's already listed in this quiz for both 2020 and 2022, maybe it's a typo and should go for the trifecta to read 2021?
(Although personally, I'd just label it "ad nauseam." LOL)
The version of Say So that hit the #1 spot was actually the remix with Nicki Minaj (notably her first #1 hit; the original Say So peaked at #4), so Nicki should be listed/answerable alongside Doja for that one
I was today years old finding out that the only Cardi B #1 this decade is a song I dont remember and not WAP that no one would shut up about for an entire year
The title of this quiz is misleading. Mariah Carey recorded her hit in 1994 and Brenda Lee in the fifties not in the 2020's as suggested by the title: "recorded a #1 hit in the United States in the 2020s" The hits weren't necessarily *recorded* in the 2020's but rather hit #1 then.
Okay, for the song, it's a bit more risqué, but the "W" is for wet
9.6% of test takers also scored 100%
The average score is 20
Your high score is 31
Your fastest time is 1:24
(Although personally, I'd just label it "ad nauseam." LOL)