Abstract
Hit Song Science (HSS) is an emerging topic that aims to unveil the success dynamics within the music industry. Considering the growth of the area, we provide a comprehensive study with a complete review of the main topics of this interdisciplinary field from a computer science perspective. We also define a generic workflow for HSS, introduce taxonomies for success measures and musical features, and categorize the main current learning algorithms. Overall, this survey may serve as a starting point for future research on HSS, as it emerges as a promising field that benefits both the academy and the music industry.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 2021 Year-End Music Industry Revenue Report (RIAA): http://www.riaa.com/reports
2 IFPI Global Music Report 2022: http://gmr.ifpi.org/
3 MRC Year-end Report: https://mrcdatareports.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/MRC_YEAREND_2021_US_FNL.pdf
4 This paradox highlights the mutual influence between a radio station and the public, where not only does the station shape public opinion, but the public also has the power to impact what gets broadcasted.
5 DBLP Digital Library: http://dblp.uni-trier.de/
6 Polyphonic HMI, (January, 2020), http://bit.ly/polyphonic-hmi
7 Billboard Charts: http://www.billboard.com/charts
8 Official Charts Company: http://www.officialcharts.com/charts
9 Spotify Developer API: http://developer.spotify.com/documentation/web-api
10 Million Song Dataset: http://millionsongdataset.com/
11 AcousticBrainz: http://acousticbrainz.org/
12 Last.fm API: http://www.last.fm/api/
13 Spinn3r: http://docs.spinn3r.com/
14 Billboard Hot 100: http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100
15 Billboard 200: http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200
16 Classify songs into non-hits and hits.
17 New Musical Express magazine: http://www.nme.com/
18 Official Singles Chart: http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart
19 International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI): http://www.ifpi.org
20 The Amazon Best Sellers Rank: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers/zgbs
21 Nielsen SoundScan: http://www.nielsen.com
22 Spotify Company Info: http://newsroom.spotify.com/company-info/
23 KKBOX: http://www.kkbox.com
24 Alibaba Group: http://www.alibabagroup.com
25 Last.fm: http://www.last.fm
26 YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/
27 Spotify API Reference: http://developer.spotify.com/
28 The rank_score is the inverted rating on a success chart.
29 IFPI Global Music Report: http://gmr.ifpi.org/