Are you more literate than a third grader? If your vocabulary is limited to the most popular songs on the Billboard charts for the past 10 years, then that’s in doubt.
Andrew Powell-Morse of the data blog SeatSmart compiled the lyrics from 225 of the most popular songs in the pop, country, rock, and hip-hop genres. He analyzed them with the Flesch-Kincaid grade index to generate reading level scores. On average, songs that were popular over the past 10 years were written at the third grade level, but that’s been steadily dropping over time. You can see more charts here, including ones that show gender and genre differences, as well as the grade levels of specific singers, such as Kanye West and Justin Timberlake.
-via BuzzFeed
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So essentially we can expect all songs written in 2035 to consist of "Dick and Jane... See Spot run... Dick and Jane..." etc.
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I don't think the ability to communicate to a mass audience can be negatively correlated to INTELLIGENCE. The headline should read that music writers are getting SMARTER.
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"Yeah, my blood's so mad, feels like coagulatin'"
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