Eminem tops list of highest-vocab songwriters

For most music fans, Bob Dylan is recognised as a lyrical mastermind, a poet, and a true artiste. But when it comes down to logistics, the man with answers “blowin' in the wind” didn't know as much, at least when it comes to vocabulary. Research compiled by a company called Musixmatch took 100 of the most linguistically dense songs in the top 93-selling artists ever, and who came out on top? Will the Real Slim Shady please stand up?

It's not all that surprising hip-hop artistes came out on top during this study. They do spit the most rhyme per amount of time. Eminem tops them all though with an incredible count of 8,818 words used, making him the reigning leader of artiste with the widest vocabulary. Next up was Jay-Z with 6,899 words, Tupac Shakur with 6,569 words, Kanye West with 5,069 words, and at number five, Bob Dylan with 4,883 words. This put Dylan as the top folk artist in the chart, and he also was the musician who uses a new word in his songs most frequently, with an average of one every nine words. So rest assured, not everything is run by the rap gods. 

Some top-selling musicians, however, did not give Musixmatch the permission to use their lyrics: a few to name are Bruce Springsteen, Chicago, Def Leppard, Journey, The Beach Boys and The Doors.

Another few standout rankings include The Beatles who were at 76th place, and The Black Eyed Peas at number 6 (“boom boom pow” should not count).

To conclude their study though, Musixmatch reiterated that their analysis doesn't mean one musician is better than another:  So at the end of the day, even if Kanye West uses more words than the majority, he'll never be comparable to, let's say, The Smiths.

Source: Cinemablend