Uncharted Territory
What Numbers Tell Us about the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves
Uncharted Territory
What Numbers Tell Us about the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves
Description
Popular music history collides with data analytics, charts, and numbers in this insightful and surprising look at the greatest hits and musicians, fads, forgotten artists, and much more. Data analyst and musician Chris Dalla Riva reframes everything you thought you knew about music.
Did you know that hit songs in the late 1950s were regularly about gruesome death? That a US vice president wrote a number one hit? That while TikTok has spawned countless hits, it's made artists more anonymous than ever before? That pop songs have shaped race relations in the United States? That the key change died around 2003? And that's just the beginning.
Coupling hard data with engaging anecdotes, Uncharted Territory is both a takedown and celebration of popular music and provides new ways to think about your favorite songs, genres, and artists from the last 6 decades using unexpected statistics and playful visualizations. This entertaining history is filled with the most popular musicians of all time from The Beatles and The Bee Gees to Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, and beyond. Whether you danced the twist or the dougie at your senior prom, you're sure to never listen to music again in the same way.
Table of Contents
1. That Poor Little Fool Fell into the Moody River (August 4, 1958 – June 19, 1961)
2. Meet Me at Quarter to Three with Your Sugar Pie (June 26, 1961 – June 19, 1965)
3. Mr. Tambourine Man and the Raindrops on His Head (June 26, 1965 – January 3, 1970)
4. I Want You Back in the Sweet Sunshine on My Shoulders (January 31, 1970 – March 30, 1974)
5. When You're Hooked on Feeling with a Dancing Queen (April 6, 1974 – April 9, 1977)
6. Don't Give Up On Us Just as It's Time for a Celebration (April 16, 1977 – February 7, 1981)
7. Rocking from 9 to 5 with My Buddy Amadeus (February 21, 1981 – 29 March 1986)
8. You Already Got My Kiss, So Don't Forget My Number (April 19, 1986 – July 1, 1989)
9. It's a Damn Good Thing We Danced the Macarena (July 8, 1989 – August 3, 1996)
10. I Mean It, No Diggity, I Like the Way You Move (November 9, 1996 – February 14, 2004)
11. Slow Jamz Run Down to the Deepest Part of Me (February 21, 2004 – March 3, 2012)
12. All I Know is that We are Young, Dumb Suckers (March 17, 2012 – March 16, 2019)
13. On that Dusty Old Town Road I Died with a Smile (April 13, 2019 – January 11, 2025)
Bibliography
Index
Product details
| Published | 13 Nov 2025 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 352 |
| ISBN | 9798765149904 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 53 b/w figures |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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