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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
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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 | Hardback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 352 |
| ISBN | 9798765149843 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Dimensions | 229 x 152 mm |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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Dalla Riva mixes data analysis with music criticism in this scrupulous debut analysis of popular music trends from the 1950s to the present ... Data-minded music fans will relish this deep dive.
Publishers Weekly
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It's easy to forget that sitting around and talking music with friends is about as fun as it gets. Chris Dalla Riva captures the feeling of spirited in-person discourse about records in book form. He brings to the table a raft of knowledge bolstered by deep analysis of relevant data, so you'll learn something new on every page. But he also realizes that numbers in music are more useful for starting conversations rather than ending them, so you'll walk away remembering his ideas and opinions rather than stats.
Mark Richardson, rock and pop music critic, Wall Street Journal; former Editor-in-Chief, Pitchfork
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Chris Dalla Riva's beautiful mind navigates the intersection of culture and data, making us appreciate art by looking and listening again and again.
Will Page, author of Tarzan Economics and former Chief Economist of Spotify
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Chris Dalla Riva has written a fascinating, rollicking journey through musical history. By tracing the rise and fall of trends at the top of the charts, Dalla Riva holds a mirror to our cultural evolution allowing us to better understand ourselves based on the music we're obsessed with. The book is a data-stuffed musical delight that could only be done by Chris Dalla Riva.
Walt Hickey, Pulitzer Prize Winner; Author of You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything
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This book shines a light on the choices, patterns, and instincts behind the hits we love and the songs we write. It reminds me why I fell in love with songwriting in the first place and gives me new ways to think about how I approach my own writing.
Evan Bogart, award-winning songwriter and CEO of Seeker Music

























