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

Chris Dalla Riva (Author)

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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 over the last 6 decades.

Did you know that artists began writing and producing their songs more regularly before singer-songwriters like John Lennon and Bob Dylan even splashed on the scene? That Motown changed how Americans view Black women? That the key change died around 2003? That there's strong evidence that the pop charts were fixed in the 1970s?

Coupling hard data with engaging anecdotes, Uncharted Territory is both a takedown and celebration of popular music that will start as many arguments as it ends-whether you danced the twist or the dougie at your senior prom. On the surface, this approach might seem generally inaccessible and highly technical. But it's not. This entertaining history is filled with the most popular musicians of all time, including The Beatles, Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Katy Perry, and Drake, among many others. Dalla Riva uses unexpected statistics and tons of playful visualizations to make you think about those musicians, their songs, and the movements they were part of in new and interesting ways. Music and pop culture lovers will gain new insights into their favorite artists and learn more about the inner workings of the music industry.

Introduction
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	Nov 13 2025
Format	Hardback
Edition	1st
Extent	336
ISBN	9798765149843
Imprint	Bloomsbury Academic
Dimensions	9 x 6 inches
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Author

Chris Dalla Riva

Chris Dalla Riva lives at the intersection of musi…

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
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
Chris Dalla Riva has written a fascinating, rolicking 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