Pop songs

Many pop songs use a have a chords progression that we recognize. Our Western hearing finds the distance of these chords to each other is pleasant and easy to hear. That has become self-reinforcing in recognizability because there are a lot of songs made with it and also became popular again and so on.

As Wikipedia suggests:

A chord (s) progression is a widely used name in music for the succession of chords. Chord progressions (or succession of harmonies) occur from the earliest baroque music, but the term is mainly used in light music. In classical music one speaks more of 'harmonic functions'.

A chord progression is characterized by a musical logical tension: build-up → tension → relaxation.

I - V - vi - IV


So it doesn't matter much in which key the song was made. It is mainly about the relationship of chords to each other.

Here is an extensive list of songs from U2 to the Beatles and Lady Gaga all of which are written in the chords progression I - V - vi - IV.

The proportions are then 1 - Five - Six - and Fourth chord in a chosen key.

A few examples from the list:

“All of Me” John Legend 2013 VI-IV-I-V G major
“All This Love” Robin Schulz 2019 VI—I—I—V D minor
“All Too Well” Taylor Swift 2012 I—V—VI—IV C major
“All You Wanted” Michelle Branch 2001 VI—I—V Ab major
“Almost" [3] Bowling for Soup 2005 I—V—VI—IV B major
“Alone” Alan Walker 2016 VI-IV-I-V G minor
“Alone (Heart song)” Heart 1987 VI—I—I—V Bb minor
“Always on My Mind” Brenda Lee 1972 I—V—VI—IV C major
“Apologize” OneRepublic 2005 VI—I—I—V C minor
“Aristocrat” Poppy 2018 VI—I—I—V B minor
“As If It's Your Last” Blackpink 2017 IV—I—V—VI Ab major
“Atemlos durch the Night” Helene Fischer 2013 IV—I—V—VI B major
“Bad Blood" [7] Taylor Swift 2014 IV—I—V—VI E minor
“Bad Liar” Imagine Dragons 2018 VI—I—I—V C minor
“Bailando” Enrique Iglesias ft Descemer Bueno, Gente De Zona 2014 VI—I—V E minor
“Battle Hymn” Manowar 1980 VI-IV-I-V E minor
“Beast of Burden" [8] The Rolling Stones 1978 I—V—VI—IV E major
“Beautiful” Akon feat. Colby O'Donis and Kardinal Offishall 2009 VI—I—I—V C minor
“Behind These Hazel Eyes” Kelly Clarkson 2004 VI—I—V F# minor
“Bleeding Out” Imagine Dragons 2012 VI—I—V F minor
“Born to Be Yours” Kygo feat. Imagine Dragons 2018 I—V—VI—IV E major
“Born to Make You Happy” Britney Spears 1999 VI—I—I—V B minor
“Breakeven” The Script 2008 IV—I—V—VI G minor


That's why they sound good. They are also recognizable. Logical! But you could also say that a lot of pop music also makes very limited use of all musical possibilities. They literally only use a few chords within a limited spectrum.

This is a very funny video with a lot of songs with only these chords progression:





#music

Why do we like a lot of pop songs? And they look alike too.