The Evolution of Dance Music

Visualizing trends in dance music from 1920s-present using Spotify’s API and R.

“Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers Dancing” by Jordan Kay, Dribbble

If I could time travel, I would go back to the 1940s and 1950s and dance my heart out. The end of World War II and rise of rock-n-roll ensured everyone had a pair of happy feet. Jazz and swing dances like the jitterbug to the Lindy hop were followed closely by the bop and twist, popularized by "Grease", "Hairspray", and Elvis' trigger-happy hips.

My enthusiasm for casual dancing (e.g. at clubs, in-between studying, while microwaving food, anytime really) is rivaled by nothing other than tear-jerkingly beautiful data visualization. While I'm pretty average at both, I decided to analyze which attributes made a song more "danceable" and create a playlist of the best dance hits of each decade using Spotify's API, the spotifyr R package, and a list of 1300+ hits from 1920 to today. If you're just here for the dope playlist, feel free to jump to the bottom. Otherwise, enjoy the read!

What is danceability?

Spotify defines danceability as an attribute that "measures how suitable a song is for dancing based on a combination of musical elements including tempo, rhythm stability, beat strength, and overall regularity". For the purposes of this study, I used Spotify's definitions and values for different song attributes. Each attribute, excluding tempo, is valued on a scale of 0 to 1, with 1 being the most intense version of the attribute.

		
				Spotify Song Attributes
				
					Attribute
				Description
				
					Acousticness
					Measures how acoustic a song is.
				
					Danceability
					Measures how suitable a song is for dancing based on a combination of musical elements including tempo, rhythm stability, beat strength, and overall regularity.
				
					Energy
					Measures the intensity and activity of a song. Typically, energetic songs feel fast, loud, and noisy. Perceptual features contributing to this attribute include dynamic range, perceived loudness, timbre, onset rate, and general entropy.
				
					Happiness
					Measures the musical positiveness conveyed by a song.
				
					Popularity
					Measures how frequently played a song is on Spotify.
				
					Speechiness
					Measures the presence of spoken words in a song.
				
					Tempo
					The overall estimated speed or pace of a song in beats per minute (BPM).

Spotify Song Attributes
Attribute	Description
Acousticness	Measures how acoustic a song is.
Danceability	Measures how suitable a song is for dancing based on a combination of musical elements including tempo, rhythm stability, beat strength, and overall regularity.
Energy	Measures the intensity and activity of a song. Typically, energetic songs feel fast, loud, and noisy. Perceptual features contributing to this attribute include dynamic range, perceived loudness, timbre, onset rate, and general entropy.
Happiness	Measures the musical positiveness conveyed by a song.
Popularity	Measures how frequently played a song is on Spotify.
Speechiness	Measures the presence of spoken words in a song.
Tempo	The overall estimated speed or pace of a song in beats per minute (BPM).

How have dance hits changed over the last century?

Put away the banjo and break out the dubstep - people today dance to energetic, happier music. While speechiness and tempo have remained constant over the last century, energy and happiness have increased significantly.

What kind of songs did people enjoy dancing to?

Some attributes that make a song more dance-worthy are timeless. Generally, the happier and more energetic a song is, the more likely it will be a dance hit. However, tempo and speechiness display a diminishing returns relationship. The best dance songs rest at a sweet spot of 80-130 BPM. Anything slower or faster both drastically reduce how danceable a song is. In the same way, songs with a moderate amount of words make the best dance songs.

Interestingly, acousticness affects danceability differently across the decades. Up until the 1960s, a more acoustic song was generally perceived as more danceable, dropping off at fully acoustic songs. However, post-1970s, the trend flipped: acousticness made a song less danceable.

Takeaways

This study was conducted primarily to explore the evolution of dance music over the last century. Current trends in what makes a song more danceable than others can help DJs, artists, and producers create hits based on quantifiable information like tempo or level of speechiness. Further probing of other song metrics' effects on danceability would provide deeper analysis. For example, using the Genius API and geniusr R package to analyze lyrics of dance hits or a musical dissection of the timing of beats, bass drops, and melodies could detail line-by-line preferences for making dance music. Beyond data, we can also compare these trends against different types of dancing (e.g. did older styles of dancing fit better with acoustic, lower-energy songs?) and historical context (e.g. could the drop in happiness levels in dance hits in the 1930s be attributed to the Great Depression?).

Overall, if this study and/or playlist inspired you to jump up and shake those hips, I've done my job. Go ahead - press play and dance your heart out, MJ.

Top 10 songs by "danceability" - Spotify's internal measure of how danceable a song is - of each decade.

		
			
				Best Dance Hits of Each Decade
				
			
			
					Decade
				Song
				Artist
				Danceability
				Energy
				Speechiness
				Acousticness
				Happiness
				Tempo
				

			
					1920s
					I Married the Bootlegger's Daughter
					Frank Crumit
					0.91
					0.25
					0.12
					1.00
					0.67
					118
				

					1920s
					If You Knew Susie (like I Know Susie)
					Eddie Cantor
					0.88
					0.37
					0.14
					0.99
					0.50
					123
				

					1920s
					My Wife Is On A Diet
					Leslie Sarony
					0.83
					0.65
					0.06
					1.00
					0.87
					124
				

					1920s
					Kitchen Man
					Bessie Smith
					0.81
					0.08
					0.06
					0.99
					0.48
					116
				

					1920s
					Happy Days Are Here Again
					Johnny Marvin
					0.79
					0.18
					0.06
					1.00
					0.89
					115
				

					1920s
					Five Foot Two Eyes of Blue
					Art Landry
					0.78
					0.22
					0.09
					0.99
					0.81
					110
				

					1920s
					I Want a Girl
					Dan Hornsby Trio
					0.78
					0.48
					0.07
					0.88
					0.80
					119
				

					1920s
					A Good Man Is Hard to Find
					Bessie Smith
					0.78
					0.03
					0.06
					0.99
					0.41
					84
				

					1920s
					Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair
					Bessie Smith
					0.77
					0.09
					0.06
					0.99
					0.60
					88
				

					1920s
					Puttin' On The Ritz
					Harry Richman
					0.80
					0.35
					0.11
					0.94
					0.84
					104
				

					1930s
					Puttin' On The Ritz
					Fred Astaire
					0.85
					0.35
					0.16
					0.99
					0.79
					106
				

					1930s
					Reefer Man
					Cab Calloway
					0.81
					0.41
					0.10
					0.85
					0.78
					128
				

					1930s
					Anything Goes
					Cole Porter
					0.80
					0.23
					0.09
					0.96
					0.56
					106
				

					1930s
					Painting the Clouds with Sunshine
					Jack Hylton & His Orchestra
					0.80
					0.23
					0.04
					0.98
					0.89
					95
				

					1930s
					Kickin' The Gong Around
					Cab Calloway
					0.78
					0.17
					0.06
					0.95
					0.67
					110
				

					1930s
					Keep Young And Beautiful
					Harry Roy
					0.77
					0.59
					0.12
					0.99
					0.85
					103
				

					1930s
					Dope Head Blues
					Victoria Spivey
					0.77
					0.15
					0.04
					0.98
					0.52
					78
				

					1930s
					Nice Work If You Can Get It
					Billie Holiday
					0.80
					0.20
					0.12
					0.87
					0.73
					80
				

					1930s
					The Saga of Jenny
					Gertrude Lawrence
					0.76
					0.08
					0.09
					0.98
					0.63
					114
				

					1940s
					Walking The Floor Over You
					Ernest Tubb
					0.88
					0.32
					0.06
					0.93
					0.82
					115
				

					1940s
					Pistol Packin' Mama
					Al Dexter & His Troopers
					0.94
					0.34
					0.07
					0.94
					0.98
					103
				

					1940s
					Deep In the Heart of Texas
					Gene Autry
					0.86
					0.31
					0.06
					0.97
					0.96
					115
				

					1940s
					Song Of The Volga Boatmen
					Glenn Miller
					0.84
					0.21
					0.08
					0.87
					0.58
					125
				

					1940s
					It's A Good Day
					Peggy Lee
					0.84
					0.20
					0.09
					0.78
					0.82
					123
				

					1940s
					Rum And Coca Cola
					The Andrews Sisters
					0.84
					0.24
					0.11
					0.46
					0.69
					80
				

					1940s
					Doin' What Comes Naturally
					Ethel Merman
					0.83
					0.41
					0.04
					0.74
					0.69
					93
				

					1940s
					Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)
					Tex Williams
					0.83
					0.55
					0.26
					0.72
					0.96
					128
				

					1940s
					Lazy River
					The Mills Brothers
					0.83
					0.05
					0.07
					0.98
					0.43
					89
				

					1950s
					Fever
					Peggy Lee
					0.80
					0.15
					0.13
					0.13
					0.39
					137
				

					1950s
					Oh Oh I'm Falling In Love Again
					Jimmie Rodgers
					0.80
					0.44
					0.06
					0.87
					0.71
					95
				

					1950s
					Seven Little Girls Sitting in the Back Seat
					The Avons
					0.80
					0.32
					0.06
					0.71
					0.86
					134
				

					1950s
					Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes
					Perry Como
					0.80
					0.42
					0.04
					0.81
					0.96
					122
				

					1950s
					Butterfly
					Andy Williams
					0.79
					0.60
					0.07
					0.43
					0.86
					127
				

					1950s
					I Get So Lonely
					The Four Knights
					0.79
					0.33
					0.05
					0.63
					0.97
					112
				

					1950s
					Rocking Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu
					Huey "Piano" Smith
					0.84
					0.66
					0.04
					0.55
					0.97
					118
				

					1950s
					A Guy Is A Guy
					Doris Day
					0.84
					0.22
					0.08
					0.90
					0.88
					122
				

					1950s
					Heartbreak Hotel
					Elvis Presley
					0.52
					0.39
					0.07
					0.88
					0.83
					95
				

					1950s
					Lollipop
					The Chordettes
					0.68
					0.32
					0.09
					0.79
					0.73
					144
				

					1950s
					Johnny B. Goode
					Chuck Berry
					0.51
					0.69
					0.08
					0.73
					0.97
					168
				

					1950s
					Jailhouse Rock
					Elvis Presley
					0.49
					0.86
					0.07
					0.17
					0.94
					84
				

					1960s
					Green Onions
					Booker T. & the M.G.'s
					0.79
					0.38
					0.03
					0.81
					0.89
					138
				

					1960s
					Sugar, Sugar
					The Archies
					0.76
					0.65
					0.03
					0.76
					0.97
					123
				

					1960s
					Under The Boardwalk
					The Drifters
					0.75
					0.23
					0.04
					0.91
					0.78
					124
				

					1960s
					Comment te dire adieu - It Hurts To Say Goodbye
					Fran√ßoise Hardy
					0.73
					0.45
					0.06
					0.20
					0.84
					124
				

					1960s
					Runaway
					Del Shannon
					0.71
					0.82
					0.09
					0.09
					0.74
					144
				

					1960s
					Footsteps In the Dark - Pt. 1 & 2
					The Isley Brothers
					0.69
					0.41
					0.05
					0.31
					0.86
					81
				

					1960s
					Sunshine Of Your Love
					Cream
					0.68
					0.49
					0.04
					0.44
					0.83
					115
				

					1960s
					Mr. Soul
					Buffalo Springfield
					0.67
					0.55
					0.03
					0.10
					0.96
					135
				

					1960s
					Monster Mash
					Bobby "Boris" Pickett
					0.66
					0.54
					0.24
					0.11
					0.59
					141
				

					1960s
					Build Me Up Buttercup
					The Foundations
					0.66
					0.52
					0.05
					0.16
					0.68
					133
				

					1970s
					Le Freak
					CHIC
					0.87
					0.75
					0.05
					0.05
					0.93
					119
				

					1970s
					Boogie Oogie Oogie
					A Taste Of Honey
					0.84
					0.52
					0.09
					0.10
					0.91
					124
				

					1970s
					Play That Funky Music
					Wild Cherry
					0.82
					0.87
					0.06
					0.12
					0.90
					109
				

					1970s
					Grease
					Frankie Valli
					0.82
					0.37
					0.09
					0.26
					0.87
					110
				

					1970s
					50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
					Paul Simon
					0.82
					0.38
					0.06
					0.19
					0.34
					102
				

					1970s
					Hot Stuff
					Donna Summer
					0.81
					0.73
					0.03
					0.00
					0.96
					120
				

					1970s
					Bad Girls
					Donna Summer
					0.80
					0.68
					0.04
					0.01
					0.96
					121
				

					1970s
					Dancing Machine
					The Jackson 5
					0.79
					0.79
					0.09
					0.12
					0.85
					109
				

					1970s
					Knock Three Times
					Dawn
					0.78
					0.47
					0.08
					0.22
					0.91
					122
				

					1970s
					Come and Get Your Love
					Redbone
					0.78
					0.81
					0.03
					0.03
					0.97
					105
				

					1970s
					Y.M.C.A
					Village People
					0.69
					0.97
					0.16
					0.03
					0.73
					127
				

					1970s
					Crocodile Rock
					Elton John
					0.63
					0.67
					0.04
					0.08
					0.97
					150
				

					1970s
					Don't Go Breaking My Heart
					Elton John
					0.74
					0.86
					0.04
					0.20
					0.78
					131
				

					1980s
					Billie Jean
					Michael Jackson
					0.92
					0.65
					0.04
					0.02
					0.85
					117
				

					1980s
					Faith
					George Michael
					0.89
					0.48
					0.12
					0.01
					0.61
					96
				

					1980s
					The Way You Make Me Feel
					Michael Jackson
					0.88
					0.85
					0.15
					0.05
					0.54
					114
				

					1980s
					Jump (For My Love)
					The Pointer Sisters
					0.86
					0.71
					0.09
					0.11
					0.85
					134
				

					1980s
					Wishing Well
					Terence Trent D'Arby
					0.85
					0.65
					0.06
					0.08
					0.80
					105
				

					1980s
					What's Love Got to Do with It
					Tina Turner
					0.85
					0.41
					0.07
					0.22
					0.79
					98
				

					1980s
					Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?)
					Wham!
					0.83
					0.94
					0.11
					0.50
					0.69
					118
				

					1980s
					How Will I Know
					Whitney Houston
					0.83
					0.54
					0.04
					0.20
					0.93
					119
				

					1980s
					Eye In The Sky
					The Alan Parsons Project
					0.82
					0.42
					0.03
					0.56
					0.52
					112
				

					1980s
					Eye of the Tiger
					Survivor
					0.82
					0.44
					0.03
					0.22
					0.55
					109
				

					1980s
					I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)
					Whitney Houston
					0.71
					0.82
					0.05
					0.21
					0.87
					119
				

					1990s
					ATLiens
					OutKast
					0.92
					0.73
					0.27
					0.03
					0.61
					97
				

					1990s
					Insane in the Brain
					Cypress Hill
					0.90
					0.61
					0.21
					0.03
					0.77
					102
				

					1990s
					Still Not a Player
					Big Pun
					0.89
					0.70
					0.28
					0.23
					0.90
					94
				

					1990s
					Gettin' Jiggy Wit It
					Will Smith
					0.88
					0.87
					0.14
					0.02
					0.86
					108
				

					1990s
					No Diggity
					Blackstreet
					0.87
					0.65
					0.29
					0.33
					0.65
					89
				

					1990s
					Jump Around
					House Of Pain
					0.85
					0.71
					0.08
					0.01
					0.82
					107
				

					1990s
					Boombastic
					Shaggy
					0.85
					0.79
					0.25
					0.24
					0.80
					159
				

					1990s
					Can I Kick It?
					A Tribe Called Quest
					0.85
					0.67
					0.27
					0.17
					0.74
					97
				

					1990s
					The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)
					Missy Elliott
					0.82
					0.58
					0.18
					0.12
					0.73
					160
				

					1990s
					Summer Girls
					LFO
					0.81
					0.81
					0.16
					0.16
					0.74
					100
				

					1990s
					This Is How We Do It
					Montell Jordan
					0.79
					0.70
					0.06
					0.02
					0.78
					104
				

					2000s
					SexyBack
					Justin Timberlake
					0.97
					0.58
					0.08
					0.06
					0.96
					117
				

					2000s
					One, Two Step
					Ciara
					0.94
					0.51
					0.16
					0.04
					0.84
					113
				

					2000s
					Hollaback Girl
					Gwen Stefani
					0.93
					0.92
					0.09
					0.35
					0.90
					110
				

					2000s
					Yeah!
					Usher
					0.89
					0.79
					0.11
					0.02
					0.58
					105
				

					2000s
					Rock Your Body
					Justin Timberlake
					0.89
					0.71
					0.14
					0.20
					0.82
					101
				

					2000s
					The Way You Move
					OutKast
					0.87
					0.60
					0.05
					0.13
					0.64
					126
				

					2000s
					Ms. Jackson
					OutKast
					0.84
					0.81
					0.27
					0.14
					0.62
					95
				

					2000s
					Work Out
					J. Cole
					0.83
					0.43
					0.11
					0.05
					0.22
					93
				

					2000s
					Caught Up
					Usher
					0.82
					0.81
					0.05
					0.03
					0.75
					110
				

					2000s
					Get The Party Started
					P!nk
					0.81
					0.90
					0.05
					0.00
					0.96
					129
				

					2000s
					Hips Don't Lie
					Shakira
					0.78
					0.82
					0.07
					0.28
					0.76
					100
				

					2010s
					Fancy
					Iggy Azalea
					0.91
					0.72
					0.07
					0.08
					0.39
					95
				

					2010s
					Hotline Bling
					Drake
					0.90
					0.62
					0.06
					0.00
					0.54
					135
				

					2010s
					Uptown Funk
					Mark Ronson
					0.86
					0.61
					0.08
					0.01
					0.93
					115
				

					2010s
					Shape of You
					Ed Sheeran
					0.83
					0.65
					0.08
					0.58
					0.93
					96
				

					2010s
					Work from Home
					Fifth Harmony
					0.80
					0.63
					0.04
					0.10
					0.66
					105
				

					2010s
					Get Lucky
					Daft Punk
					0.79
					0.81
					0.04
					0.04
					0.86
					116
				

					2010s
					One Dance
					Drake
					0.79
					0.62
					0.05
					0.01
					0.37
					104
				

					2010s
					Only Girl (In The World)
					Rihanna
					0.79
					0.71
					0.04
					0.10
					0.71
					126
				

					2010s
					Call Me Maybe
					Carly Rae Jepsen
					0.78
					0.60
					0.04
					0.02
					0.61
					120
				

		
	

Best Dance Hits of Each Decade
Decade	Song	Artist	Danceability	Energy	Speechiness	Acousticness	Happiness	Tempo
1920s	I Married the Bootlegger's Daughter	Frank Crumit	0.91	0.25	0.12	1.00	0.67	118
1920s	If You Knew Susie (like I Know Susie)	Eddie Cantor	0.88	0.37	0.14	0.99	0.50	123
1920s	My Wife Is On A Diet	Leslie Sarony	0.83	0.65	0.06	1.00	0.87	124
1920s	Kitchen Man	Bessie Smith	0.81	0.08	0.06	0.99	0.48	116
1920s	Happy Days Are Here Again	Johnny Marvin	0.79	0.18	0.06	1.00	0.89	115
1920s	Five Foot Two Eyes of Blue	Art Landry	0.78	0.22	0.09	0.99	0.81	110
1920s	I Want a Girl	Dan Hornsby Trio	0.78	0.48	0.07	0.88	0.80	119
1920s	A Good Man Is Hard to Find	Bessie Smith	0.78	0.03	0.06	0.99	0.41	84
1920s	Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair	Bessie Smith	0.77	0.09	0.06	0.99	0.60	88
1920s	Puttin' On The Ritz	Harry Richman	0.80	0.35	0.11	0.94	0.84	104
1930s	Puttin' On The Ritz	Fred Astaire	0.85	0.35	0.16	0.99	0.79	106
1930s	Reefer Man	Cab Calloway	0.81	0.41	0.10	0.85	0.78	128
1930s	Anything Goes	Cole Porter	0.80	0.23	0.09	0.96	0.56	106
1930s	Painting the Clouds with Sunshine	Jack Hylton & His Orchestra	0.80	0.23	0.04	0.98	0.89	95
1930s	Kickin' The Gong Around	Cab Calloway	0.78	0.17	0.06	0.95	0.67	110
1930s	Keep Young And Beautiful	Harry Roy	0.77	0.59	0.12	0.99	0.85	103
1930s	Dope Head Blues	Victoria Spivey	0.77	0.15	0.04	0.98	0.52	78
1930s	Nice Work If You Can Get It	Billie Holiday	0.80	0.20	0.12	0.87	0.73	80
1930s	The Saga of Jenny	Gertrude Lawrence	0.76	0.08	0.09	0.98	0.63	114
1940s	Walking The Floor Over You	Ernest Tubb	0.88	0.32	0.06	0.93	0.82	115
1940s	Pistol Packin' Mama	Al Dexter & His Troopers	0.94	0.34	0.07	0.94	0.98	103
1940s	Deep In the Heart of Texas	Gene Autry	0.86	0.31	0.06	0.97	0.96	115
1940s	Song Of The Volga Boatmen	Glenn Miller	0.84	0.21	0.08	0.87	0.58	125
1940s	It's A Good Day	Peggy Lee	0.84	0.20	0.09	0.78	0.82	123
1940s	Rum And Coca Cola	The Andrews Sisters	0.84	0.24	0.11	0.46	0.69	80
1940s	Doin' What Comes Naturally	Ethel Merman	0.83	0.41	0.04	0.74	0.69	93
1940s	Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)	Tex Williams	0.83	0.55	0.26	0.72	0.96	128
1940s	Lazy River	The Mills Brothers	0.83	0.05	0.07	0.98	0.43	89
1950s	Fever	Peggy Lee	0.80	0.15	0.13	0.13	0.39	137
1950s	Oh Oh I'm Falling In Love Again	Jimmie Rodgers	0.80	0.44	0.06	0.87	0.71	95
1950s	Seven Little Girls Sitting in the Back Seat	The Avons	0.80	0.32	0.06	0.71	0.86	134
1950s	Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes	Perry Como	0.80	0.42	0.04	0.81	0.96	122
1950s	Butterfly	Andy Williams	0.79	0.60	0.07	0.43	0.86	127
1950s	I Get So Lonely	The Four Knights	0.79	0.33	0.05	0.63	0.97	112
1950s	Rocking Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu	Huey "Piano" Smith	0.84	0.66	0.04	0.55	0.97	118
1950s	A Guy Is A Guy	Doris Day	0.84	0.22	0.08	0.90	0.88	122
1950s	Heartbreak Hotel	Elvis Presley	0.52	0.39	0.07	0.88	0.83	95
1950s	Lollipop	The Chordettes	0.68	0.32	0.09	0.79	0.73	144
1950s	Johnny B. Goode	Chuck Berry	0.51	0.69	0.08	0.73	0.97	168
1950s	Jailhouse Rock	Elvis Presley	0.49	0.86	0.07	0.17	0.94	84
1960s	Green Onions	Booker T. & the M.G.'s	0.79	0.38	0.03	0.81	0.89	138
1960s	Sugar, Sugar	The Archies	0.76	0.65	0.03	0.76	0.97	123
1960s	Under The Boardwalk	The Drifters	0.75	0.23	0.04	0.91	0.78	124
1960s	Comment te dire adieu - It Hurts To Say Goodbye	Fran√ßoise Hardy	0.73	0.45	0.06	0.20	0.84	124
1960s	Runaway	Del Shannon	0.71	0.82	0.09	0.09	0.74	144
1960s	Footsteps In the Dark - Pt. 1 & 2	The Isley Brothers	0.69	0.41	0.05	0.31	0.86	81
1960s	Sunshine Of Your Love	Cream	0.68	0.49	0.04	0.44	0.83	115
1960s	Mr. Soul	Buffalo Springfield	0.67	0.55	0.03	0.10	0.96	135
1960s	Monster Mash	Bobby "Boris" Pickett	0.66	0.54	0.24	0.11	0.59	141
1960s	Build Me Up Buttercup	The Foundations	0.66	0.52	0.05	0.16	0.68	133
1970s	Le Freak	CHIC	0.87	0.75	0.05	0.05	0.93	119
1970s	Boogie Oogie Oogie	A Taste Of Honey	0.84	0.52	0.09	0.10	0.91	124
1970s	Play That Funky Music	Wild Cherry	0.82	0.87	0.06	0.12	0.90	109
1970s	Grease	Frankie Valli	0.82	0.37	0.09	0.26	0.87	110
1970s	50 Ways to Leave Your Lover	Paul Simon	0.82	0.38	0.06	0.19	0.34	102
1970s	Hot Stuff	Donna Summer	0.81	0.73	0.03	0.00	0.96	120
1970s	Bad Girls	Donna Summer	0.80	0.68	0.04	0.01	0.96	121
1970s	Dancing Machine	The Jackson 5	0.79	0.79	0.09	0.12	0.85	109
1970s	Knock Three Times	Dawn	0.78	0.47	0.08	0.22	0.91	122
1970s	Come and Get Your Love	Redbone	0.78	0.81	0.03	0.03	0.97	105
1970s	Y.M.C.A	Village People	0.69	0.97	0.16	0.03	0.73	127
1970s	Crocodile Rock	Elton John	0.63	0.67	0.04	0.08	0.97	150
1970s	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	Elton John	0.74	0.86	0.04	0.20	0.78	131
1980s	Billie Jean	Michael Jackson	0.92	0.65	0.04	0.02	0.85	117
1980s	Faith	George Michael	0.89	0.48	0.12	0.01	0.61	96
1980s	The Way You Make Me Feel	Michael Jackson	0.88	0.85	0.15	0.05	0.54	114
1980s	Jump (For My Love)	The Pointer Sisters	0.86	0.71	0.09	0.11	0.85	134
1980s	Wishing Well	Terence Trent D'Arby	0.85	0.65	0.06	0.08	0.80	105
1980s	What's Love Got to Do with It	Tina Turner	0.85	0.41	0.07	0.22	0.79	98
1980s	Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?)	Wham!	0.83	0.94	0.11	0.50	0.69	118
1980s	How Will I Know	Whitney Houston	0.83	0.54	0.04	0.20	0.93	119
1980s	Eye In The Sky	The Alan Parsons Project	0.82	0.42	0.03	0.56	0.52	112
1980s	Eye of the Tiger	Survivor	0.82	0.44	0.03	0.22	0.55	109
1980s	I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)	Whitney Houston	0.71	0.82	0.05	0.21	0.87	119
1990s	ATLiens	OutKast	0.92	0.73	0.27	0.03	0.61	97
1990s	Insane in the Brain	Cypress Hill	0.90	0.61	0.21	0.03	0.77	102
1990s	Still Not a Player	Big Pun	0.89	0.70	0.28	0.23	0.90	94
1990s	Gettin' Jiggy Wit It	Will Smith	0.88	0.87	0.14	0.02	0.86	108
1990s	No Diggity	Blackstreet	0.87	0.65	0.29	0.33	0.65	89
1990s	Jump Around	House Of Pain	0.85	0.71	0.08	0.01	0.82	107
1990s	Boombastic	Shaggy	0.85	0.79	0.25	0.24	0.80	159
1990s	Can I Kick It?	A Tribe Called Quest	0.85	0.67	0.27	0.17	0.74	97
1990s	The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)	Missy Elliott	0.82	0.58	0.18	0.12	0.73	160
1990s	Summer Girls	LFO	0.81	0.81	0.16	0.16	0.74	100
1990s	This Is How We Do It	Montell Jordan	0.79	0.70	0.06	0.02	0.78	104
2000s	SexyBack	Justin Timberlake	0.97	0.58	0.08	0.06	0.96	117
2000s	One, Two Step	Ciara	0.94	0.51	0.16	0.04	0.84	113
2000s	Hollaback Girl	Gwen Stefani	0.93	0.92	0.09	0.35	0.90	110
2000s	Yeah!	Usher	0.89	0.79	0.11	0.02	0.58	105
2000s	Rock Your Body	Justin Timberlake	0.89	0.71	0.14	0.20	0.82	101
2000s	The Way You Move	OutKast	0.87	0.60	0.05	0.13	0.64	126
2000s	Ms. Jackson	OutKast	0.84	0.81	0.27	0.14	0.62	95
2000s	Work Out	J. Cole	0.83	0.43	0.11	0.05	0.22	93
2000s	Caught Up	Usher	0.82	0.81	0.05	0.03	0.75	110
2000s	Get The Party Started	P!nk	0.81	0.90	0.05	0.00	0.96	129
2000s	Hips Don't Lie	Shakira	0.78	0.82	0.07	0.28	0.76	100
2010s	Fancy	Iggy Azalea	0.91	0.72	0.07	0.08	0.39	95
2010s	Hotline Bling	Drake	0.90	0.62	0.06	0.00	0.54	135
2010s	Uptown Funk	Mark Ronson	0.86	0.61	0.08	0.01	0.93	115
2010s	Shape of You	Ed Sheeran	0.83	0.65	0.08	0.58	0.93	96
2010s	Work from Home	Fifth Harmony	0.80	0.63	0.04	0.10	0.66	105
2010s	Get Lucky	Daft Punk	0.79	0.81	0.04	0.04	0.86	116
2010s	One Dance	Drake	0.79	0.62	0.05	0.01	0.37	104
2010s	Only Girl (In The World)	Rihanna	0.79	0.71	0.04	0.10	0.71	126
2010s	Call Me Maybe	Carly Rae Jepsen	0.78	0.60	0.04	0.02	0.61	120

How to recreate this project

Install and load the spotifyr, dplyr, tidyr, data.table, ggplot2, and fmsb data packages.

install.packages("spotifyr")
install.packages("dplyr")
install.packages("tidyr")
install.packages("data.table")
install.packages("ggplot2")
install.packages("fmsb")

Get API access from Spotify Developer and load into RStudio.

spotifyclient = "clientcode"
spotifykey = "keycode"

Sys.setenv(SPOTIFY_CLIENT_ID = spotifyclient)
Sys.setenv(SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET = spotifykey)

access_token = get_spotify_access_token(client_id = Sys.getenv('SPOTIFY_CLIENT_ID'), client_secret = Sys.getenv('SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET'))

Follow playlists on Spotify that each contain top 100 songs of a decade using a Spotify account. Get playlist data using the get_user_audio_features function from spotifyr. The playlist urls are displayed below.

# get playlist data from your user account
all_years = get_user_audio_features('username')

# rename all playlist urls as its decade
"1920s" = all_years$playlist_uri[all_years$playlist_uri == "7olpTqGzGrYuI76ZBlCLgs"]
"1930s" = all_years$playlist_uri[all_years$playlist_uri == "6hxNMGb4qtRZZbn02TqCFv"]
"1940s" = all_years$playlist_uri[all_years$playlist_uri == "5NOaxYV0zp0wpnWDilmO6K"]
"1950s" = all_years$playlist_uri[all_years$playlist_uri == "5ZNKySqQVGPXlIomBnmt0r"]
"1960s" = all_years$playlist_uri[all_years$playlist_uri == "2NFOUmp2wyR5CrXtKDkUkB"]
"1970s" = all_years$playlist_uri[all_years$playlist_uri == "6d16009NUz5vn0PCRbbMtN"]
"1980s" = all_years$playlist_uri[all_years$playlist_uri == "0l92UabLyRHluwgys6k2fC"]
"1990s" = all_years$playlist_uri[all_years$playlist_uri == "0rZJqZmX61rQ4xMkmEWQar"]
"2000s" = all_years$playlist_uri[all_years$playlist_uri == "2f6tXtN0XesjONxicAzMIw"]
"2010s" = all_years$playlist_uri[all_years$playlist_uri == "1tPWTwuxOLsE2Do1JQSUxA"]

After removing unused columns and cleaning up column names, separate the master dataframe into multiple dataframes separated by decade.

# create new dataframe named "df[decade]" based on "Decade" column
s <- setNames(split(all_years, with(all_years, interaction(Decade)), drop = TRUE), paste0("df", unique(all_years$Decade)))

# put new dataframes in global environment
list2env(s, globalenv())

Create bar chart of "Danceability" across the decades.

ggplot(all_years, aes(Decade, Danceability)) + 
  geom_bar(stat="identity", width=.5, fill=rgb(55,105,214, maxColorValue = 255)) + 
  theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle=65, vjust=0.6)) +
  ggtitle("Which Decade Had the Most Danceable Hits?")

Create polar/radar charts for each decade's top hits song attributes.

# create new dataframe with average attributes of all songs in decade
polar1920s = c(mean(df1920$Danceability), mean(df1920$Energy), mean(df1920$Speechiness), mean(df1920$Acousticness), mean(df1920$Happiness), mean(df1920$Tempo))
polar1920s <- as.data.frame(t(polar1920s))

# rename columns
colnames(polar1920s) = c("Danceability", "Energy", "Speechiness", "Acousticness", "Happiness", "Tempo")

# create new rows for min and max of column values as the first two rows in dataframe
polar1920s = rbind(c(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0), polar1920s)
polar1920s = rbind(c(1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 200), polar1920s)

# create polar/radar chart
radarchart(polar1920s, axistype=1 , 
           pcol=rgb(243,94,90,0, maxColorValue = 255), pfcol=rgb(243,94,90,130, maxColorValue = 255), plwd=4 , 
           cglcol="grey", cglty=1, axislabcol="grey", caxislabels=seq(0,1,.25), cglwd=0.8,
           vlcex=0.8, title = "1920s")

Create line plots of "Danceability" by [other attribute].

ggplot(all_years, aes(otherattribute, Danceability, color = Decade)) +
  theme_minimal() +
  geom_smooth(se=FALSE)

Let’s work together.

If you have a project in mind, or would like to chat, shoot me an email at laura.y.gao@gmail.com.

Resume / CV

creator. writer. bread lover. and everything in between.

The Evolution of Dance Music

The Evolution of Dance Music

Visualizing trends in dance music from 1920s-present using Spotify’s API and R.

What is danceability?

How have dance hits changed over the last century?

What kind of songs did people enjoy dancing to?

Takeaways

How to recreate this project

Let’s work together.