Metal is the music with the "highest intelligence" and Black Sabbath lead the way in vocabulary (study)

Finally, it has been scientifically proven what metal fans have always known.

The company Prodigy Education analyzed the lyrics of popular artists from both the modern era and past decades to identify patterns in emotions and lexical complexity. Lexical diversity—defined as the number of unique words used by musicians in their songs—has helped to determine which artists and genres possess the richest vocabulary.

According to the analysis, the band Black Sabbath has been recognized as the most intelligent musicians based on their lyrical diversity, scoring 52%. Among musical genres, metal tops the list with a score of 41%, followed by rock and country (both at 37%).

Within the metal genre, after Black Sabbath, the most intellectually gifted artists are Slayer and Megadeth. When examining music by decade, the highest level of lexical diversity was found in the songs of the 1970s (38%), while the lowest was in the 1990s (29%).

Marvin Gaye emerged as the most positive artist concerning the emotional tone of song lyrics. Pop music as a whole is also characterized by an optimistic and life-affirming tone. In contrast, metal turned out to be the most negative genre, with Slayer being the darkest artist both within the metal category and among all surveyed musicians.

A survey revealed that more than 3 out of 5 people who listen to music while working report an increase in productivity, and 70% mention an improved ability to concentrate. Among the favorite genres for work processes are Lo-Fi/Chillhop (92%) and ambient (91%). Jazz and classical music enthusiasts were more likely to receive promotions (39%), while fans of reggae and folk led in salary increases (66% and 63%, respectively).

Parents reported that children who listen to music while studying spend an average of 9 hours a week on their studies, and more than half of them (57%) receive excellent grades. Pop music is the most popular among young music lovers (47%), but parents believe that classical music, jazz, and ambient are the best for maintaining focus.

Research Methodology

The researchers analyzed 10 songs from each artist featured in the Billboard charts and popular artists across different decades. For analyzing the emotional tone of the lyrics, they used the NLTK's VADER tool, and for counting word frequency, the Open AI API. A survey on the impact of music on work productivity and learning included 1,000 Americans.