The Music Artists With the Most (and Least) Complex Lyrics

Music is a universal language. However, some artists are easier to follow—especially when a listener is new to the language being sung. Whether you want music to be an educational experience or not, check out which entertainers tend to have complicated lyrics and which ones are more straightforward. 

1. Artists With the Hardest Lyrics for Language Learning 
2. Artists With the Easiest Lyrics for Language Learning 

Preply, a language learning platform, compiled a “Language Difficulty Quotient” to determine which artists are the easiest and hardest to follow for those learning the language of the singer. Data experts first examined a list of over 150 artists, based on the Billboard Top 100, to kick-start the development of the quotient. They then analyzed lyrics from 25 of the most popular songs by each person, accounting for factors such as vocabulary difficulty and rarity. The final step involved synthesizing the metrics into a concrete score ranging from 1 to 100, with a higher score indicating lyrics that are easier to follow for non-native speakers.

Artists With the Hardest Lyrics for Language Learning 

Many artists with complex lyrics tend to be rappers. Eminem, Doechii, and Playboi Carti snagged the first three spots. With tongue-twisting songs like “Rap God,” it’s no wonder that Eminem topped the chart. That song alone has 1500 words—well above the average 304 word count of the other titles included in the research. 

These are the top 10 artists with the most complicated lyrics:

Artists With the Easiest Lyrics for Language Learning 

Entertainers in the rock genre mainly fall on the opposite end of the spectrum. The artists with the easiest lyrics to follow are the British rock band Keane. Two more rock bands, 3 Doors Down and Fleetwood Mac, follow, respectively. 

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As Preply states, these findings don’t imply that these artists don’t have deep meanings in their lyrics; it just means their word usage is generally easier to understand and that the sentence structure tends to be more standard.  

Here are the 10 artists with lyrics that are easiest to follow: