SongSuey

Breaking down who actually writes their music

Try: Kendrick Lamar Who wrote Thriller? Bohemian Rhapsody Who never writes?

365Artists scored

3,200Albums read

40,513Tracks credited

356,979Credits logged

27,589People named

Artist Spotlight

A bigger share of the writing by the last album

A different artist every day, taken from the catalogs deep enough to show a trajectory.

Full breakdown

Jennifer Lopez

Pop R&B 9 albums 112 tracks

Jennifer Lopez runs from 36% on On the 6 in 1999 to 100% on This Is Me... Now in 2024. The catalog runs 112 tracks: 0 with no outside writer, 52 co-written. Of the 21 singles with writers on file, Jennifer Lopez is credited on 10.

1999 · On the 6 · 36%2024 · This Is Me... Now · 100%

46%

Authorship

Collaborator

Holds writing credit on 52 of 112 tracks

Leaderboards

Who writes, who performs

Every artist ranked by how much of their own catalog they wrote. The last three boards cut the same catalog by genre, era, and scoring tier, and each row opens the index with that filter already on.

All leaderboards

The 100% Club

132 artists

1Nas255 tracks across 18 albums100% credited 2Eminem201 tracks across 11 albums100% credited 3Weezer186 tracks across 19 albums100% credited 4Green Day185 tracks across 14 albums100% credited 5Future183 tracks across 11 albums100% credited

See every Complete Artist

The Other End

lowest scores

1Dean Martin116 tracks across 10 albums0% credited 2Tina Turner94 tracks across 9 albums0% credited 3Aaliyah43 tracks across 3 albums0% credited 4Elvis Presley362 tracks across 32 albums1% credited 5Nat King Cole141 tracks across 12 albums1% credited

Full list

Hired Pens

outside writers

1Pharrell Williams181 tracks across 51 artists51

2Ryan Tedder86 tracks across 45 artists45

3Diane Warren74 tracks across 36 artists36

4Max Martin169 tracks across 34 artists34

5Rodney Jerkins82 tracks across 32 artists32

Every songwriter

By Genre

8 genres

1Metal33 artists in the index98% 2Hip-Hop61 artists in the index96% 3Rock158 artists in the index89% 4Electronic86 artists in the index82% 5Pop215 artists in the index79% 6R&B / Soul109 artists in the index79% 7Country39 artists in the index65% 8Jazz18 artists in the index48%

Every genre

By Decade

3,200 albums

12010s74 artists formed in the 2010s765 22000s91 artists formed in the 2000s681 32020s15 artists formed in the 2020s541 41990s88 artists formed in the 1990s442 51970s23 artists formed in the 1970s301 61980s42 artists formed in the 1980s279 71960s24 artists formed in the 1960s157 81950s3 artists formed in the 1950s34

Browse by era

By Tier

365 artists

96-100Complete Artist57% of the index208 81-95Artist21% of the index75 61-80Songwriter6% of the index22 41-60Collaborator7% of the index24 21-40Co-Performer3% of the index10 0-20Singer / Performer7% of the index26

How the score works

The Authorship Spectrum

Every artist lands somewhere on this line

On the left, singers who never wrote a line. On the right, writers who never let anyone else write one. Both ends are real jobs, and the score only says which one. All 365 artists sit somewhere on it; each pin here is one artist from a ten point stretch.

Browse the directory

Elvis Presley 1% Aretha Franklin 14% The Jacksons 24% Britney Spears 32% Eric Clapton 40% Johnny Cash 53% Stevie Wonder 64% Bob Dylan 76% Snoop Dogg 89% Lady Gaga 93% Eminem 100%

Colors match the score tiers used on every artist page. The number is the share of a catalog where the artist is credited as a writer.

Head to Head

Settle it credit by credit

Pick any two artists and put their credits side by side. Every number below is a track count, not an opinion.

Drake

Complete Artist

97%

12Albums

212Tracks

VS

Feud

Kendrick Lamar

Complete Artist

99%

6Albums

88Tracks

97%

Authorship

99%

7%

Wrote alone

0%

90%

Co-written

99%

Compare any two artists

55 arguments the credits can settle

Hometowns

Where the music comes from

364 artists, each pinned to the town they started in and sorted into 58 hometown pages with their own counts and averages. The globe puts all of them on one screen.

Every hometown