Country music artists mention drugs in their lyrics more than any other genre, according to a new study.
Researchers from Addiction.com analysed more than 1.4 million songs and found that 1.6 percent of the country songs studied between 1933 and the present day allude to mind-altering substances.
The top three drugs referenced in the genre are marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine.
Jazz is in second place with the most drugs references, followed by pop, electronic then rock.
Researchers, who used the Songmeanings Application Programming Interface (API) to analyse a range of music, found folk to have the second least drugs references, with hip-hop coming out last (on 1.3 percent).
However, once the study results are broken down into musicians who reference drugs the most, country artists don’t make the Top 10. That honour goes to hip-hop artists, most notably Eminem, The Game, Lil’ Wayne and Jay-Z.
Scientists also found that while lyrics about substance abuse spiked between the 1970 and the mid 2000s, it has dropped overall every year since.
Read our recent feature, British Nashville, on UK country and Americana.
Researchers from Addiction.com analysed more than 1.4 million songs and found that 1.6 percent of the country songs studied between 1933 and the present day allude to mind-altering substances.
The top three drugs referenced in the genre are marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine.
Jazz is in second place with the most drugs references, followed by pop, electronic then rock.
Researchers, who used the Songmeanings Application Programming Interface (API) to analyse a range of music, found folk to have the second least drugs references, with hip-hop coming out last (on 1.3 percent).
However, once the study results are broken down into musicians who reference drugs the most, country artists don’t make the Top 10. That honour goes to hip-hop artists, most notably Eminem, The Game, Lil’ Wayne and Jay-Z.
Scientists also found that while lyrics about substance abuse spiked between the 1970 and the mid 2000s, it has dropped overall every year since.
Read our recent feature, British Nashville, on UK country and Americana.
