As of late, people have discovered that quite often, rappers use more words than other musicians. For those that listen to hip-hop on the regular, this isn’t exactly news—especially considering rappers use a variety of phrasing structures and generally use less repetition in their own verses as opposed to pop songs. Rapping is an art that places a lot of worth on the words used, whereas sometimes all you need to make a chart-topping pop song is a few words and a stellar voice alongside a melody.
With that in mind, the results of a recent study by MusixMatch shouldn’t come as a shocker. The study took the 99 best-selling artists of all time and compared their discography vocabularies. Eminem (the 14th best-seller) tops the list with 8,818 words used. He’s followed by Jay Z, then Tupac, then Kanye West. Hip-hop sweeps the podium before anyone else comes into the picture—Bob Dylan is at #5, with 4,883 words used.
Interestingly, the top three best-selling artists (The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and Michael Jackson) all ranked pretty low in the vocabulary chart (#76, #38, and #42, respectively). Guess you don’t need a dictionary to hang plaques on the wall.
