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What REALLY Makes A Song A Hit

Posted on November 3, 2016 (https://songtown.com/really-makes-song-hit/) by
Marty Dodson (https://songtown.com/author/marty-dodson/)

People often ask me if I KNOW that I’ve written a hit song when I finish it.  The
answer to that is a resounding “NO”.  I generally know when I finish a song whether
it is great or just good.  Beyond that, so much goes into making a song a hit that is
out of my control.  So, all I can do is try to write a great song everyday and then get
it into the right hands.  After that, it’s up to other forces to make it a hit.

In my experience, here is what makes a song a hit:

The songwriter writes a song that is catchy, compelling and commercial.  That
means the song is well crafted, it connects to a broad audience and it causes
action on the part of the listener.  It may make them cry, laugh, dance, tap their
feet, or go purchase the song.  In any case, it causes them to react.  It also has to
 be commercial in the sense that an artist
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The song gets into the right hands.  A great song that no one ever hears will not
become a hit.  It’s much harder to write a “hit-worthy” song than it is to get that
song into the right hands.  Clay and I often pitch great songs to publishers and
artists for SongTown members.  And they are always open to hearing a potential
hit.  GREAT songs open doors.  You won’t have to use a battering ram to get your
songs heard if they are truly great.  Once a great song gets into the right hands,
whether they are heard by an artist, a producer, a record label A&R person, a
publisher or a manager, the game is on.  This is when things start to happen.

The right artist is matched with the song.  When I wrote “Must Be Doin’
Somethin’ Right”, a plugger at my company instantly thought it would fit Billy
Currington.  She played it for his A&R person and the rest is history. The song
was only pitched once.  It was such a perfect fit for Billy that everyone involved
was on board.

A great recording is made of the song.  If the recording of the song doesn’t turn
out great – great vocal, right tempo, right instrumentation for the genre, and an
awesome mix – the song will likely die in the studio.  I’ve had a number of song
that went into the studio and never came out because something was botched in
the recording process.

The record label promotion team gets behind the song.  If the promotion team
is forced or coerced into promoting the song, it’s not likely to become a hit.  They
have to be fully on board to get a song to the top of the charts.  If they are crazy
about the song, it’s got a great chance of being a hit!

The timing has to be right.   If your song is flying up the charts and gets stuck
behind the song of the year that is just camping out at the top, you might be
denied a #1 when you would have had one otherwise.  Or, the artist could have a
personal or legal issue happen while your song is rising up the charts and radio
could refuse to play it.  The stars have to align to get a song to the top of the
chart.

Moral of the story?  It takes a lot of luck and a lot of good things happening to make
a song a hit.  AND, the songwriter can only control #1 and can only impact #2 to
some degree.  So, the smart songwriter invests the VAST majority of his or her time
in writing better songs.  Writing a better song each day than you wrote the day
before is the best way (the only way I know of) to really have a hit song someday.  If
you don’t have that, none of the other
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Marty Dodson

Co-Founder SongTown

Singer/Songwriter/Producer

7 thoughts on “What REALLY Makes A Song A Hit”

Chanel Simone says:

May 29, 2019 at 10:54 pm (https://songtown.com/really-makes-song-hit/#comment-41141)

This is very informative. I’m writing songs every single day & l’d love any
feedback. I’ve posted songs on my Facebook page : Chanelsimoneofficial

Reply

Benedict Thienpont says:

December 20, 2018 at 6:27 pm (https://songtown.com/really-makes-song-hit/#comment-20595)

You can approach and reassess any song that made history as if it was just
recorded as a demo and sent to a company for listening. It isn’t written in the
stars as popular belief. Listen to it with total cluelessness as to its future. Once
you understand this you’ll see song writing much more realistic.

A song needs to have a dynamic progression where it succeeds in having its

audience kept interested throughout its course. Every measure must entice
anticipation for the next through buildup and multiple climaxes in different
stages and intensity. Its envelope will largerly decide who cares to follow suit or
not and that of course depends on the character and temperament of people
you want to reach and have connected to your song from start to end. It is all
about mental seduction. They have to fall in love with your work.

Reply

James Floyd Richardson Jr (https://www.facebook.com

/jamierichardsonjr) says:
December 2, 2018 at 10:24 am (https://songtown.com/really-makes-song-hit/#comment-19830)

Great reading and advice, I try to write everyday, Alot of times I will carry my
cellphone with me hoping to catch someone
Member Loginsaying a phrase or I may read a
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phrase and message myself a title, Sometimes a Melody will popJoin
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I’ll make up words or hum the melody in to the recorder on my phone, I may go
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through 50 titles or melodies till I settle on one and try to write from a title I
found or a Melody I hummed lol, I try to stay diligent writing or cowriting, Thanks
so much for sharing your knowledge with us , I really enjoy it greatly.

Reply

Dissi says:
September 21, 2018 at 3:50 pm (https://songtown.com/really-makes-song-hit/#comment-18690)

Great post!

Reply

Selena Afrika says:

June 7, 2017 at 11:32 am (https://songtown.com/really-makes-song-hit/#comment-10783)

I would say, it’s more of how you say, and less of what you say, the tone of the
song counts as lot

Reply

Keith Mohr (http://www.nashvillerisingstar.com) says:

June 24, 2016 at 1:43 pm (https://songtown.com/really-makes-song-hit/#comment-776)

Thanks for the great post, I’ll share this with the songwriters who participate in
my Nashville Rising Star songwriting open-mic contest.
http://www.nashvillerisingstar.com (http://www.nashvillerisingstar.com)

Reply

Carol Lyman says:

June 24, 2016 at 9:29 am (https://songtown.com/really-makes-song-hit/#comment-769)

Well said. Just the facts.

The moral of the story? Keep writing.

Reply

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