Every songwriter dreams of crafting a hit pop song — the kind that gets stuck in everyone’s head and climbs the charts for months on end. Although there’s no secret formula or shortcut, understanding the key elements of successful pop songs can give you an edge and increase your chances of writing a memorable tune. This is an art form and art takes consistent effort and fine tuning.

In this guide, we’ll explore how the pros create hits so you can use that knowledge to write a song endure through the decades!

Table Of Contents:

What Makes a Pop Song?

Although the term “pop music” has shifted through the decades — it just stands for “popular” music — the best definition I can offer is: it’s a song that makes you want to play it again and again. It’s not just any song, it’s the one that validates your experiences, captures your emotions, and speaks directly to you.

Think about the tunes you’ve played thousands of times – the Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off”, Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You,” Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album, or more recently, “Alright,” by Kendrick Lamar. They probably tap into some combination of personal, conceptual, sonic, and lyrical brilliance that helped earn massive commercial success.

Three Main Characteristics of Popular Pop Songs

These songs manage to convey complex emotions and stories, wrapped in familiar chord structures and production elements that still sound unique and groundbreaking. There are generally three main characteristics that differentiate a pop song from folk, classical, and other styles:

  • Pop music focuses on releasing hit singles — as opposed to writing albums. It’s designed to be “light entertainment”.
  • It usually avoids making any strong political or social statements. For example, Taylor Swift made a distinct shift to releasing popular pop songs with her 1989 album.
  • Pop artists make money from the sales of their hits. The main intention behind making popular music is generating profit for labels and artists — and songwriters get a share. As Simon Frith says, this doesn’t mean the music isn’t good or without value to the listener. It just means musicians, songwriters, and record labels are getting paid for doing their job.

The Anatomy of a Pop Song: How to Write a Hit Pop Song

Crafting a popular song isn’t easy, but there are elements we can pay attention to as musicians to elevate our songs and get closer to crafting a smash hit. As we work our way through the elements of great pop music, pay close attention to how songs are organized. Listen intently and with a critical ear. There are specific choices made by artists and songwriters that turn a basic idea into a brilliant piece of work.

1. The Power of Themes

Every incredible song stems from a compelling and well-defined concept. This overarching theme helps glue all the different sections together, creating a cohesive journey for the listener, regardless of lyrical direction or content. Before penning a single lyric, ask yourself these crucial questions: What emotions are at the core of this song? Where does this tune want to take people emotionally? It could be rooted in heartbreak, nostalgia, euphoria, hope — a blend of complex feelings packed into a few poignant buzzwords that inform your lyrics. It could take inspiration from something personal. It might evolve from a simple conversation or random comment – anything that inspires you to express it musically.

2. Layering Lyrics

Once you’ve identified those core concepts and emotions, allow your song lyrics to grow organically. Think of crafting an internal storyline that supports the feeling behind your song’s title. How can you describe those universal, shared human experiences in unique ways? I encourage using different types of rhyming patterns throughout a song to maintain engagement, but prioritize getting your lyric across clearly over fitting rhymes. Avoid getting caught in the trap of revising during early stages — keep writing because sometimes those initial ideas work better once there are more musical elements surrounding your lyric writing.

3. Pop Song Structures: It’s About the Pattern

A lot of the magic behind hit music boils down to its structure, also known as its arrangement. Song structure refers to the organization and patterns of the song’s key components — its intro, verses, chorus, bridge, instrumental breaks, drops, and outro. A classic pop structure might resemble:

  • Verse 1
  • Pre-Chorus
  • Chorus
  • Verse 2
  • Pre-Chorus
  • Chorus
  • Bridge
  • Chorus
  • Outro

Although a “standard” pop song structure exists, contemporary songs frequently diverge. They play with arrangement. You can easily spot examples by observing the lack of an obvious verse and chorus arrangement, including in music from Adele, Feist, or Radiohead.

Take, for instance, ”Daydreaming,” from Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool album, which pushes typical genre expectations — although repetition is incorporated into the song. Notice, however, that it has a captivating sound palette even without obvious song signposts. It works on an intuitive level for listeners. They connect to Radiohead’s musical landscape as much as they connect with their lyrical stories.

The best practice as songwriters is to understand standard structure. It helps understand how popular artists play with expectations — intentionally omitting sections for example or re-arranging sections or including sections you haven’t used before, just to get your story across better or add novelty. It helps to keep it relatable while staying memorable.

4. Chord Progression: the Skeleton of a Song

Pop music utilizes chord progression for both melody and harmony. Chord progression refers to the combination of different musical notes playing at the same time (a chord), and how those chords follow a predictable structure (its progression). A catchy chord structure will feel recognizable and familiar — just think about some of those timeless classics like Adele’s “Someone Like You”, “Home” by Daughtry, or even Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way”.

Chord Progression Hit Song Examples
I – V – vi – IV “Someone Like You” (Adele), “When I Come Around” (Green Day)
I – vi – IV – V “All the Ways” (Meghan Trainor), “Unchained Melody” (Righteous Brothers)
I – IV – vi – V “Home” (Daughtry), “Ho Hey” (The Lumineers)
I – IV – V “Born This Way” (Lady Gaga), “Funky Cold Medina” (Tone Loc)
I – V – IV – V “Take On Me” (A-ha), “My Heart Will Go On” (Celine Dion)
ii – V – I “Cry Me a River” (Justin Timberlake), “Memories” (David Guetta)
vi – V – IV – V “In the End” (Linkin Park), “Somebody That I Used to Know” (Gotye)
12 Bar Blues “Johnny B Goode” (Chuck Berry), “Rock ‘n’ Roll” (Led Zeppelin)

Notice, although there’s an obvious pattern in play, each chord structure still delivers an effective, emotional punch. Each hit also finds unique and different ways to express itself using chord progressions, from subtle instrumental tweaks and instrumental breaks to variations on tempo and dynamics, such as pitch or volume.

Even experienced musicians rely heavily on familiar pop chord progressions to quickly and effectively hook new listeners — the key takeaway here is knowing which progressions do what to inspire your audience. Although knowing basic music theory helps to understand progressions in more detail, trust your ears. Allow your songwriting instincts to be your guide. A good idea, no matter how technically correct, still needs to move people on a subconscious level.

5. Captivating Melodies: Write a Conversation, Not a Monologue

Great pop songs have simple yet memorable melody writing that invites listeners to sing along instantly, even after the first listen. Keep your writing clear — every melody line should either rise or descend. Aim for concise sections and plenty of vocal and musical rest to allow listeners to fully appreciate your hook and chorus, but use calculated dramatic rises sparingly.

When designing pop melodies, remember a core principle: call-and-response. The essence of good call-and-response can be spotted when one vocal melody line directly “responds” to or “answers” the previous line, giving a sense of musical flow — or a sonic dialogue between you and the listener. Consider these different ways to incorporate the feeling of musical call and response: changing vocal or instrumental pitch, contrasting melody lengths and timing between sections, integrating a simple vocal harmony or changing octaves.

You can find several looping software options that you can download to experiment with musical or lyrical call-and-response, from Loop On to Jam Looper, recording directly onto your phone for example using a single phrase or riff to easily loop and try different musical directions. Notice that successful singers will take liberties and experiment freely to try to reach a level of technical production — or a new, fresh sonic landscape — using unconventional or intentionally unorthodox effects like auto-tune to support the feeling of their work, such as the hit song “Believe” by Cher in 1998.

6. Instrumentation: Real Trumps Replica

In an era when technology is often prioritized, some recording artists overlook something important – their sonic landscape. As a pop artist it’s about knowing the difference in tone, frequency, and dynamics between software generated sounds that imitate analog or vintage instruments — which frequently sound canned — and the experience of using a tangible keyboard, guitar, or drums that delivers an authentic vibe and supports the theme.

The same logic applies to the overuse of compression or intentionally burying vocals or bass too low in the mix as to obscure the original intent behind those pop song lyrics — just look at Jack Antonoff’s advice on songwriting — a popular songwriter and producer with multiple top hits with singers Taylor Swift, Bleachers, and Lorde.

Antonoff says “You don’t often end up with something that is better after it has gone through the music industry wheel.” Avoid sacrificing good songwriting or an authentic vibe because you are trying to overproduce, although mastering is still critical to achieving commercial sound and hitting the mark when delivering for an audience.

Building Your Pop Masterpiece: It’s a Journey.

So there you have it: everything you need to begin writing pop right here. But it’s only the first step on the road to becoming a true pop musician.

Don’t Forget to Iterate

I always advise songwriters to come back to a piece after sleeping on it. Allow those gut instincts and emotions to simmer a while — or as we like to say: take a walk away. Come back to it with fresh eyes and ears to make small edits for a couple of days and avoid those major rewrites. It’s about fine-tuning your work to polish into a gem. Although we all love spontaneity, writing good songs takes plenty of hard work. There’s a balance we have to strike to hone our songwriting — and creative collaboration goes a long way.

Making It To the Mainstream

Although mainstream success can take a significant investment of marketing, you can make some smart choices to optimize your song’s arrangement and lyrical content. Aim to deliver your chorus quickly — for radio play aim to have the chorus hit in less than one minute. Use chord changes that trigger obvious emotional responses and are supported by your lyrics to make the structure of the song less “heady”, allowing casual listeners to more easily pick up what your tune is all about. I’ve always admired Bruce Springsteen’s lyrical approach and chord changes — for example on “I Wanna Get Better”, “Streets of Philadelphia,” or “Born to Run.”

But when it comes to Springsteen, remember to give those musical choices the context that comes with a solid track record of music sales and marketing efforts — he already established a commercially acceptable style over the years. Most budding songwriters would be foolish to imitate the full sonic direction of their favorite artists, but we can certainly dissect the musical magic in their hits to start thinking differently. I frequently use my own songwriting tools, such as Garageband for loops and drum creation for both beginners and pros as well as Ableton, to write pop music in several genres, including my own unique spin on how to craft popular songs in new genres by analyzing common patterns, song arrangements, and instrumentation found in the Top 40.

You could easily get started building a new arrangement today — I use apps that you can find in Google’s App Store from “Jam Looper” to “Loop On”. Even seasoned recording musicians should experiment with music and loop generators to quickly brainstorm different musical or lyrical elements that could be integrated into songs or to jump-start your next great hit. Try starting a riff session using a program from Garageband to Ableton Live. You’ll learn a lot, maybe pick up something helpful and possibly walk away with your next, cool music hit.

Conclusion – Start Writing Hit Songs Today

There you have it — everything you need to get started and to get closer to your goal on how to write a hit pop song. While the technical work involved with becoming an expert song writer is significant, creating a successful pop hit depends on making emotionally resonant music — using catchy songwriting, dynamic melody and chord progression to capture a listeners’ imagination.

With these tips and techniques, you’re now equipped to craft your very own hit pop song. Whether you’re refining melodies or perfecting lyrics, the journey to creating chart-topping music starts here. Ready to take your songwriting skills to the next level? Start your free trial at Mix Elite Academy today and gain access to premium courses with over 320+ in-depth lessons, top-tier sample & preset packs, student discounts up to 50% off on thousands of plugins, and join an exclusive community of fellow music creators.

Unlock your full potential and create your next big hit with Mix Elite Academy!