Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us about the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves

Popular music history collides with data analytics, charts, and numbers in this insightful and surprising look at the greatest hits and musicians, fads, forgotten artists, and much more. Data analyst and musician Chris Dalla Riva reframes everything you thought you knew about music over the last 6 decades.

Did you know that artists began writing and producing their songs more regularly before singer-songwriters like John Lennon and Bob Dylan even splashed on the scene? That Motown changed how Americans view Black women? That the key change died around 2003? That there's strong evidence that the pop charts were fixed in the 1970s?

Coupling hard data with engaging anecdotes, Uncharted Territory is both a takedown and celebration of popular music that will start as many arguments as it ends - whether you danced the twist or the dougie at your senior prom. On the surface, this approach might seem generally inaccessible and highly technical. But it's not. This entertaining history is filled with the most popular musicians of all time, including The Beatles, Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Katy Perry, and Drake, among many others. Dalla Riva uses unexpected statistics and tons of playful visualizations to make you think about those musicians, their songs, and the movements they were part of in new and interesting ways. Music and pop culture lovers will gain new insights into their favorite artists and learn more about the inner workings of the music industry.