How to make pop music: tempo, chord progressions, song structure and vocals

Pop music is built on short songs, often two and a half to three and a half minutes long, with a steady, danceable beat, a simple verse-chorus structure and catchy hooks. To make a pop song, pick a tempo from a reference track, write a four-chord loop, build the chorus around a hook, arrange the song in verse-chorus form, and make the lead vocal the center of the production.

What makes a song sound like pop?

• Repeated choruses and hooks, with a chorus that contrasts with the verse in melody, rhythm and harmony.
• Short to medium-length songs in a basic format, often verse-chorus.
• A consistent, noticeable rhythm, and tempos that are easy to dance to.
• Simple beats and melodies, with limited harmonic accompaniment.
• Lyrics on simple themes, often love and relationships.

Pop also borrows from rock, hip-hop, dance, Latin and country, so pop beats vary widely.

Pop tempo and key: what the hits use

There is no standard pop tempo. These are the keys and tempos the songs' Wikipedia articles give:

Pick a song close to the one you want to make and start from its tempo: tap it out with the BPM tapper, or drop the audio into the key and BPM finder, which also shows the half-time and double-time readings: "Shake It Off" at 160 BPM is easy to feel as 80. The finder names the 24 major and minor keys, so it reads a Dorian song as minor and a Mixolydian song as major. Three of the songs above are in modes: Dorian is natural minor with a raised sixth, and Mixolydian is major with a flattened seventh. The guide to major and minor keys and the guide to scales and modes cover both.

Pop chord progressions

The classic four-chord pop progression is I-V-vi-IV: in C major, C G Am F. Adele's "Someone like You" and U2's "With or Without You" use it, and in 2008 the comedy group the Axis of Awesome sang a medley of 36 pop songs over it, "Four Chords", to show how common it is (not every song in it really follows the loop). The loop can start on any of its chords, and a few related loops also turn up in pop:

• I-V-vi-IV is the "Four Chords" loop.
• vi-IV-I-V starts the same loop on the minor chord, which pulls it toward the relative minor (A minor in C), as in "Despacito".
• I-vi-IV-V is the '50s progression, also called the "Stand by Me" changes or the doo-wop progression: the same four chords in a different order.
• I-V-ii-IV swaps vi for ii, as in "All Star" and "Closing Time".
• i-iv-VI-VII is a minor loop: "Shape of You" uses it in C# minor (C#m F#m A B).

For I-V-vi-IV in all twelve keys, and the chords of every major and minor key to spell the others, see chord progressions in every key.

Pop song structure

Pop songs often use verse-chorus form, and the most common order is intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge and chorus, with an optional outro. The chorus is often where the song builds to, and it is often set up by a drop just before it, where the bass and drums cut out. Some hits add a different kind of drop after the chorus: in 2016 Billboard's Charlie Harding described the "pop-drop", an instrumental post-chorus drawn from electronic dance music and hip-hop, as the new climax of the song, right where you would expect the chorus. Songs have also gotten shorter: by June 2019, Billboard reported, songs reaching the Hot 100 top 10 that year averaged 3:07, down from 3:37 in 2018. The song structure guide covers every section and how sections are counted in bars.

How to produce a pop song, step by step

1. Set the tempo and the beat. Program a steady drum pattern at your reference tempo. Keep it simple enough that the vocal stays in front.
2. Write the chord loop. Play one of the progressions above on piano or a synth. Kiln Synthesizer has 624 factory presets, and with Chord Glide on in Poly each note of a chord slides from the nearest note of the chord before.
3. Add the bass. Play the root of each chord, then add rhythm once the loop works.
4. Write the chorus hook before the verses. The chorus usually holds the hook, so find the chorus melody and title line first.
5. Arrange it. Lay the loop out in verse-chorus form and make each chorus bigger than its verse: more instruments, backing vocals, a wider sound.
6. Record and process the vocal. Tune, EQ and compress the vocal, double it for width, and add delay and reverb. Burnish Vocal Chain does all of this in one plugin: Classic and Natural tuning to a key and scale, EQ, compression, two or four doubled voices, and delay and reverb with vocal ducking. See also how to compress vocals, types of delay and what reverb does.
7. Mix and master. Balance the vocal against the beat, then master for streaming; the LUFS targets guide covers what Spotify, YouTube and Apple Music do to loudness.

Questions

What BPM is pop music?

There is no single pop tempo. The hits in the table above range from 79 BPM ("Thinking Out Loud") to 160 BPM ("Shake It Off").

What is the most common pop chord progression?

No count settles it, but the usual answer is I-V-vi-IV, C G Am F in C major. The Axis of Awesome's 2008 "Four Chords" medley sang 36 pop songs over it to show how common it is.

How long is a pop song?

Often two and a half to three and a half minutes. Songs that first reached the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 in 2019, counted to early June, averaged 3:07.

What is the structure of a pop song?

Often verse-chorus: intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge and chorus, with an optional outro. The song structure guide covers each section.