Think the Beatles and Justin Bieber have nothing in common? Not so: They each used do/you more than any other rhyme, which isn't so odd considering that Madonna, Prince, Kanye West, Bob Dylan, and most other top-selling pop musicians between 1960 and 2013 favored it too, reports Slate. According to an in-depth analysis of rhymes in Billboard's Top 100 Songs for that period, simple rhymes with words like be, me, to, and you are the most common, and half of the top 20 rhymes include either you or me (before you cringe, Shakespeare favored it in his sonnets with me/thee).
It's fascinating to click on Slate's graph and see how certain rhymes have risen and fallen in popularity. Do/you topped out in 1998-99 with songs like Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" and Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time," while cry/goodbye was more popular in the 1960s with Elvis Presley's "Marie's the Name" and Marty Robbins' "Don't Worry About Me." Occasionally an artist or group comes along (like Queen) that rarely re-uses a rhyme, while most (like Bieber) keep drawing on the most popular ones. The Beatles may be rhyme repeaters, but Fox News argues that they'll remain popular in 50 years because of their enormous effect on pop music styles. (More pop music stories.)
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