Quantitative analysis of the evolution of the Beatles’ releases for EMI, 1962–1970

Abstract

During their time together, the Beatles’ music changed in myriad ways. A quantitative analysis of the changes provides new insights into the extent, timing and nature of the changes that occurred. Focusing on the 217 tracks that the band released officially through EMI between 1962 and 1970, this analysis examines the number and duration of tracks released, songs written by each member of the band, song structures, song topics, participation in the recordings, instruments played by the Beatles and others, and various aspects of the recording process. In most of these categories, evolution over time is apparent. Notable changes included a step change in song length after 1966, the sudden drop in songwriting collaborations between John Lennon and Paul McCartney in 1968, the sudden change in song topics after 1965, the slow switch over time in who was the more productive songwriter from Lennon to McCartney, the diversification in musical instruments used, and the substantial increase in time devoted to recording each song in the studio after 1966. The quantitative results provide a richer perspective than existing qualitative analyses. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0 .