Some background on the study at the link below (no Prince mention but gives you an outline of methodology etc). Basically they wanted to find out who had the most 'unique' vocabulary and used the widest variety of words. Several hip hop artists at the top of the list.

http://www.theguardian.co...vocabulary

And Prince can be seen in the full results chart here -

http://lab.musixmatch.com...ocabulary/

Some interesting results. The researchers only used the artists 100 densest songs (by number of words). Makes you wonder if Prince could have been higher if they included the artists full back catalogue. He does also get a mention in the most prolific section.

Yes, I've read it. Eminem came out # 1, that greatest songwriter of all times, Bob Dylan # 5. But then again, the number of words used doesn't really say anything about somebody's skills as a writer. It's how you use them.
[Edited 7/24/15 15:30pm]

pandemoniun6 said:

Some background on the study at the link below (no Prince mention but gives you an outline of methodology etc). Basically they wanted to find out who had the most 'unique' vocabulary and used the widest variety of words. Several hip hop artists at the top of the list. http://www.theguardian.co...vocabulary And Prince can be seen in the full results chart here - http://lab.musixmatch.com...ocabulary/ Some interesting results. The researchers only used the artists 100 densest songs (by number of words). Makes you wonder if Prince could have been higher if they included the artists full back catalogue. He does also get a mention in the most prolific section.

All this tells you is that rhyming dictionaries are held in high esteem.

Take James Brown for instance. You're never going to make this list with:
Everybody over here! Get on up! Get into it! Get involved!
But he said something...

NorthC said:

Yeah agreed and the study definitely has some flaws. Someone pointed out the issue of cowriting in the comments section and questioned whether that was taken into account. The authors said they wanted it to be a 'creative' study and would maybe look at some of those issues in further work.

Poor Prince doesn't get a mention in any of the articles I've read though because he didn't make the top ten. kinda feel bad for him.

RodeoSchro said:

True. Maybe the rhyming dictionary should get a mention.

NorthC said:

Yeah it's human nature to rank stuff but numbers obviously don't tell you who is using the words most creatively- incorporating metaphor for example.

Looking at the article again it also notes that Eminem has the highest word per song ratio of the artist studied so if Prince wants to climb this list he could either make every release a half hour opus or sing faster and pack more vocab in.

Well, I'd surely make my most heartfelt contrafibularities to the one who made this list!
That's a joke from the sitcom Blackadder where our hero encounters Mr. Johnson, who has written the first dictionary of the English language and then Blackadder amuses himself with making up "new" words.
[Edited 7/24/15 16:31pm]

Yeah, it seems similar to this, in which pretty much everything in popular music is fifth grade or below.

http://www.seatsmart.com/blog/lyric-intelligence/

This sort of analysis is an amusing game to play, but that's all it is.

What a spectacularly inane study. In summery:

Songs with the most words... have the most words.

#genius.