Have pop music lyrics made America meaner?

Ask almost anyone why America seems angrier than it did a generation ago, and you’ll hear the usual suspects: social media, partisan politics, cable news. But what if another culprit has been hiding in plain sight all along — inside the songs we play every day?

A study recently published in Scientific Reports suggests our playlists may tell us more about the country’s moral trajectory than we realize. Researchers analyzed nearly 400,000 songs spanning six decades, tracking how often lyrics invoked virtues such as care, loyalty, and compassion versus themes of cheating, revenge, vice, and harm.

Nobody racks up a billion Spotify streams with a breakup anthem called ‘I Respect Your Boundaries and Wish You Well.’

The results were difficult to ignore.

Monetize the misery

Lyrical themes centered on betrayal,