Eminem can now add the title of 'biggest vocabulary in music' to his storied career. A study recently conducted by Varun Jewalikar and Nishant Verma of Musixmatch reveals that the Detroit based rapper has used an astonishing 8,818 words over the course of his entire library of his songs.
According to Jewalikar and Verma, the aim of the study is to compare the vocabulary size of some music's biggest artists. Here's the full reasoning behind the methodology they used to come up with the results:
To prevent the analysis from being skewed purely by the number of songs released, the vocabularies are compared across the 100 densest songs (by total number of words) that they have released. Only 6 of these musicians have released less than 100 songs, so it is a good threshold. Also, 100 songs comprises 8 to 10 albums of music which would span at least 5 to 10 years of work. This should give a fair idea of the overall vocabulary of these musicians.
Eminem's 8,000+ word count is even more impressive when you realize that the second place finisher, fellow rapper Jay-Z, managed just 6,899 words over his entire catalogue.
All in all, rappers dominated the top half of the chart. In addition to Eminem and Jay-Z; Tupac Shakur (3rd), Kanye West (4th), and The Black Eyed Peas (6th) all finished within the top 10. It's no surprise seeing as rap is a genre known for fast rhymes, smooth flow, and poetic lyrics.
Legendary folk singer Bob Dylan prevented rap artists from controlling the top 5. His 4,883 words were good for 5th place. "Given how articulate and descriptive his songs are, it is no wonder Bob Dylan ranks so highly," the study says.
Other artists in the Top 10 include Julio Iglesias, Celine Dion and Andrea Boccelli. To see the whole study check out Musixmatch.
