A site called WordTips wanted to show which artists flex their vocabulary the most in their lyrics, so they calculated how many UNIQUE words are in the lyrics of some popular artists.
They chose 100 modern stars and 100 of the “greatest singers of all time.”
In the end, BILLIE EILISH tops the list of modern musicians with the biggest vocabulary with 169 unique words per every 1,000 words in her lyrics. HARRY STYLES is second, followed by LIZZO.
At the bottom of the list is TREY SONGZ with 66 unique words per 1,000, followed by CARLY RAE JEPSEN with 69.
PATTI SMITH tops the list of legendary artists with 217 words per 1,000. She’s followed by JONI MITCHELL and BJÖRK. The classic artist with the lowest range of words is LUTHER VANDROSS.
But the real vocabulary champ is BOB DYLAN. Over his career so far, he’s used 12,285 unique words. He’s followed by PRINCE with 11,430 words.
— Jenn
