Max Martin Billboard songs

[gm33]

Found this gem on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_unaxZFWLRs

Amazing video of all of Max's Billboard-charted songs though 2014.

What struck me was how much higher on the charts Max's songs are over the last few years vs. the 90s what we on the forum think was the golden-age of Max. My question is: why? A few possibilities:
1) Pop music wasn't as popular in the 90s as it is today?
2) The artists he's working with now are more popular than those in the 90s?
3) His music is "better" today (as judged by the average listener who power the Billboard charts)

[Rex]

I think billboard has changed the way the Hot 100 chart is made. They began to take into consideration digital sales and youtube reproductions.

[ShockdioN]

LOVE IT !

[max_martin_fan]

Maybe he got better with the years, too.

[Voodoo]

Great Video and Great Songs!

[Rebecca]

I love it! a great find!

[Axel]

gm33: I think it primarily is because European pop pretty much had no chance in the US in the 90s where everything was RnB/Rap-driven. Melodic European pop didn't really break through in the US until the 2000s. Don't you guys agree?

[j.fco.morales]

I think that european late 90s pop sounds a lot like 90's R&B.
The difference is the approach: the melodies are waaaaay more catchy and the lyrics come from other place.

I think Britney started all this stuff globally, but first we had Billie Piper, and Spice Girls -in another form- and Robyn...

[sweetmelody]

Rex is absolutely correct. Billboard has changed the way do things since then. I've heard some people say that it's "easier" now, but I disagree. Since the music biz model has changed so much since then, Billboard is taking into account how people listen. That said, radio is still a huge driver of hit songs and if you look at the radio numbers for the big Max hits recently, they've all dominated radio (example: currently, Blank Space is #1 on radio, Love Me Harder #3, and Shake it Off only recently dropped out of the Top 40 radio play).