What makes a song a hit- The rhythm/bass/Melody/production/Harmony or the lyrics?

[Soldier]

Who is really behind the success of a hit song, the songwriter(lyrics) or the producer? Who is more responsible for its success?

The one who came up with the song concept, song structure and wrote the words
Or the one who created and produced the sound?

saying a lot of things than mean something in few words is a skill. Writing catchy lyrics and composing catchy melodic tunes are skills. Creating new innovative sounds is a skill.

They equally deserve the credit in my opinion.

 

[Soldier]

@ThrobbingHood
@Piff Perkins
@L&HH
@IIVI

 

[ThrobbingHood]

I was having this conversation with a fellow musician. People conflate the “hook” with the chorus. The two can be mutually exclusive.

For example. When you think of George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’, what’s the first thing you think of? The chorus? Nope. The bridge? Nope. It’s that saxophone, which is only played twice in the song but is the most memorable aspect of it.



Take out that saxophone, the song loses its character. It might as well be a different song completely. George Michael had to go through 9 different saxophone players to get the riff exactly how he wanted:

After hiring and firing several other sax players, for which the BBC characterized as struggling to play all the notes with "the right amount of fluidity and still breathe,"[30] Michael eventually heard what he was looking for from Steve Gregory.[31]

During an interview with DJ Danny Sun, Gregory said he was the 9th sax player to attempt the riff. Gregory said Michael's secretary had phoned him up midday and asked him to give the solo a try

You could argue the sax player who eventually got it right should deserve as much credit despite not writing the melody himself. But without George Michael’s composition, it wouldn’t exist in the first place.

Sometimes one word, inflection, riff, baseline is the difference between a great song and a hit song. So many little elements go into making a hit, but so much of it comes down to serendipity.