Write a Hit Song

Every musician wants to write a hit song, but it rarely happens by chance. Writing a hit is as much a musical endeavor as it is a business project. To hack a hit, you’ll need both. These tips and resources reveal the formula behind hit songs.
How to Hack a Hit
Hit Song Hacking Videos
Ralph Murphy – How to Write a Hit
Murphy is the elder statesman of songwriting hacks. This lecture from 2013 is a concise summary of many of his “Murphy’s Laws” of hit songwriting, derived from tireless reverse engineering of thousands of hits.
Larry Dvoskin – Songwriting Workshop
These three lectures comprise a thorough crash course in hit songwriting. Plenty of relatable musical examples make this the perfect starting point for the aspiring or up-and-coming songwriter.
Artists House Music – Band as Business: Composition
Writing a hit song isn’t enough to make it a hit — that’s where musician entrepreneurship and songwriting chops come in. This half-hour video from the “Band as Business” online video course has a number of different perspectives on how to actually turn your songs into hits.
Hit Song Hacking Links
Analyzing the Hits: How Knowing the Similarities and Differences Can Help You Create One – Bobby Owsinski gives a great breakdown of how to analyze hit songs to find out what makes them hits, and how to incorporate those techniques into your own creative process.