She might have left last Sunday’s Grammy Awards empty-handed, but Billie Eilish can console herself with the knowledge that, of all the songs nominated for Record of the Year, it’s hers that most guitarists and pianists want to learn to play.
That’s the finding of Muse Group, the parent company of Ultimate Guitar and MuseScore, which specialise in providing guitar tab and sheet music respectively. Its research found that 3.3 million guitarists viewed the tab for Eilish’s Birds of a Feather, and 185,000 pianists/keyboard players wanted to have a crack at it.
This puts it ahead of not only Chappell Roan’s Good Luck, Babe! and Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso, but also actual Record of the Year winner Not Like Us, by Kendrick Lamar. This is the seventh-most-viewed of the nominees on Ultimate Guitar, and fourth-most-viewed on MuseScore.
If you consider the Song of the Year nominees, meanwhile, Lamar - who won the award - is again beaten, this time by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ Die with a Smile. This came in just ahead of Bird of a Feather on both Ultimate Guitar and MuseScore.
This certainly isn’t to understate the impact of Not Like Us, though. It was still the eighth-most-viewed Song of the Year nominee on Ultimate Guitar, and the fourth-most-viewed on MuseScore, which is no mean feat.
“Unlike traditional melodic compositions, hip-hop is built around rhythmic flow, lyrics,, and beats rather than chord progressions or lead melodies, making it less common in instrumental covers,” says Muse Group.
“Despite this, Not Like Us had such a major impact that the Ultimate Guitar team created an Official Tab for the song - a rare move for a hip-hop track - allowing musicians to break it down and reinterpret its energy in a new way.”
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