“Hello,” pop stars of the world: we’re “Sorry” if this sounds “Rude”, but it’s become clear “Here” that long song titles are simply no longer in “Style.”

A new study by Priceonomics proves that we’ve entered a brave new era of brevity in pop music, where one-word wonders keep the charts “Happy” and long-winding tune names “Don’t” often “Work.”

“The music industry has gotten very precise and they do every little thing at the margins to make the chances of the investment succeeding as high as possible,” says Dan Kopf, who authored the study.

Yes, pop music is losing its characters, and a look through history shows it was a long road to such short titles.

Kopf found that single-word titles comprised only 8.8 per cent of Billboard Hot 100 songs in the 1960s, a decade that featured such No. 1s as “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.” That number climbed to 9.7 per cent in the 1970s, 11.1 per cent in the 1980s and 13.2 per cent in the 1990s.

With the turn of the millennium, the brevity movement really found momentum. In the 2000s, 19.9 per cent of charting singles featured a one-word title and, so far this decade, it’s an unprecedented 23.2 per cent.

And single-word singles aren’t just charting more, they’re charting higher. Since 2010, 28 per cent of songs reaching the top 20 had a one-word title.

The age of pithy pop extends beyond just the one-word hits; the average length of a Hot 100 song title has shrunk from 3.76 words in the 1960s to 2.72 this decade.

Kopf figures it’s the economy fuelling all this newfound economy.

“I believe it’s the result of the Internet and the digital age, and the emphasis on the single away from the album,” he mused.

The all-time King of Curt is Drake, whose average of 2.47 words per song title renders the perennially ahead-of-the-curve rapper the most succinct star in the 50-year-plus period Kopf examined.

Taylor Swift is just behind him with 2.48 words per title, followed by Justin Bieber (2.53), Rascal Flatts (2.68) and Madonna (2.82).

“Drake is sort of the ultimate modern pop artist, and he seems so aware of what works and what people are looking for in contemporary music,” Kopf said.

Well, he has competition in concision from Vancouver garage-punk duo the Pack A.D., who produce songs that are fat-free, in both sound and title.

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Their last album, 2014’s Do Not Engage, averaged 1.6 words per song title, and 2011’s Unpersons a mere 1.5 words per title.

“We always take the song titles from the chorus . . . and we’ve been very guilty of using one or two words on repeat in our choruses,” laughed drummer Maya Miller, whose band just released the single “So What.”

“It’s what gets stuck in your head, I guess,” she said.

“It seems to me you want it to be short. Usually, it’s easier for people to only read one or two words instead of five or six. Maybe you assume no one has time for five or six words.”

At the other end of the short-and-sweet spectrum lies Toronto fuzz-folk outfit the Wooden Sky.

Their most recent record, 2014’s Let’s Be Ready, let its hair down with 4.0 words per song. Singer Gavin Gardiner had never really pondered the issue at any, you know, length.

“Song titles, book titles, or short stories: (long titles) seem to add more gravity or weight,” he suggested. “Maybe having a long title makes it feel less disposable. Maybe it makes sense that things are becoming shorter and feeling more disposable.”

Still, with a new album in the works, that’s not his last word on the subject.

“Maybe I’m just going to have to change my attitude on things,” he said with a laugh.

The long and short of it: Billboard Brevity By the Numbers

Shortest-titled single on Hot 100, week of March 26, 2016: “No,” Meghan Trainor (No. 11)

Longest-titled single on Hot 100, week of March 26, 2016: “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello (No. 71)

Number of single-word chart-toppers in the 2010s: 17

Shortest-titled chart-topper of the 2010s: “E.T.,” Katy Perry

Longest-titled chart-topper of the 2010s: “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” Taylor Swift

All-time longest-titled chart topper (words): “You Don’t Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show),” Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. (1976)

All-time longest-titled chart topper (letters): “Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian),” Paul Revere & the Raiders (1971)

Number of one-word Beatles songs to make the Hot 100: 5

Number of one-word songs featuring Drake to make the Hot 100: 20

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