All you need is love: Metaphors of love in 1946-2016 Billboard year-end number-one songs

Abstract

This study examines the use of metaphors, metonymies and metaphorical similes for love in a selective corpus of the most commercially successful US hit songs from 1946 to 2016 according to Billboard year-end charts. The analysis is performed within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and from quantitative and qualitative perspectives. Our results indicate that the theme of romantic love is prevalent in US mainstream pop music over the course of seven decades but shows evolutionary features. Metaphors of love evolve from conventional to novel with a notable increase in both heartbreak and erotic metaphors. Remarkably, the study finds that the two predominant conceptualizations of love in pop songs which in a significant number of cases overlap are the following: one experiential, originating in the physical proximity of the lovers, and one cultural, reflecting possession by one lover and showing a non-egalitarian type of love.