Correction to: Song lyrics have become simpler and more repetitive over the last five decades (Scientific Reports, (2024), 14, 1, (5531), 10.1038/s41598-024-55742-x)

published online 28 March 2024 The original version of the Article contained a computing error in the readability descriptor “number of difficult words”. As stated in the originally published Table 1, in a given text the descriptor considered a word with three or more syllables as a difficult word. However, the Authors noted that the descriptor had originally computed a difficult word as word with two or more syllables. The Authors now changed how the descriptor is being computed, so that it considers the correct cutoff value of three or more syllables. Consequently, in the Results and Discussion section, under the subheading ‘Analysis 1: Evolution of Lyrics and Descriptor Importance’, “The R² values obtained per genre are 0.0830 for pop, 0.0717 for rock, 0.3374 for rap, 0.2600 for R&B, and 0.1267 for country.” now reads “The R² values obtained per genre are 0.0835 for pop, 0.0699 for rock, 0.3340 for rap, 0.2510 for R&B, and 0.1267 for country.” In the same section, “Four descriptors are featured in the top descriptors of three genres each (ratio verses to sections, ratio choruses to sections, average token length, number of difficult words (words with three or more syllables)).” now reads: “Four descriptors are featured in the top descriptors of three genres each (ratio verses to sections, ratio choruses to sections, average token length, Dugast’s U (modelling the number of token types as a function of the token count), and blank line count.” and “While for pop, the top-10 descriptors contain lexical, structural, and rhyme descriptors, rock additionally features a readability descriptor. For rap, country, and R&B, five categories of descriptors are within the top 10.” now reads: “While for pop and rap, the top-10 descriptors contain lexical, structural, diversity, and rhyme descriptors, rock features a readability descriptor. For country, five categories of descriptors are within the top 10.” and “Interestingly, descriptors measuring the lexical diversity of lyrics are among the top descriptors for rap (Summer’s S that essentially captures the ratio of token types and token count; and Measure of Textual Lexical Diversity MTLD that captures the average length of sequential token strings that fulfill a type-token-ratio threshold), country (compression ratio, i.e., ratio of the size of zlib compressed lyrics compared to the original, uncompressed lyrics; and Summer’s S), and R&B (Summer’s S). Emotion descriptors only occur among the most important descriptors for country (positive emotion) and R&B (positive emotions and anger). Readability descriptors are among the top descriptors for rock, rap, and notably, the second most important descriptor for R&B (number of difficult words).” now reads: “Interestingly, descriptors measuring the lexical diversity of lyrics are among the top descriptors for rap and R&B (Dugast’s U; and Measure of Textual Lexical Diversity MTLD that captures the average length of sequential token strings that fulfil a type-token-ratio threshold), country (compression ratio, i.e., ratio of the size of zlib compressed lyrics compared to the original, uncompressed lyrics), and pop (Dugast’s U). Emotion descriptors only occur among the most important descriptors for country (positive emotion) and R&B (positive emotions and anger). Readability descriptors are among the top descriptors for rock (Dale-Chall readability score, which is computed based on a list of 3,000 words that fourth-graders should be familiar with).” Additionally, in the Results and Discussion section, under the subheading ‘Analysis 2: interplay of lyrics descriptors, view counts, and release year’, “For R&B, there is a positive relationship between release year and lyrics view count: β = 0.30, p =.003; cf.