These luxury cars are referenced the most in popular songs
Flashy cars have been a staple of music videos for decades now. And while fans might be watching those videos more frequently on YouTube than they are on MTV these days, it turns out that musical artists still namedrop many of the same automakers.
The British car-shopping comparison site carwow analyzed the music of artists featured on the 2018 Billboard Hotlist and found that most of them had referred to a specific car brand or model in their lyrics.
Out of 100 artists, 87 made the references, according to the analysis. That included 1,374 individual mentions.
Rap artists accounted for nearly half the car mentions — 49 percent — followed by pop artists with 26 percent, country artists with 17 percent and R&B artists with 8 percent.
Vix Leyton of carwow said this is not a new phenomenon.
“Cars have long been a status symbol so it’s easy to see why songwriters use them as shorthand for the kind of luxury life successful musicians are living, and the one listeners aspire to,” Leyton said.
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Here the top 10 most mentioned car manufacturers in the artists’ music, according to carwow:
10. Range Rover — 42 mentions
Britain's Queen Elizabeth is driven in a Range Rover past well-wishers on her 90th birthday with Prince Philip in Windsor, west of London, Britain April 21, 2016. (REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth)
9. Ford — 56 mentions
The 2019 Ford F-150. (Steve Petrovich/Ford Motor Co. via AP)
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8. Honda — 74 mentions
2019 Honda Accord CRV. (Credit: Honda)
7. Cadillac — 93 mentions
Cadillac. (REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev)
6. Rolls Royce — 94 mentions
Rolls Royce Dawn convertible. (Josef Horazny, CTK via AP Images)
5. Ferrari — 108 mentions
The Ferrari 488 Spider. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
4. Jeep — 113 mentions
Jeep Wrangler 2019. (Credit: Jeep)
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3. Lamborghini — 132 mentions
The Lamborghini Huracan Performante
2. Bentley — 170 mentions
Prince Andrew's Bentley car with a personalized number plate 'DOY,' Duke of York, seen as he visits Crossrail at Canary Wharf on March 7, 2011, in London, England. (Photo by Indigo/Getty Images)
1. Mercedes-Benz — 407 mentions
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC
“What is interesting is seeing Mercedes Benz, a comparatively affordable and realistically aspirational car in comparison to others on the list, far outranked other manufacturers such as Ferrari or Lamborghini,” Leyton said. “Prestige is not always something you have to be a millionaire to get, and some brands have a heritage worth more than their price tag.”