I've noticed that the huge sellers of 2014 have one thing in common - repetition. As society gets less and less able to cope with depth and attention spans decrease (140 characters), so music finds a hook or a chorus or a riff or a phrase and repeats it again and again. This crosses all lines, from folk to pop to rap to jazz. The old classical trick of using a phrase or passage and slowly teasing listeners with chunks of it or different renditions, changing tempo and key and (in pop) lyrics, over a long concerto or symphony, has turned into a "grab 'em fast and hit them with it again and again" style of music making.

A trend? Or a basic change? Discuss.

I was thinking along the same lines last year, "Shake It Off" being the icing on the cake but then listening to some popular hits of the 50's, "Rock Around The Clock", "Tutti-Frutti", "See You Later Alligator"... maybe we've come full circle?