Buzz
A few years back, Taylor Swift’s hit Blank Space was everywhere, with its quirky line often misheard as “all the lonely Starbucks lovers.”
True Swift fans know the actual lyrics are “got a long list of ex-lovers.” The “Starbucks lovers” mix-up is a classic example of a mondegreen—a misheard phrase from a song or text.
Such misunderstandings are common, especially with songs in foreign languages. Take the French nursery rhyme Frère Jacques, where the line “Sonnez les matines” (“Ring the matins bells”) is often misheard as something about semolina. If you’re unsure what a foreign-language song is saying, online translations can help. A recent study by WordFinderX has mapped the most translated songs and artists for each country with available data.
The study used Lyrics Translate, an online database of song translations, analyzing 627,000 translations of over 250,000 songs by 11,000+ artists. Songs were ranked by how often they’ve been translated, and artists by the number of their tracks translated into other languages.
The Most-Translated Artists Worldwide
The study revealed that Taylor Swift isn’t just famous for her catchy English-language mondegreens but also dominates as the most translated pop artist globally, with 4954 translations across languages. Her fans’ dedication to decoding her lyric-packed songs has led to 365 of her tracks being translated into 57 languages.
Click to enlarge. Courtesy of WordFinderX // CC by SA 4.0These numbers place Taylor Swift well ahead of her closest competitors, South Korean group BTS, who have 239 songs translated over 4000 times into 59 languages. This makes them the most-translated non-English act globally, surpassing artists like Lana Del Rey (3709 translations) and The Beatles (3156).
The Most Translated Artist From Each Country
By ranking artists based on their birthplace, the study identified the top pop star from each country. Taylor Swift leads in the U.S., while global icons like Celine Dion, Sia, Rihanna, and Lorde dominate in Canada, Australia, Barbados, and New Zealand, respectively. France’s most translated artist is Edith Piaf, while ABBA and Björk unsurprisingly top Sweden and Iceland. Ricky Martin leads in Puerto Rico, and Enya surpasses U2 as Ireland’s most translated artist.
Other nations with globally successful artists include Spain (Julio Iglesias), Colombia (Shakira), and Trinidad and Tobago (Nicki Minaj). Eddy Grant, the classic pop-reggae star behind the 1983 hit Electric Avenue, is Guyana’s top artist.
The Most Translated Songs
Analyzing the data differently revealed the world’s most translated songs, which often weren’t by the most popular artists from their respective countries. For example, while ABBA is Sweden’s most translated artist, Avicii’s Wake Me Up holds the title of Sweden’s most translated song, with 66 languages. Similarly, Hozier’s Take Me To Church (84 languages) surpassed Enya’s work in Ireland, and Simon and Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence (97 languages) outranked Taylor Swift in the U.S.
Some countries’ results were more predictable. The Beatles are the UK’s most translated act, and their song Yesterday is the UK’s most translated track (108 languages). Rihanna’s Diamonds leads in Barbados (72 languages), Camila Cabello’s Havana tops Cuba’s list (31 languages), Bob Marley’s Could You Be Loved is Jamaica’s No. 1 (24 languages), and Sia’s Chandelier is Australia’s most translated song with 84 versions.
The world’s most translated song, however, is Michel Teló’s 2011 Brazilian Portuguese hit Ai Se Eu Te Pego, which has been translated into an impressive 131 languages, from Afrikaans to Welsh.
For more fascinating statistics and details on the study’s methodology, visit the WordFinderX blog here.
