During my recent month in Italy sans guitar, I took on a couple spreadsheet projects to keep my ears in shape and compile some useful musical data. My first project was a spreadsheet of Songs for Interval Recognition. My next was inspired by a street musician in Florence playing U2's "With or Without You". From a distance, I could hear the chord progression long before I recognized the song. During that time, I heard about 10 other songs simultaneously in my head over the same chords.

Linking Songs

It so happens that "With or Without You" and the several other songs I was hearing all use the "Axis of Awesome" progression: I V vi IV.

I've always been into thinking of other tunes with same progression when I'm writing or listening to four-chord-style pop music. Especially when I'm writing, I like to know what else is out there so I can consciously avoid it or take inspiration from it. Few things suck more than completing an original song before discovering that you subconsciously borrowed from existing music. (See the Coldplay-Satriani debacle.)

Compiling Data

So I started wondering, how many of these signature progressions are out there? In addition to the Axis of Awesome progression above, I hear a lot of I-vi-IV-V (the doo-wop progression), i-bVII-bVI-V (the Andalusian cadence), and I-bVII-IV-I. Just as with songs for recognizing intervals, the more real examples I can relate to each other, the easier it will be to hear them (and slight variations) again and again.

I began entering songs and chords into a spreadsheet with a column for each of the four chords. (This allows for two- and three-chord progressions as well.) I started with a handful of my old favorite songs from all the Albums in My Blood. I added everything I wrote, co-wrote, or covered in a performance. Of course I had to add everything from the Axis of Awesome video. I also used Heartwood Guitar's Songs Rob Knows and Rolling Stone's Top 500 Songs of All Time for more ideas. (Many of these songs still sit idly in my spreadsheet as I've yet to investigate all their chords.)

I limited the progressions I included to 4-part repeating progressions. This excludes 8-part progressions like Pachelbel's Canon or "Hotel California". And I exclude progressions that don't at least almost repeat.

Here's the live spreadsheet.

If you have your own Google account, you can hit "File -> Make a copy..." and you'll have access to the entire thing to customize, improve, deface, etc. If not, you can hit "File -> Download as" and have your own offline version.

You'll notice several different worksheet tabs along the bottom: "Progressions" is where I enter all the raw data. I can sort it by any column. There are a few hidden columns doing extra work like allowing the chords to be sorted properly (not by alphabetical roman numeral). "Sorted" is a copy of the "Progressions" worksheet, automatically sorted by progression. "Popular" shows the most popular progressions with their tallies. "ProfileSorted" sorts all progressions by the chords included in each, independent of chord order. (The different progressions I-vi-IV-V and I-V-vi-IV have the same profile of I-IV-V-vi.) "ProfilePopular" shows the most popular chord profiles with their tallies. Poke around for a while, and leave a comment below if you have trouble making sense of it all.

The Spreadsheet

Here's a sample of the spreadsheet as it currently stands, sorted by progression.

Progression				Song	Section	Recording Artist
I			bVII	Are You Gonna Be My Girl	verse	Jet
I			bVII	Balk	verse	Speechwriters LLC
I		ii		Keep it Together	verse	Guster
I		ii		Sunday Bloody Sunday	prechorus	U2
I		ii	IV	Mayonaise	intro	Smashing Pumpkins
I		bIII	IV	Purple Haze	verse	Jimi Hendrix
I		IV	bIII	Ramble On	(chorus)	Led Zeppelin
I		IV		Beverly Hills	verse	Weezer
I		IV		Drive My Car	verse	The Beatles
I		IV		For What it's Worth	verse	Buffalo Springfield
I		IV		Highway To Hell	chorus	AC/DC
I		IV		Imagine	verse	John Lennon
I		IV		Like a Rolling Stone	intro	Bob Dylan
I		IV		Mulholland	verse	Blue Judy
I		IV		My Girl	verse	The Temptations
I		IV		Nobody's Baby	verse	Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
I		IV		Peaceful Easy Feeling	verse	The Eagles
I		IV		Ramble On	verse	Led Zeppelin
I		IV		Rebellion (Lies)	chorus1	Arcade Fire
I		IV		Revolution	verse	The Beatles
I		IV		Satisfaction	verse	Rolling Stones
I		IV		The Joker	chorus	Steve Miller Band
I		IV		Window Screen	chorus	Blue Judy
I		IV		Window Screen	chorus	Blue Judy
I		IV	V	I Got a Feelin'	verse	Billy Currington
I		IV	V	River of Dreams	verse	Billy Joel
I		IV	bVII	Crazy Little Thing Called Love	verse	Queen
I		IV	bVII	Lola	verse	The Kinks
I		IV	bVII	The Other Side	verse	Aerosmith
I		V		Over the Hills and Far Away	intro	Led Zeppelin
I		bVI	bVII	All I Wanna Do	chorus	Sheryl Crow
I		vi		For the Boys	verse	Blue Judy
I		vi		Hey There Delilah	verse	Plain White T’s
I		bVII	IV	Everyone Remember Your Name	chorus	Blue Judy
I		bVII	IV	For the Boys	bridge	Blue Judy
I		bVII	IV	Hey Hey What Can I Do	chorus	Led Zeppelin
I		bVII	IV	It's a Long Way to the Top	chorus	AC/DC
I		bVII		Total Eclipse of the Heart	verse2	Bonnie Tyler
I		bVII		Whole Lotta Love	chorus	Led Zeppelin
I	ii	iii	IV	For the Boys	chorus	Blue Judy
I	ii	iii	IV	Like a Rolling Stone	verse	Bob Dylan
I	ii	IV	V	I Got a Feelin'	chorus	Billy Currington
I	ii	IV	V	Young Americans	chorus	David Bowie
I	ii	vi	IV	Firework	all	Katy Perry
I	ii	vi	IV	Starlight	verse	Muse
I	bIII	IV	I	Are You Gonna Be My Girl	chorus	Jet
I	III	IV	iv	Creep	all	Radiohead
I	III	vi	IV	Don't Forget	bridge	Blue Judy
I	III	vi	V	Santeria	verse	Sublime
I	iii	ii	V	Such Great Heights	(verse)	The Postal Service
I	iii	IV	V	Crocodile Rock	verse	Elton John
I	iii	vi	V	And I'm Here	verse	Blue Judy
I	IV	I	V	Baby I Love You	(verse)	Aretha Franklin
I	IV	I	V	Brown Eyed Girl	verse	Van Morrison
I	IV	I	vi	Rebellion (Lies)	verse	Arcade Fire
I	IV	II	V	I Believe in a Thing Called Love	chorus	The Darkness
I	IV	ii		A Long December	chorus	Counting Crows
I	IV	ii	IV	A Long December	postchorus	Counting Crows
I	IV	ii	V	Run-Around	all	Blues Traveler
I	IV	bIII	bVI	Smells Like Teen Spirit	verse	Nirvana
I	IV	V	I	Summertime Blues	verse	Eddie Cochran
I	IV	V	IV	Beverly Hills	chorus	Weezer
I	IV	V	IV	Louie Louie	verse	The Kingsmen
I	IV	V	IV	The Joker	verse	Steve Miller Band
I	IV	V	IV	Undone (The Sweater Song)	all	Weezer
I	IV	V	IV	Walking on Sunshine	verse	Katrina and the Waves
I	IV	V	IV	Wild Thing	chorus	The Troggs
I	IV	V	IV	You Shook Me All Night Long	chorus	AC/DC
I	IV	V		Fool in the Rain	breakdown	Led Zeppelin
I	IV	V		La Bamba	verse	Ritchie Valens
I	IV	V		Like a Rolling Stone	chorus	Bob Dylan
I	IV	V	vi	Hey Ya	(all)	Outkast
I	IV	V	bVII	Up on Cripple Creek	(chorus)	The Band
I	IV	vi	V	The Lion Sleeps Tonight		The Tokens
I	IV	bVII		Real Thing	chorus	Blue Judy
I	V	I	IV	Satisfaction	prechorus	Rolling Stones
I	V	ii		Go On	chorus	Blue Judy
I	V	ii	IV	All Star	verse	Smash Mouth
I	V	IV	I	Mulholland	chorus	Blue Judy
I	V	IV	iii	Such Great Heights	(chorus)	The Postal Service
I	V	IV		Already Gone	all	The Eagles
I	V	IV	V	Wonderful Tonight	verse	Eric Clapton
I	V		I	Yellow Submarine	chorus	The Beatles
I	V	vi	IV	Africa	chorus	Toto
I	V	vi	IV	Can You Feel the Love Tonight	chorus	Elton John
I	V	vi	IV	Don't Forget	verse	Blue Judy
I	V	vi	IV	Don't Stop Believin	verse	Journey
I	V	vi	IV	Forever Young	chorus	Alphaville
I	V	vi	IV	Happy Ending	chorus	Mika
I	V	vi	IV	I'm Yours	all	Jason Mraz
I	V	vi	IV	Land Down Under	chorus	Men at Work
I	V	vi	IV	Let it Be	verse	The Beatles
I	V	vi	IV	Life by the Drop	verse	Stevie Ray Vaughan
I	V	vi	IV	No Woman No Cry	all	Bob Marley
I	V	vi	IV	Poker Face	chorus	Lady Gaga
I	V	vi	IV	Save Tonight	chorus	Eagle Eye Cherry
I	V	vi	IV	Self Esteem	verse	The Offspring
I	V	vi	IV	Sex and Candy	chorus	Marcy Playground
I	V	vi	IV	She Will Be Loved	chorus	Maroon 5
I	V	vi	IV	Take on Me	all	A Ha
I	V	vi	IV	The Story	all	Brandi Carlile
I	V	vi	IV	Under the Bridge	verse	Red Hot Chili Peppers
I	V	vi	IV	Waltzing Matilda	all	Banjo Patterson
I	V	vi	IV	When I Come Around	all	Green Day
I	V	vi	IV	Wherever You Will Go	chorus	The Calling
I	V	vi	IV	With or Without You	all	U2
I	V	vi	IV	You're Beautiful	verse	James Blunt
I	V	vi	IV	Young and Empty	verse	Blue Judy
I	V	bVII	IV	Are You Gonna Go My Way	bridge	Lenny Kravitz
I	V	bVII	IV	Celebration Day	chorus	Led Zeppelin
I	V	bVII	IV	Hey Hey What Can I Do	verse	Led Zeppelin
I	V	bVII	IV	Middle of Nowhere	chorus	Hot Hot Heat
I	v	bVII	I	Times Like These	(verse)	Foo Fighters
I	v	bVII	IV	Middle of Nowhere	verse	Hot Hot Heat
I	bVI	bIII	V	Crazy	(verse)	Gnarls Barkley
I	VI	vi	I	Heart of Glass	verse	Blondie
I	vi	iii	IV	Where Is My Mind	chorus	Pixies
I	vi	iii	V	Amsterdam		Guster
I	vi	IV	I	(If You're Wondering if I Want You to) I Want You To	(verse)	Weezer
I	vi	IV	I	Wake Up	verse	Arcade Fire
I	vi	IV		Mayonaise	verse	Smashing Pumpkins
I	vi	IV	V	Crocodile Rock	chorus	Elton John
I	vi	IV	V	D'yer Mak'er	verse	Led Zeppelin
I	vi	IV	V	Earth Angel	verse	The Penguins
I	vi	IV	V	I Will Always Love You	chorus	Whitney Houston
I	vi	IV	V	Last Kiss	all	(Pearl Jam)
I	vi	IV	V	My Girl	verse	The Temptations
I	vi	IV	V	Total Eclipse of the Heart	chorus	Bonnie Tyler
I	vi	IV	V	Unchained Melody	(verse)	Al Green
I	vi	IV	V	Wonderful World		Sam Cooke
I	vi	V	IV	Amsterdam	postchorus	Guster
I	bVII	bIII	IV	Dances with a Thunder	all	Blue Judy
I	bVII	IV	I	Born This Way	chorus	Lady Gaga
I	bVII	IV	I	Fortunate Son	verse	Creedence Clearwater Revival
I	bVII	IV	I	Hey Jude	nah nah	The Beatles
I	bVII	IV	I	Lit Up	(verse)	Buckcherry
I	bVII	IV	I	Sweet Child O Mine	verse	Guns N Roses
I	bVII	IV	I	Thank You	verse	Led Zeppelin
I	bVII	IV	bIII	Lit Up	bridge	Buckcherry
I	bVII	IV		Sweet Home Alabama	all	Lynyrd Skynyrd
I	bVII	IV		Times Like These	(intro)	Foo Fighters
I	bVII	IV	V	Champagne Supernova	chorus	Oasis
I	bVII	IV	bVI	For What it's Worth	chorus	Buffalo Springfield
I	bVII	IV	bVI	Mulholland	bridge	Blue Judy
i			bVII	Sultans of Swing	intro	Dire Straits
i		bIII		I Turn My Camera On	verse	Spoon
i		bIII		Little Lion Man	verse	Mumford and Sons
i		bIII		Soul Meets Body	verse	Death Cab for Cutie
i		bIII	iv	Hurt	verse	Nine Inch Nails
i		bIII	bVII	Crazy Train	intro	Ozzy Osbourne
i		bIII	bVII	Honest Mistake	prechorus	Bravery
i		IV		Reptilia	verse	The Strokes
i		v		Grenade	verse	Bruno Mars
i		bVI	IV	The Other Side	chorus	Aerosmith
i		bVI	iv	Satellite	intro	Guster
i		bVI		Drive My Car	chorus	The Beatles
i		bVI	bVII	Hey There Delilah	prechorus	Plain White T’s
i		bVII		Come As You Are	verse	Nirvana
i		bVII		Total Eclipse of the Heart	verse1	Bonnie Tyler
i	bIII	IV	bVI	Babe I'm Gonna Leave You	all	Led Zeppelin
i	bIII	iv	i	Keep It Together	verse2	Guster
i	bIII	iv	V	Deadwood	verse	Dirty Pretty Things
i	bIII	v	bVII	Silent Charades	chorus	Blue Judy
i	bIII	bVI	iv	Keep It Together	verse	Guster
i	bIII	bVI	iv	Satellite	chorus2	Guster
i	bIII	bVI	V	Crazy	chorus	Gnarls Barkley
i	bIII	bVI	V	Dance Dance	chorus	Fall Out Boy
i	bIII	bVI	V	Seven Nation Army	verse	The White Stripes
i	bIII	bVI		Satellite	chorus1	Guster
i	bIII	bVI		Sunday Bloody Sunday	verse	U2
i	bIII	bVII	i	I Bet That You Look Good on the Dance Floor	chorus	Arctic Monkeys
i	bIII	bVII	iv	Breathe In	chorus	Blue Judy
i	bIII	bVII	iv	Honest Mistake	verse	Bravery
i	bIII	bVII		Soul Meets Body	chorus1	Death Cab for Cutie
i	iv	bVI	V	Back to Black	verse	Amy Winehouse
i	V	bVI	bVII	Go On	chorus2	Blue Judy
i	V	bVII	IV	Steady As She Goes	verse	The Raconteurs
i	V	bVII	V	Crooked Teeth	verse	Death Cab for Cutie
i	v	bVI	bIII	And I'm Here	chorus	Blue Judy
i	v	bVI	bIII	Seventeen Years	chorus	Ratatat
i	bVI	bIII	bVI	Blankest Year	verse	Nada Surf
i	bVI	bIII	bVII	Building a Mystery	chorus	Sarah McLachlan
i	bVI	bIII	bVII	Bullet with Butterfly Wings	chorus	Smashing Pumpkins
i	bVI	bIII	bVII	Grenade	chorus	Bruno Mars
i	bVI	bIII	bVII	Honest Mistake	chorus	Bravery
i	bVI	bIII	bVII	Rebellion (Lies)	chorus2	Arcade Fire
i	bVI	iv	V	Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt	verse	We Are Scientists
i	bVI	V		Sultans of Swing	(verse)	Dire Straits
i	bVI	bVII	i	Eye of the Tiger	verse	Survivor
i	bVI	bVII		Soul Meets Body	chorus2	Death Cab for Cutie
i	bVI	bVII		Sultans of Swing		Dire Straits
i	bVII	bIII	bVI	Dance Dance	bridge	Fall Out Boy
i	bVII	iv		Ice Cream	chorus	Sarah McLachlan
i	bVII	iv		Satellite	verse1	Guster
i	bVII	bVI	V	Hit the Road Jack	all	Ray Charles
i	bVII	bVI		Jenny Was a Friend of Mine	verse	The Killers
i	bVII	bVI		Mulholland	solo	Blue Judy
i	bVII	bVI		Satellite	verse2	Guster
i	bVII	bVI		Stairway to Heaven	solo	Led Zeppelin
i	bVII	bVI	bVII	All Along The Watchtower		Jimi Hendrix
i	bVII	bVI	bVII	Dance Dance	verse	Fall Out Boy
i	bVII	bVI	bVII	Don't Fear the Reaper		Blue Oyster Cult
ii	V	I	vi	If I Could Fly	chorus	Joe Satriani
bIII	IV	I		Can't Find My Way Home	postchorus	Blind Faith
bIII	bVI	i		Stairway to Heaven	verse	Led Zeppelin
bIII	bVII	I		Sunday Bloody Sunday	postchorus	U2
bIII	bVII	i		Another Brick in the Wall	chorus	Pink Floyd
bIII	bVII	i		Simple Man	all	Lynyrd Skynyrd
IV	I	ii	III	Hotel California	chorus	The Eagles
IV	iii	ii	I	Like a Rolling Stone	prechorus	Bob Dylan
IV		I		Baby I Love You	(bridge)	Aretha Franklin
IV		I		Earth Angel	bridge	The Penguins
IV		I		Heart Of Glass	chorus	Blondie
IV	V	I		Cheeseburger in Paradise	chorus	Jimmy Buffett
IV	V	I		Margaritaville	chorus	Jimmy Buffett
IV	V	I	II	The Wanton Song	solo	Led Zeppelin
IV	V	I	III	Imagine	chorus	John Lennon
IV	V	I	vi	Brown Eyed Girl	chorus	Van Morrison
IV	V	I	vi	Hey There Delilah	bridge	Plain White T’s
IV	V	I	vi	Viva La Vida	all	Coldplay
IV	V	I	vi	Wonderful Tonight	chorus	Eric Clapton
IV	vi	I		Exploding Boy	verse	The Cure
iv		bIII	bVII	Blankest Year	chorus	Nada Surf
V	I	ii	V	Yellow Submarine	verse	The Beatles
V	IV	I		Voodoo Chile	chorus	Jimi Hendrix
v	iv	bIII	i	I Bet That You Look Good on the Dance Floor	verse	Arctic Monkeys
bVI	i	bVI	bIII	Seventeen Years	verse	Ratatat
bVI	bIII	bVII	IV	Lit Up	chorus	Buckcherry
bVI	IV	I		The Hand That Feeds	(chorus)	Nine Inch Nails
bVI	bVII	I		Crazy Little Thing Called Love	outro	Queen
bVI	bVII	I		Steady As She Goes	postchorus	The Raconteurs
bVI	bVII	i	V	Jenny Was a Friend of Mine	verse	The Killers
vi	I	V	IV	Keep It Together	(bridge)	Guster
vi	II	V	I	Crooked Teeth	verse	Death Cab for Cutie
vi	II	V	I	Rocky Racoon	all	The Beatles
vi	ii	IV	I	Fa Fa	verse	Guster
vi	ii	V	I	Island in the Sun	chorus	Weezer
vi	III	IV	I	Say it Ain't So	verse	Weezer
vi	IV	I		All the Things You Know	verse	Blue Judy
vi	IV	I		Balk	chorus	Speechwriters LLC
vi	IV	I		Disarm	verse	Smashing Pumpkins
vi	IV	I		Little Lion Man	chorus	Mumford and Sons
bVII	ii	I		Times Like These	(chorus)	Foo Fighters
bVII	IV	I		After All	prechorus	Blue Judy
bVII	IV	I		It's a Long Way to the Top	solo	AC/DC

Suggestions?

Check the live spreadsheet, and you'll see I have hundreds more songs ready for my prying ears. Some will have progressions that fit the mold, some won't. What are some of your favorites that you don't see here? Leave a comment below, and thanks for checking it out!