Harry Styles’ ‘Aperture’ Deconstructed: These Sonic Characteristics Helped the Song Hit No. 1 on Hot 100

What qualities of Harry Styles’ new single, “Aperture,” helped it launch at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Feb. 7)?

Here’s a look at the sonic highlights of the song — Styles’ third Hot 100 leader, following “As It Was” in 2022 and “Watermelon Sugar” in 2020, and the lead single from his album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, due March 6 — that contributed to its first-week chart triumph.

Wait for It …

The chorus of “Aperture,” centered around the mantra-like lyrical repetition of “we belong together,” doesn’t arrive until two minutes into the song — landing a whopping 1:21 later than the average of 0:39 among Hot 100 top 10s over the past decade. Prior to “Aperture” in that span, only 1% of top 10 hits introduced their first chorus after the two-minute mark, all of them from the hip-hop/rap genre.

That late arrival of the chorus is driven in part by an unusually long 45-second intro, which runs roughly 30 seconds longer than the top 10 average and ranks as the second-longest intro among non-hip-hop/rap Hot 100 top 10 hits since 2016, trailing only Ariana Grande’s “Yes, And?” at 0:48.

Stretched-Out Structure

At 5:12, “Aperture” ranks among the longest Hot 100 top 10 hits of the past decade. Between 2016 and 2025, only 3% of top 10s exceeded the five-minute mark, the vast majority being hip-hop/rap, with Drake accounting for the largest share. Outside of hip-hop/rap were three from Taylor Swift — “All Too Well” (the overall longest at just more than 10 minutes for its most prominent version), “But Daddy I Love Him” and “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” — and another Styles top 10, “Sign of the Times.”

A New Retro Style

A key component of Styles’ success has been his embrace of retro influences across much of his catalog of eight Hot 100 top 10s. Most of those draw heavily from 1970s and ‘80s aesthetics, establishing that nostalgia is a core part of his signature sound. “Aperture” continues that retro lineage but takes a step more toward recent times with its 2000s electronic and dance/club influences.

This kind of retro evolution mirrors the career arc of Bruno Mars, another artist whose chart success is rooted in nostalgia. Mars’ Hot 100 top 10 output has shifted across decades — from ’70s disco funk (“Treasure”) to ’80s electro-funk (“Uptown Funk!”) and ’90s new jack swing (“Finesse”) — before circling back to deeper ’70s influences with Silk Sonic and his newest chart-topper, “I Just Might.”

Clever Bookending

The listener is gradually drawn into “Aperture” through its hypnotic 45-second intro, which slowly builds as it introduces one instrumental layer at a time. Following mid-song developments, it winds down by effectively reversing that process, stripping the arrangement back in the outro and bringing the song full circle by ending much the way it began.

David and Yael Penn cofounded Hit Songs Deconstructed. In 2023, Hit Songs Deconstructed and fellow song analysis platform MyPart publicly launched ChartCipher, an AI-powered platform analyzing a deeper scope of hit songs, as defined by Billboard’s charts.