Axis progression

English

Etymology

From the name of a musical comedy group, The Axis of Awesome, whose 2009 song Four Chords comments on the ubiquity of this progression.

Noun

Axis progression (uncountable)

1. A chord progression, I–V–vi–IV, used in Western popular music, common since the 1970s.

   The Axis progression in the key of C:
   

   

   • 2017, Mark Richards, “Tonal Ambiguity in Popular Music's Axis Progressions”, in Music Theory Online: