Why do many pop songs have so many different songwriters listed?

Question

I see so many songs with 3-5 or more listed in the credits. I always thought sometimes one person wrote music, and another wrote lyrics. Why can it take around 5 people to write a song?

In: 120

Answer 1

Same reason it can take many writers to write a TV show, a movie, commercials, comedy sketches. It is often several people writing the music, then several writing the melody and lyrics. Most pop songs are done by a large number of people throughout the process, much like a TV show or movie production.