In 2025, a new trend began rewarding old music: According to Chartmetric, the share of fresh music listened to on the streaming service Spotify was falling well behind old-school tunes. By March 2026, less than 30 percent of the songs played on Spotify were released during this calendar year. By contrast, in October 2023, nearly 80 percent were.
The balcony-dwelling Statlers and Waldorfs of Generation X and above were quick to offer an explanation: music today is terrible, so nobody wants to listen to it. In some instances, that is true. The major stars of today tend to be rehashes of big names from the past: Olivia Rodrigo channels the 1990s angsty queen Alanis Morissette, Sabrina Carpenter sings you-go-girl anthems in the style of Shania Twain, and on it goes.
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