More music is being created than at any other time in human history. Every day, more than 100,000 songs, external are being submitted to streaming services. And despite the deluge of AI music, external - Spotify says it has removed 75 million "spammy tracks" from its catalogue - real music still makes up most of our listening.
The streaming service Deezer says AI accounts for just 0.5% of streams on its platform. The problem for all those artists creating new music is that our listening habits increasingly show a love for nostalgia. Luminate, an independent entertainment data and analytics company that tracks music, film, and television consumption first started tracking music streaming in 2008.
This year, it recorded that the streaming of current music (released less than 18 months ago) was significantly dwarfed by older music in both the UK and US. In the first half of 2026, almost two thirds of the music played (about 60%) was released five or more years ago. So, if we're stuck in a streaming rut, what's to blame?
In the UK, most of us seem to be shunning new songs. Eighteen of the year's top 20 bestselling songs, external were released 12 months ago, or earlier. The year's eighth biggest hit is Zara Larsson's Lush Life, which originally came out in June 2015.
Michael Jackson's Billie Jean (1983) is in 22nd place. Fleetwood Mac's Dreams (1977) is 30th. It's a sign that, with practically every song ever recorded available at the press of a button, people are increasingly seeking out the classics - or what the music industry categorises as "deep catalogue".
There, in the two most-played genres, R&B and Hip-Hop, external, about 60% of streams are old-school catalogue hits. Even when current songs do break out, they themselves dominate streaming for weeks and even months. Sam Fender and Olivia Dean's duet Rein Me In recently made UK chart history, spending a record-breaking 23 non-consecutive weeks at number one.
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