Pop songs are getting shorter and longer songs are becoming less popular, according to record label study

30 March 2019 - Press release

- The length of the average number one song has shrunk by almost one fifth over the past two decades and continues to get shorter

- The average UK number one in 1998 was 4 minutes and 16 seconds long

- 2019’s average is currently 3 minutes and 3 seconds - one minute and 13 seconds shorter

- 2018 saw biggest drop in average song length, prompting suspicions about streaming platform algorithms influencing song length
 
- 2018 was the first year since Spotify began to have no original number ones longer than 4 minutes

- A quarter of the songs to have been streamed more than one billion times on Spotify are under 3 minutes and 30 seconds

Record label expert believes shorter listener attention spans and streaming platform algorithms are driving the trend for shorter songs
 
Pop songs are getting shorter. The average UK number one record has shrunk by 46 seconds over the last 20 years, according to a new data study - and experts believe streaming algorithms may be behind it.
 
Researchers at UK record label Ostereo have analysed the UK charts and Spotify’s most streamed tracks since its launch and have identified a consistent shortening of popular song lengths between 1998 and 2018.
 
In 2018, the average UK number one track was 3 minutes and 30 seconds, 17 seconds shorter than the 2017 average, prompting experts and artists to speculate whether algorithms used by streaming and video platforms are driving producers to make songs shorter.
 
Producer and writer of six UK top ten singles and UK number one ‘Uptown Funk’ Mark Ronson* recently claimed that songs over 3 minutes and 15 seconds have a lower chance of success due to Spotify’s algorithm.
 
The new study suggests he’s right. All number ones songs so far in 2019 are 3 minutes and 10 seconds or less, and the average length is just 3 minutes and 3 seconds.
 

Algorithm influence
2018 was the first year since Spotify launched that no UK number one was longer than 4 minutes 30 seconds. Of the 100 most-streamed songs on Spotify, eight - including Sam Smith’s ‘Stay With Me’ and Imagine Dragons’ ‘Demons’ - were shorter than three minutes. One track, the song ‘Jocelyn Flores’ by late rapper XXXTentacion which has been streamed 767 million, times is under two minutes, clocking in at an efficient 1:59.

Only one of Spotify’s top 20 most streamed songs Mike Posner’s ‘I Took A Pill In Ibiza’ lasts more than 4 minutes 30 seconds, while six are under 3 minutes 30 seconds and three are shorter than three minutes.
 

At a glance
Average length of UK number one 1998 - 4:16
Average length of UK number one 2008 - 3:44
Average length of UK number one 2018 - 3:30
Average length of UK number one 2019 (so far) - 3:03
 
Shortest number one of the last 20 years: Mint Royale - ‘Singin’ In The Rain’ (2008) - 2:04

Longest number one last 20 years - Oasis - ‘All Around The World’ (1998) - 9:38
 
Shortest song in Spotify top 100 -  XXXTentacion - ‘Jocelyn Flores’ (2018) - 1:59
 
Longest song in Spotify top 100** - Adele - ‘Hello’ (2015) - 4:55


End of the epic?
As well songs becoming shorter on average, longer songs appear to be becoming less popular. In 1998, a third of all number one singles (12 out of 32) were longer than 4 minutes 30 seconds and four were longer than five minutes, including Madonna’s Frozen (6 minutes 12 seconds) and Oasis’ ‘All Around The World’ (9 minutes and 38 seconds)
 
No UK number one single in the past nine years has been longer than five minutes. The last UK number one to exceed five minutes in length was the Helping Haiti cover version of R.E.M’s hit ‘Everybody Hurts’’, which was 5 minutes and 30 seconds long and hit the top of the charts in February 2010.

In 2018, no original UK number one exceeded four minutes. Only one song clocked in at more than four minutes and that was the Christmas charity single ‘We Built This City’ by LadBaby, a derivative work based on Starship’s 1985 single of the same name.

Of the 100 most-streamed songs on Spotify since its 2008 launch, just five are longer than 4:30 and only one - Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, released in 1975 - is longer than 5:00. Only one of the songs with more than a billion Spotify Streams lasts more than 4:30 seconds - Mike Posner’s ‘I Took A Pill In Ibiza’, which lasts 4 minutes and 20 seconds.
 
Howard Murphy, founder of Ostereo believes that algorithms may be encouraging artists to record shorter songs:
“We’re seeing two trends emerge simultaneously here; the average hit song is getting shorter, while longer songs are becoming hits less often. Now that artists don’t rely solely on being playlisted by radio to achieve chart success, they are less constrained by the traditional demand to keep their song close to three three-minute mark. So in theory, they can make their songs as long or as short as they like.

But, our own data suggests consumers’ attention spans are getting shorter. More people skip before a song has ended and there’s a theory that streaming algorithms see this as a signal of dissatisfaction, which means the algorithm is less likely to recommend that song to other users, which means it is less likely to become popular. So something as trivial as having an outro that drags on for too long could see a song underperform in the charts and on streaming platforms.