Weekly survey: How do you feel about the prospects for music in 2022?
If we look back at the music of 2021, there’s something missing: blockbusters albums. Yes, there were plenty of successful albums–Adele, Drake, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, etc.–but outside of the Adele record (it only came out in November), it’s hard to come up with many albums that will go down in history as must-have classics.
There’s statistical proof that a musical ennui descended on the world of new music in 2021. Only 18% of music consumption in the US can be attributed to new music (i.e. material that’s less than 18 months old), meaning that 82% went to older stuff. Is it reasonable to infer that people are listening to older music because they’re not engaged in new songs and albums? Maybe. Sure feels like it.
Another stat: Compared to 2020, listening to current music has dropped by 37%. Yikes.
Let’s look ahead to the rest of this year. Will this trend continue or do you believe new music will rebound and claw back some territory? Here’s the Twitter poll:
