Why the charts are full of old songs - and so are your playlists
Summary
Older songs make up a large share of music streaming in 2026, while a small fraction of artists account for most streams. The trend makes it harder for new and grassroots musicians to build audiences, even when a song becomes popular.Key Facts
- Luminate reported that about 60% of music played in the first half of 2026 was released at least five years earlier.
- In the UK, 18 of the 20 bestselling songs of the year had been released at least a year earlier.
- Zara Larsson’s “Lush Life,” first released in 2015, was the UK’s eighth biggest hit of the year.
- In the US, about 60% of streams in R&B and hip-hop were for older catalogue music.
- Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s “Rein Me In” spent 23 non-consecutive weeks at number one in the UK singles chart.
- The UK Competition and Markets Authority said nearly two thirds of streams were for music recorded by the top 0.4% of artists.
- Spotify said it removed 75 million tracks it described as spammy; Deezer said AI music accounted for 0.5% of streams on its platform.
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