Deezer study reveals music fans listen to fewer albums

The survey was conducted in January 2020 by the 3Gem media group with the participation of 8 000 adults around the world. Interviews were carried out with 2 000 respondents each from the US, Germany, France and Brazil.

Deezer says listeners claim that having too much music to choose from as well as a busy schedule have added to the decline of full-album listening. One in 10 of the respondents also feel that artists do not make albums like they used to.

The study found that almost 40% of listeners preferred playlists as opposed to albums. “Mood mixes also take your fancy, while over 55s say they’re listening to individual songs instead (34%),” Deezer said. “Only 9% of the people we asked favour albums. Surprisingly, millennials are twice as likely as baby boomers to deep-dive into an album.”

But this is not to say that listeners are not streaming albums. “Our study found that on average, people are streaming five albums per month. There is some variation per country. Brazilians listen to the most, with French and Germans the least. While 36% listen to the tracks in chronological order, two in five  Brazilians like shuffling their albums,” Deezer said.

Additionally, 42% of listeners listen to an album during a car journey, followed by on a walk, the commute and then in bed. Eighty-two percent of the participants prefer listening in the comfort of their own home.

“The amount of great music released these days is so huge and available time has shrunk so much, it’s no surprise that more music fans turn to playlists for their music fix,” Deezer vice-president for content and productions Frederic Antelme said.

“But listeners shouldn’t ditch albums. They represent the artist’s vision, tell a story and take you on a musical journey. They give you a deeper listening experience. That’s why people pay much more attention to the sound quality when listening to albums.

“The small details matter and HiFi sound brings that out. As a music fan, I can honestly recommend all listeners enjoy a full album from their favourite artist, even if it’s just from time to time.”

The research reported that 94% of participants agreed that higher audio quality is the most important attraction for album listening. Four out of 10 people also listen to albums when they need a distraction, and 34% listen during their free time while more than 26% listen when they are happy, especially if the album is new.

“We found that when you hear an album for the first time, it makes you feel happy (48%), excited (46%) and inspired (24%),” Deezer said.

The streaming service also ranked full-album listening according to genre, with pop and rock taking the first two spots followed by R&B and rap/hip hop.