Musical Moments Minimized: 2023's Top Tracks Embrace Brevity

Songs durations are decreasing.

As 2023 is close to ending, the top songs from the UK have been displayed on the popular music app, Spotify.

The number one song currently, “Lovin On Me” by Jack Harlow is the duration of 138 seconds.

The average song in 2013-2018 was 3:50 seconds. It seems to be over a minute shorter this year

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The top UK songs in 2023 are significantly shorter than the 2018 top 100. Both number 1 songs have a minute between them in the years. The top 5 songs displayed for both years state the difference and changes artists are making to their music.

Although songs have been decreasing their timings for a while, there still seems to be the catchy chorus that everyone knows off by heart all over social media.

For example, Canadian artist, Tate Mcrae’s iconic song “Greedy” was teased almost a month before it came out and was already seen as the pop song of the year. Now it is standing at the third spot on the Top 50 Songs in the UK.

Perhaps social media is the promotional platform artists go to as it’s the race to maintain the greatest number of streams.

The reason song durations are decreasing is due to streaming. Every stream an artist receives, the more money and fame they achieve. There are seen to be less music videos being made now as well. There are more visualizers and lyric videos. Artists are focusing more on the streams now than ever.  The music industry is changing and will most definitely continue to do whatever it takes to stay relevant.

What happened to long songs, did they suddenly vanish? It is coming up to Christmas and the festive songs are making an appearance back onto the charts again as they do every year. The beloved “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey is once again in the Top 50. This song is 4 mins long which gives many minds a rest as the traditional songs are remaining long.

The decrease in songs results in less lyrics that one can relate to and that would be a big and important reason for people to listen to songs in the first place.

In the future, many music award nominations will be made. The outcome on whether shorter or longer songs exceed will be a surprise for many. Is it true that people are more likely to listen to a song that is shorter? Or are the streams defeating the musical purpose of a voice?