Image source, Getty Images for iHeartRadio Image caption, One of 2026's biggest hits is Zara Larsson's Lush Life, originally released in 2015
More music is being created than at any other time in human history. Every day, more than 100,000 songs , external are being submitted to streaming services.
And despite the deluge of AI music , external - Spotify says it has removed 75 million "spammy tracks" from its catalogue - real music still makes up most of our listening. The streaming service Deezer says AI accounts for just 0.5% of streams on its platform.
The problem for all those artists creating new music is that our listening habits increasingly show a love for nostalgia.
Luminate, an independent entertainment data and analytics company that tracks music, film, and television consumption first started tracking music streaming in 2008.
This year, it recorded that the streaming of current music (released less than 18 months ago) was significantly dwarfed by older music in both the UK and US.
In the first half of 2026, almost two thirds of the music played (about 60%) was released five or more years ago.
So, if we're stuck in a streaming rut, what's to blame?
In the UK, most of us seem to be shunning new songs.
Eighteen of the year's top 20 bestselling songs , external were released 12 months ago, or earlier.
The year's eighth biggest hit is Zara Larsson's Lush Life, which originally came out in June 2015. Michael Jackson's Billie Jean (1983) is in 22nd place. Fleetwood Mac's Dreams (1977) is 30th.
It's a sign that, with practically every song ever recorded available at the press of a button, people are increasingly seeking out the classics - or what the music industry categorises as "deep catalogue".
There, in the two most-played genres, R&B and Hip-Hop , external , about 60% of streams are old-school catalogue hits.
Even when current songs do break out, they themselves dominate streaming for weeks and even months.
Sam Fender and Olivia Dean's duet Rein Me In recently made UK chart history , spending a record-breaking 23 non-consecutive weeks at number one.
Image source, Reuters Image caption, Olivia Dean and Sam Fender have broken chart history with Rein Me In, after 19 non-consecutive weeks at the top of the UK singles chart
Likewise, in America, Ella Langley's Choosin' Texas has become the longest-running number one in US chart history.
The reality, of course, is that hits need to achieve " millions of streams a day , external " to reach the top of the charts.
But according to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority, nearly two thirds of streams are of music recorded by " only the top 0.4% of artists , external ".
As we increasingly cling on to our favourites, aspiring artists may be suffering.
Even after a song has gone viral, some musicians say it can be hard to promote subsequent releases and sustain a career. A platform like TikTok isn't set up to boost artists, it's there to create viral moments around a single song.
"It's easier [today] for folks to be passive fans," noted J Erving, the founder of Raye's distribution company, Human Re Sources, in a recent interview with Billboard , external .
"For you to consider yourself broken [as a mainstream artist], people need to care about you beyond the song. Where is the connectivity? Are people really dialled in in a deeper way?"
It's a problem the music industry is…