Does age reduce number of favourite songs?

There is a familiar feeling among many people that as life progresses the soundtrack fades just a little.

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New music seems less able to capture us the way it once did. Those once-fresh discoveries lose their shine while the albums of youth keep their power. Researchers are beginning to show that this sense is more than just nostalgia. It appears that as we grow older the number of songs we would call “favourites” tends to decrease.

A recent long-term study draws upon more than 40,000 listeners over 15 years of data. The researchers found that younger people explore broadly. They try new genres, follow emerging artistes, shift with the trends. But with each passing decade listeners shift toward stability. The songs of younger years continue to dominate their playlists even as new songs are added more rarely. This does not mean the end of musical discovery but it means the scale of it diminishes.