Americans Listening to Playlists Over Albums, Study Finds

More people in the U.S. listen to playlists than albums, according to a new study.

The results of the survey by consumer insight group LOOP (Lots of Online People), published by the Music Business Association, showed that playlists accounted for 31% of the total listening time across all demographics, whereas albums only constituted 22%.

Single track listening remained the most popular, attracting 46% of all listeners – but the figure was down 6% from 2015. The study also determined YouTube as the most regularly-used source for audio content, with 42% of respondents claiming to use the service for five minutes at least once a week. Personalized radio service Pandora was next, followed by CDs.

Nearly half of the 3,014 U.S. citizens surveyed last May said they did not pay for music streaming subscriptions because they didn’t mind listening to the adverts.