Spotify is the most recent entity to acknowledge that most listeners prefer to listen to songs over albums. But unlike other organizations to point this out, the music streaming giant took action to highlight a group of albums that deserve recognition, and it intends to continue doing so. Spotify debuted Spotify CLASSICS, what it’s billed as its “first-ever program to celebrate catalog music.” Spotify started with hip-hop and R&B, grouping 30 albums from 2015 on that have had a singular impact on the world of music.
Popular Albums Made Spotify’s List
While there are 30 albums honored with this title, there aren’t 30 different artists – Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar were included on the list twice, Beyoncé with Lemonade and RENAISSANCE and Lamar with To Pimp A Butterfly and DAMN, while Tyler, The Creator snagged three entries with Flower Boy, IGOR, and Call Me If You Get Lost. Other heavy hitters like Jay-Z made the list with 4:44, as did Rihanna with ANTI, Future with DS2, Travis Scott with ASTROWORLD, and Migos with Culture. SZA was included for Ctrl, but SOS was excluded from the list.
Streaming’s Impact on the Music Industry
While streaming today is most commonly associated with movies and television, the streaming revolution truly started with music. Programs like LimeWire and Napster fundamentally changed the way society listens to music, naturally prioritizing singles over full albums due to the ease of sharing a single versus an album. Fast forward two decades from the height of those programs’ impact and singles are far more popular than albums, the data sparking debates as to whether new and independent artists should even release albums anymore.
Spotify has played its part in the prioritization of singles, too, making playlists of singles infinitely more accessible through its search feature. This CLASSICS collection initiative isn’t the first step the streamer has made toward rectifying its relationship with full albums, though. Not too long ago, Spotify changed its default shuffle setting on albums to ensure that listeners would hear albums as the artists intended rather than at random without having to make an intentional effort to do so. While the software updates and album highlights are nice, are they enough to reverse the damage that’s been done to album listening?
We might never know whether Spotify’s efforts have had a direct impact on album listening, but at the very least, the leading music streaming platform by subscribers is trying to make a difference.
Spotify CLASSICS: Hip-Hop & RNB Albums of the Streaming Era is streaming now on Spotify.