Is the musical narrow with age?

AS Our own personal chronologies are shortened, the same goes for our list of favorite songs. At least that is what a group of researchers in Europe suggest. Scientists propose that when we go to adulthood, the world of music opens and that we are looking for new genres, artists and styles. But while we continue to age, our narrow listening habits, our explorations tend to be more informed by our personal stories.

“When you are young, you want to discover everything,” said the Alan co-author, a computer scientist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, in a statement. “You don’t go to a music festival just to listen to a particular group, but when you become an adult, you have generally found a style of music you identify with.”

Said and his colleagues arrived at this conclusion after analyzing the data of more than 40,000 users of Last.FM, a platform that allows listeners to share their musical tastes such as organized by streaming services like Spotify. Above all, when someone registers on last.fm, he can enter his age, giving researchers a way to connect listening habits at age. For the study, the team examined 15 years of data which captured more than 540 million pieces of more than a million distinct songs.

The researchers found that the youngest listeners tend to seek various musical contributions, but as people became of the average age and beyond, they became more indebted to a narrower music group, often with nostalgia as a central refrain in their listening. While older people have continued to seek new musical experiences to some extent, they have often returned to musical styles that have defined their youth. “Most 65 -year -old children do not embark on a musical exploration trip,” said added. Scientists presented their conclusions at an international computer conference in June and recently published a version of the newspaper, which is not yet evaluated by peers, on the pre-publication site Arxiv.

The trends that have said and its reported co-authors can help refine and personalize the recommendation algorithms that suggest music to listeners on popular streaming platforms, such as Spotify or YouTube.

The study is also a welcome reminder that there is a practically unrelated universe of music, more accessible to contemporary humans than in any time in history. This constitutes unprecedented opportunities to challenge these trends and discover a new and exciting song, regardless of your age.

Image of lead: Kurart / Shutterstock

• Bob Grant

  Published on September 11, 2025

  Bob Grant is the editor -in -chief of Nautilus.