I'm reading "Spotify Just Called You Old" (NY Magazine), which especially likes this tune "Why did everyone I know have a listening age of an old-age home on Spotify Wrapped?":
Of course, I know the answer to the question why. It's the same reason I consider myself especially lucky to have been a teenage music-listener in the 1960s: Such delightfully great popular music!
@jake_amazing Ballad for listening age #spotifywrapped ♬ original sound - Jake Schroeder
Posts
68 comments:
84!!!!
I know a couple in New Zealand who are in their 40s. Each of them recently posted their Spotify age. She is 83, and he is 27. I thought it was funny. They are both gay and it is a marriage of both convenience and love. They've been together over 20 years.
Music from the 90s is elevator music now. And I have read that Rap is on its way out. You take the good with the bad I guess.
"My music" is supposed to be of the 70s and early 80s. Thats when I was a teenager. And i hate that music. Some of it brings back memories of dates, etc. but that's it.
Even then i liked the 50s and 60s music better. And then got into Jazz and classical. Even older.
So, if my spotify is full of Jazz from the 1940-1960 will spotify tell me 90 years old?
I'm 58 but Spotify says I'm 82. Presumably because I listen to a lot of jazz from the 50s and early 60s.
If you prefer Classical, Spotify will estimate your age at 204.
Boomer music does have longevity. Compare for example Big Band music, or even Elvis-era rock. Have to hunt to find those genres on the radio or other mass media. And you even had to hunt for them 20 and 40 years ago, when those age cohorts were the age the Boomers are now.
Why did this happen? Well there's the Althouse Theory: that the music is just good, and new generations pick it up. I favor the economic explanation: the Boomers are, well, a boom, so radio advertisers wanted to keep reaching them as they got older. This put their music on the air for Gen X to hear and enjoy. So now you have at least two consecutive age cohorts that will keep listening or watching when they hear this music.
There is also the Fun Parent explanation: Boomer et seq parents are more likely to see their kids as friends to share their tastes and pastimes with. And of course they are helicopter parents, too. So Gen Y and subsequent cohorts spent a lot of their time in the car listening to Dad Rock, instead of out behind the gym listening to something newfangled while getting stoned.
And there's the Sampling Theory: first hip-hop, but now all genres, either stick in samples of old songs or play licks that are adapted from old songs (country musicians like to do this). And in the age of instant research, kids will look up where the sample or reference comes from, and start listening to the whole original song. CC, JSM
I got 22, nearly 40 years below my actual. It had a hard time defining me. It said I listed to 173 genres. I didn't know there were that many, but it makes sense for me. I am not highly eclectic in my tastes, but I hate repetition, so I constantly search for new material, avoiding such horrible genres as hip-hop and rap, but open to international flavors and many songs from the 50's on up. My propensity for k-pop, Japanese anime tunes AND 70's love ballads probably confused the algorithm.
What happens if you're all classical music? There might be something from a transition from Dowland to Bach to Ravel.
Then there's just boilerplate classical, composed by the yard, that you hear on "your classical music station."
A new permutation on that hackneyed radio segment slogan.
"The 70s at 70-something!"
I'm apparently 70, although I'm younger than that. The algorithm is suggesting I cut back on the 70s rock, apparently. It also told me I listened to over 1600 different artists and over 300 genres, which suggests their definition of genres is substantially different than what most people would think.
I was just thinking about the fact that my most common earworm is Ave Verum Corpus and I'm SO tired of it!
Hee…I got 28, off by about 50 years. Odd, since I don’t listen to hippety-hop, rap, or Krap. But hey, you’re only as old as you Spotify!
I listened to 223 genres and my age was off by 10 years on the high side.
I like to think Spotify has me classified as "WTF."
I was audio logically 100 years old 90 years ago.
It's almost as if musical tastes aren't a great proxy for age.
I almost wish I used Spotify just to see what age it would compute for me, but since I've become a convert to internet radio (WMOT is playing Ray Charles as I write) I hardly ever listen to specific artists on Amazon music (my streamer of choice). I highly recommend internet radio. WMOT and WDVX for roots/americana, WCBE for a more indie rock mix, and WOZZ for every flavor of New Orleans music.
Boomers and GenXers were lucky to grow up with great music that we can still enjoy. Kids these days don't have that--and that's not just an old codger's lament. The kids agree. Most music today sucks and plenty of GenZ kids are listening to 70's and 80's music along with the few modern choices available to them.
Thanks to woke, though, they can't stand our movies. "Oh my, that was homophobic! He said retarded! How can we root for someone who thinks it's funny when a boy wears a dress?"
Apology tells me I so not use it enough to tell. That's true.
Almost two decades older just because I like to start the day with the reprise version of "Let The Sunshine In" by The 5th Dimension.
Spotify has various bugs -- an early 80's song added to a 2000's playlist based on the release date of a later compilation album, a "liked" song that is tagged to two artists but then might be listed in the "liked" songs of one artist but not the other.
YouTube started doing a "wrap" this year but it was so off the mark, ignoring channels with political or social commentary content.
Hadn't realized until this post that I don't listen to music anymore. Just bang on the piano everyday and listen to sports talk in the car.
69 years old, listening 36 years. Mostly because i discovered Americana a couple years ago through James McMurtry and Justin Townes Earle.
I almost wish I used Spotify just to see what age it would compute for me, but since I've become a convert to internet radio (WMOT is playing Ray Charles as I write) I hardly ever listen to specific artists on Amazon music (my streamer of choice). I highly recommend internet radio. WMOT and WDVX for roots/americana, WCBE for a more indie rock mix, and WOZZ for every flavor of New Orleans music.
12/5/25, 10:56 AM
Thanks for the tips
I’m 52 and got 72. I listened to some early 70s Rolling Stones this year. Skewed the numbers
Three months older than Ann, I am not surprised that she tested out a couple years older than her chronological age. There seemed to be a sex/gender divide when we were in middle and high school. The girls liked the popular music of the times maybe 5 years before the boys did. I didn’t get the Beatles, or even Elvis, until decades later. While the girls my age were swooning over George, Paul, John, and Ringo, many, if not most, of the boys thought that swooning over effeminate limeys was idiotic.
I’m sure if I used Spotify that it would tell me that my listening age was 100+ years old.
This is one categorization where being OLDER is better than being younger. For those who are diagnosed with a much younger listening age than their actual age, it likely means you like a lot of crap music.
I'm 63 in real life years but 24 in Spotify years, probably because I spent the last few months listening to Taylor Swift's music to see what the fuss is about.
baghdadbob said...
“If you prefer Classical, Spotify will estimate your age at 204.”
I listened to some Gregorian chants recently. Spotify probably thinks I’m 1123.
I only listen to Justin Bieber so I’ll probably get 23 years old…
Yes, the 60's through the 80's had better music.
But if you need to sell new music, what better way than to convince your customers that they are old fogeys?
"She's sixty-eight but she says she's fifty four..."
Boomers are that large bump in the snake that will take a while to work its way through. In the 70s, TV was selling Time-Life big band era collections, also 50s rock 'n roll (and country or Irish or Italian music or polkas depending on where you live). By the Eighties it was 60s music. It's harder to chart trends from TV advertising now that people aren't buying records, tapes or CDs, but Boomer-oriented radio stations seem stuck in the 70s/80s. Twenty years from now that won't be happening. Or will it?
I didn't listen enough to generate a Spotify Wrapped in 2025. Also, I don't do music on a smartphone either. I prefer my laptop with my small Bose speakers for music. In fact, I have really liked music on Youtube from KEXP, Austin City Limits and several other miniconcert sites. My latest fave would be recent music from Waxahatchee.
Rap is rape without the “e” — I like it sometimes, if I’m in the mood
I'm old and my listening tastes are even older. I listen to Glen Miller, Gilbert and Sullivan, and Ruth Etting. Music that were hits "before your mother was born" is reassuring. There's something that endures after our time is up. Mozart is good to fall to sleep with. I'm sure it inspires harmonic, nourishing dreams.
Hey--it says I'm 40. I'm good with that.
I’m 29 again! How come I hurt so much when I get out of bed in the morning?
Dude 1394--I am also a big fan of the unfortunately late Justin Townes Earle. And while "Choctaw Bingo" is great, I find a little McMurtry goes a long way.
Everything from Gregorian chants (they put me to sleep) to James Brown to Arabic house. Artists from the 20s-30s include Bessie Smith, Jimmie Rodgers, Van and Schenk, Emmitt Miller, Ink Spots, Mills Brothers, Bob Wills. I can go through each of the decades since with artists I enjoy.
How old would Spotify estimate me?
If all you listen to are Gregorian Chants, your Spotify age will be 987.
Jinx
’I prefer my laptop with my small Bose speakers for music.’
If you want a room speaker then I highly recommend the Marshall Acton II Bluetooth. Superb dynamic range, and it has a 1/8” jack so I have an adapter to play electric guitar through it, as well. Still waiting on Amazon to deliver my fog machine…
Kinda wish I used Spotify to see what mine was, but no. Heck, I listen to classical all day (while working) on an actual old-stereo radio station, and then some form of Pandora/Amazon Music. Probably I'd be 70s because I mostly listen to 1970s stuff that way. Then again, I also do ''80s and lots of grunge.
I read some discussion of this a few years ago, how like 95% of music ends up in the dustbin and only a few things are still being listened to 100 years later. But it wasn't until the 1950s that recorded music was good enough (IMO) to stay around. And we're used to listening to recorded music.
There's also been some work done showing that popular music has steadily decreased in complexity -- fewer keys, fewer key changes, simpler lyrics -- over time, so more modern music might just be the equivalent of Chinese food.
I got 32 and my daughter got 59. If I listen to music on Spotify, it's at work. The kind of music I listen to there is very different from what I'll listen to at home or in the car.
I don't see how they came up with those ages from what they listed as each of our most listened to genres.
I (76) have a music group/class of teens and some of the tunes they've asked to learn are - "Hey, Jude", "Let It Be", "Day Tripper", "California Dreamin'" - and they love "All Along the Watchtower" which I suggested because it's so easy to play. It really was a golden era for music, and I still come across things on YouTube I missed at the time because there was just so much coming out.
A lot of younger people I know in their 30's prefer music from the 60 and 70s to anything newer. I take that as a confirmation of my superior childhood and acquired taste. None of us like Dylan. He should have stuck with just writing songs for other artists.
My Spotify listening age is 70, which is about right. I like a lot of music from when I was a preteen, but not Dylan.
Imus used to say that he was 65 but read at a 67 year old level.
A couple days back I was listening to the Deep Tracks channel on Sirius (their best channel). It plays obscure songs - the ones on the album that nobody remembers and other strangeness. On came Ray Charles doing "Eleanor Rigby".
Beatles… Stones…Little Feat… Replacements… Black Crowes…
Joni Mitchell… Faces… Be Bop Deluxe… Los Lobos… Nick Lowe… and a ton o’ Jeff Beck.
I am old school.
Though I mainly listen to classical, for popular music the 60s and early 70s were extraordinary. I ask myself if it's just because those were my formative years, but objectively just considering the British Invasion and Motown, along with Americans like the Allman Brothers, Hendrix, Joplin, etc., it seems to me it's been downhill ever since.
Boatbuilder and Dude 1394, back in law school, James McMutry's "Painting by Numbers" was a theme song of sorts. Still waiting for a job where I can "work from the neck down"
I'm 87 probably due to a love of 30's and 40's popular music. I don't think they were counting the Baroque playlist which is my go to for driving with my husband. That would make me 300 years old.
Sounds fun, but I can't play.
My Spotify age precisely matched my actual age (probably because I play in a heavy metal cover band, and have had to listen to and learn a bunch of 80's metal songs).
What would it peg your age at if you only listened to podcasts?
Or if you don't use Spotify?
I’m the same age as Anne but my Spotify listening age is 18, I gather because I listen to mostly new music, with the occasional song by the Jefferson Airplane or Butterfield Blues Band thrown in.
Dang one more opinion I'll ignore. I listen to Spotify but sure haven't cared about what my listening age is. What if you loved Beethoven? Would that make you two hundred and twenty?
I do my streaming on Amazon Music, so no listening age, although given the amount of music from the 1990s and later that I listened to, it would probably be at least ten years younger than my calendar age. I did get my annual recap from Amazon Musci a couple of days ago, even though there was still almost a whole month to go in the year. There weren't really any surprises. My top artists were Electric Light Orchestra (2,894 minutes - Top 0.5% of listeners), The Hoodoo Gurus (Top 0.5% of listeners), Material Issue (Top 0.1% of listeners), Jemima Price (who apparently is unknown to anyone besides me), and Cracker (Top 0.5%). Favorite genres were various combinations of rock, pop and alternative, although I do branch out. The new songs from this year that I discovered in January and February were ranked higher on the 50-song playlist that Amazon gave me than they'll be on my personal end-of-year countdown. I discovered some cool stuff in the last couple of months that barely moved the needle.
After four years of consistent use of my gmail account, today I received a notice from Google, noting that an "age screen" has been placed on my gmail account, because Google doesn't know how old I am. Well I haven't googled Sesame Street, nor am I current on preteen website searches. But Google says the "age screen" will remain in place until I scan a photo of myself for them, or provide a copy of my driver's license, or provide my credit card #. Nope, nope, nope. But is this even valid gmail protocol?
Not Illinois Resident--That sounds like a scam. I suggest that you create a new gmail account.
I have not signed on to Facebook Marketplace because they ask me to allow them to take a video of me. My wife and kids tell me that's crazy and they don't get that.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Its funny how everyone thinks young people should have "their music". As if every new generation has to have a different "New" style of music.
I think this is female driven. Daughters don't want to like what their mothers do. And in any case, women always love the music that get imprinted on them from the age of 10-20.
And its not just women, a few men do that too.
But the way people, especially boomers, are so proud of "Their music" is laughable. Its not "your music" guy, you just listened to it.
To paraphrase Heinlein, every generation thinks it invented music.
YouTube offers me a pretty eclectic array of selections, which I suppose means that I have pretty eclectic tastes. Just recently I have enjoyed The Newfangled Four doing a bit of Bach, and Tinsley Ellis's Hoodoo Woman.
Don't have Spotify but my car radios are all set to Classical California KUSC.
Thanks bagoh20 for the Deep Tracks tip. I was just thinking that I get tired of only the top hits. There is a lot of good stuff that is only the third best song on an album.
Skeptical Voter said...
Dang one more opinion I'll ignore. I listen to Spotify but sure haven't cared about what my listening age is. What if you loved Beethoven? Would that make you two hundred and twenty?
12/5/25, 4:03 PM
"Beethoven (I Love to Listen To)"
- Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart
https://youtu.be/rbuMXyzouJQ?si=jtt1heyzqWIgFe40
One reason each "Generation" has thought "their" music was different and better is because ever since 1910 the " music Industry" has added more beat, more rhythem, and made the lyrics more primitive and explicit.
So, we've gone from "Regular music" to ragtime to jazz to Big Band to R&B to rock n' roll to hip-hop and finally to rap. I think rap is the end of the line. Its just beat and one person saying stuff. Usually with profantity and rock-bottom sex.
One famous guy (William Allen white) who grew up on "The strawberry blonde" thought big band was "chewing gum for the mind". People who grew up on Glenn Miller thought Elvis was insane. People who grew up on the Beatles think Rap is Crap. Its all due to growing up with a certain amout of "beat".
But, as I've said, we've basically reduced music to a jungle drum and a guy saying rhymes. So, that its hard to see where we go from here.
Something isn't right. I'm in my mid sixties and Spotify says my listening age is 23. I listen mostly to classical,neoclassical,epic trailer music, lounge, some old latino and tiny tiny amount of tunes popularized on tiktok. The only thing I can think of is that the latter is RIDICULOUSLY weighted.
Post a Comment
Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 2 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith.