You and I must listen to very different types of music. 
There are a lot of bands releasing albums, so I’ll give you that. But I also see a lot of singles or small groups of songs (typically maybe 3 or 4 at a time), definitely nowhere near a full “album” of music. More like what we used to call an EP. It’s more common with independent bands or small label bands, but that’s also where you find a lot of innovation and creativity.
Oh yeah, no doubt, there are a lot of EP’s on Bandcamp, but I’m counting those as albums.
I came across the following article today: Rock music just had one of its best streaming years despite being ‘dead’
First, the article shows that streaming keeps growing overall. Americans streamed 1.4 trillion songs in 2025, a 4.6% increase year over year. Only 43% of streams came from songs released between 2021–2025. That means 57% of listening went to older music.
However, the article points to two major exceptions: Taylor Swift (The Life of a Showgirl) and Morgan Wallen (I’m the Problem). Both passed 5 million album-equivalent units, which is enormous in the streaming era. So, while catalog dominates, big new releases still break through in a massive way.
Rock music is the surprise. Rock saw a 6.4% increase, making it the fastest-growing genre in the data cited. Despite the narrative that “rock is dead,” the numbers show it had one of its strongest streaming years.
Jaime Marconette, VP of Music Insights at Luminate, explains that rock grew its share of the streaming pie the most. Rock streaming leans heavily on catalog, but it also had the second-highest total of new current streams among genres. So, rock’s growth is real, driven by both nostalgia and new releases.
Anyone interested in 70s-style rock should certainly check out the Canadian band Sloan. This is from an album they put out last year:
Back in the day, you never heard of these groups unless they hit it big or were local to you (and you listened to local acts). If you lived in St. Louis, there were hundreds (or more) acts putting out a handful of songs all across the country/world that you would never hear of. You could live in New York and have no idea about some group putting out a small EP in Milwaukee. The introduction most people had to “a band” was their studio album once they’d already managed to reach the point of putting one out. Today, you can hear every fledgling band’s music well before they hit that point. Does this mean that bands aren’t putting out albums or does it mean that you’re able to witness thousands of acts go through the process of potentially creating an album if it’s viable?
Rick Beato introduced me to Sienna Spiro. He reviewed the Spotify hits this week.
I really like this song.
Rick mentioned the current Spotify hits as aren’t heavily autotuned.
That’s encouraging. Maybe younger listeners are finally ready to hear more natural voices?
I’m sure there is still some pitch correction. The industry won’t give up their production tricks completely.
I’m just glad it’s not as ridiculously over-produced. There are still vocalists with great voices. They can’t control what producers do with their recordings.
I still didn’t like most of the Spotify current hits. It’s the approach of the material. I don’t find the verses that interesting.