# Why are top 40 stations playing quarter century old music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 3, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147 "2008-07-03T03:22:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/1 "2008-07-03T03:22:25Z")
The reason I’m putting this question here instead of Cafe Society is because it’s more of a question of sociology than music. But the Mods will move it if appropriate. 25+ years ago when top 40 radio stations were playing top hits like Eye of the Tiger, The safety Dance, etc., I can tell you from memory that they weren’t playing songs from 1958, 69, or, many of them, even the early 70’s. Yet, today, most of the same stations that are playing todays top 40 hits, will on a daily basis play one of those songs. A majority of those stations listeners weren’t even an itch in their Daddy’s pants when those songs came out. Yet there must be a market to play them occassionally, or they wouldn’t. I’m talking mainstream top 40 radio here, not oldies or classics stations. What changed? How did the songs of the early/mid 80’s get such staying power that our kids and even our grandkids like them? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/2 "2008-07-03T03:30:59Z")
I have often wondered the same thing. I suppose it is a baby-boomer thing. Stairway to Heaven is not Top 40! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/3 "2008-07-03T03:54:35Z")
Easy answer: because they have to fill air time and today’s music sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/4 "2008-07-03T04:07:50Z")
I don’t know about the past, but I imagine that todays top 40 music doesn’t really draw the listening audience that older stuff does. So, you get stations that’ll play the top 40 countdown and have a bunch of the current top 40 on rotation, and fill the rest of the time with the tried and true popular hits of decades ago, instead of the here today, gone tomorrow hits from last year. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/5 "2008-07-03T04:09:45Z")
This must be a station-by-station thing, because I’ve never heard the local top 40 station play anything but current songs. ---
**Author:** ![Mumio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@Mumio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mumio)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/6 "2008-07-03T04:10:01Z")
Agree with silenus completely. My teens love 70’s and 80’s music. Time-Life’s Classic Rock cds are a huge hit with them and their friends. They copied the songs to their mp3 players. ---
**Author:** ![initech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/439d5e/32.png) [@initech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/initech)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/7 "2008-07-03T04:20:10Z")
iPods. Teenagers don’t listen to the radio in nearly the numbers they did when \*we \*were teenagers, because now they have better options. So, the stations get better ratings playing the music of their parents’ generation. This is a little like our parents wondering why none of our music could be found on 8-track. It means that, among other things, we’re old. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/8 "2008-07-03T04:27:43Z")
I think they’ve been discontinued but at one point there were tee-shirts etc. that said “The 70s are back, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Dayum, they could write a hook, back in the day, couldn’t they? A few faves I’ve recently re-discovered: “Show and Tell”/Al Wilson [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4pOF-AopkY) “Sweet City Woman”/The Stampeders [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeuR3l8a_wE) “Feel Like Makin’ Love”/Roberta Flack [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acl38RlPMns) “Instant Karma”/John Lennon [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqP3wT5lpa4/hqdefault.jpg "Instant Karma - John lennon") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqP3wT5lpa4) “Another Day”/Paul McCartney [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Aw_Jao8hMPA/hqdefault.jpg ""Another Day" By Paul McCartney") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw_Jao8hMPA) “Cover of the Rolling Stone”/Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-Ux3-a9RE1Q/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGGUgXihPMA8=&rs=AOn4CLCB6lAm_Bd7BwSFmHLeoR6Iy4us5w "Cover Of The Rolling Stone-Dr.Hook") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ux3-a9RE1Q) What’s not to dig? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/9 "2008-07-03T05:09:39Z")
My guess: Music is much more diverse and tastes are much more specialized these days. You can have a rich, varied musical collection of nothing but rockabilly or synth-punk or what-have-you. In the sixties you listened to either white music, black music, jazz or classical, with plenty of overlap. But still, you could be sure that most of your friends and family listened to pretty much the same music as you. I guess the 80s were in between now and then. Today, I don’t know anyone with musical tastes even similar to mine. Add in the fact that 25 years is long enough for music to percolate into our collective consciousness and you have the curious circumstance that the only music we can all agree on – the only music the radio wants to play – is old. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/10 "2008-07-03T11:27:53Z")
I agree that the current music sucks- well not to my fancy. And the stations need revenue from advertising- those with the money these days are often Babyboomers. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/11 "2008-07-03T11:42:08Z")
The median age for TV viewership hit 50 last season (2007-2008). Even when you account for viewing TV with a DVR like TiVo, the median age only drops a year. [_Variety_ has an in-depth article.](http://www.variety.com/VR1117988273.html) > [@](#): > > For the just-completed 2007-08 TV season, CBS was oldest in live viewing with a median age of 54. ABC clocked in at 50, followed by NBC (49), Fox (44), CW (34) and Univision (34). Remember that advertisers consider 18-49 the golden range as far as disposable income goes. It’ll be interesting to see how this graying viewership reacts to the DTV switchover. This isn’t immediately germane, but the extension to who’s likely listening to radio these days should be fairly obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/12 "2008-07-03T14:35:38Z")
I haven’t noticed 25 year old music but I have noticed stuff from ten to fifteen years ago getting a lot of airplay. I’ve heard quite a bit of old Pearl Jam or Nirvana on the local Rock station. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/13 "2008-07-03T17:04:19Z")
I was at a student bar in Ohio and all the kids were putting on the jukebox were early 1980’s late 1970’s rock and some r’n’b/rap dance craze numbers. Foreigner, Journey, Chicago etc. all seem to be popular with college age kids, in that bar at least. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/14 "2008-07-03T17:12:16Z")
Must be that bar, or America. The 80’s are classed as one of the shittest decades for music by people my age (early 20’s), as far as I can tell. All that synth crap—Jesus the 80’s were shite. And current music is shit? Um, no. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/15 "2008-07-03T17:36:42Z")
[QUOTE=Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party] Must be that bar, or America. The 80’s are classed as one of the shittest decades for music by people my age (early 20’s), as far as I can tell. All that synth crap—Jesus the 80’s were shite. And current music is shit? Um, no. [/QUOTE] Current rock music isn’t. Current pop has never been worse in the rock era. Synth pop rocked! Too bad they play too little of it when they play 80s music! ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/16 "2008-07-03T17:44:12Z")
[QUOTE=Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party] All that synth crap—Jesus the 80’s were shite. [/QUOTE] As long as you exclude _Tainted Love_ by Soft Cell and the “Axel F” instrumental (since revived by a hilariously irritating “Crazy Frog” cover), I will let this comment stand mostly on its own merit. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/17 "2008-07-03T18:15:23Z")
[QUOTE=Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party] Must be that bar, or America. The 80’s are classed as one of the shittest decades for music by people my age (early 20’s), as far as I can tell. All that synth crap—Jesus the 80’s were shite. [/QUOTE] Yeah, as far as pop music goes, I have to say the 80s were pretty terrible, much moreso than the 90s or 00s. However, in terms of what was going on off the Top 40 radar, holy crap were the 80s good. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/18 "2008-07-03T18:19:00Z")
If I could be allowed some blue-sky speculation for a minute, we’re seeing a period in music consumption that is **not** , for the first time in decades, limited by technology. All titles, all genres, are available on the most popular format. In previous years, the music you listened to depended (if only slightly) on what playback device you owned: 8-track, Walkman cassette, DAT, or turntable (and what _speed_ of turntable?). Radio stations exist, in some small way, both to sell advertising and to promote music (which is also sold). Naturally, they will play music that people will listen to, and which sells. I would venture a guess that young listeners today have access to a much, much wider variety of music than I did as a child. Grandpa’s music was all on records; Mom’s were on 45s; mine was all on cassettes, and when I got a CD player, the process of copying CDs onto cassette was cumbersome and time-consuming, and the results poor. Now you get any song you want, by any artist, in digital format. Not that the radio dial is less fragmented than before — with digital radio, it’s fragmented even more. But public radio relies on advertising, and it’ll do what sells. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/19 "2008-07-03T18:20:56Z")
This thread makes me realize I have no idea at all what today’s Top 40 sound like. Maybe I’ll tune in some different stations and try to educate myself, in case I’m missing something wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147/20 "2008-07-03T19:46:00Z")
I think part of it is that the current top40 layout is adressed at two groups: today’s teenagers… and their parents, who are the teenagers of 25 years ago. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-top-40-stations-playing-quarter-century-old-music/455147.md?page=2)