15% of under 25s have never listened to a full album was one of the surprise findings of a survey into the UK’s music listening habits conducted by Deezer. The survey timed to coincide with the run up to National Album Day found that despite Brits listening to fewer full albums than 3-5 years ago (49%), nostalgia and fandom are increasing the nation’s desire to enjoy more albums.
Over a quarter of people (28%) say adolescent memories are a reason to listen to their favourite album. National Album Day encourages people to take the time and listen to more albums in their entirety and is supported by the BPI and ERA. Deezer surveyed 2,000 UK adults and found that just under half (42%) are putting their ‘favourited’ songs on shuffle or play individual tracks, with under 25’s more likely to do this (55%).
While 15% of music fans under 25 have never listened to a full album, a quarter of this age group believe being a fan of the artist is the driving force behind them wanting to listen to more albums in the future.
Half have cited a busy life and lack of time as the primary reasons for changing their listening behaviour over the last five years. Deezer’s streaming data also shows the UK’s album listening time is now lower than the 26 minutes daily average worldwide at just 17 minutes a day. However, 82% of survey participants have listened to a whole album from start to finish. The top places to listen included at home (53%), a car journey (32%) or on a walk (14%).
For those who do play albums, the order of listening has changed. Men are more likely to listen to the album as the artist intended. Over a quarter of listeners (27%) play an album from start to finish, with males most likely to do this (30% versus 23% of females).
One of the biggest drivers of album consumption are live events. Nearly three quarters of listeners (74%) confirmed they’re more likely to listen to an album in its entirety following an artist’s live performance. Another 32% listened ahead of a gig, a trend further verified after Deezer saw an increase of over 30% in its UK streams of Backstreet Boy’s ‘DNA’ album following the band’s performance at the SSE Hydro Glasgow in June. Interestingly, Scots are the most likely to listen to whole albums in general (90%).
Nigel Harding, VP of Global Artist Marketing from Deezer commented, “We want to support the album by encouraging music listeners of all ages to take a little bit of time to really enjoy the music. Dig out an old favourite or check out our dedicated National Album Day page in the app. You might be surprised at how many great albums you’ve been missing out on!”
Deezer is supporting National Album Day, a campaign organised jointly by UK labels body BPI and ERA, the Entertainment Retailers Association. On 12th October 2019, Deezer will launch a dedicated National Album Day page within its app to help the nation take some time out of their busy days and relax with a favourite or new album of their choice.
