It may well be a cliche to say that music is the language of the soul, but is music also the rhythm in our lives?

This was what a team of researchers from the Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University and the Royal Academy of Music, set out to study, and after analysing a large part of the music that people in the Western world are listening to, the answer is "yes".

That is to say that the music we listen to is a direct reflection of the way in which we structure our day, and we prefer different types of music at different times of the day.

This is according to Assistant Professor Ole Adrian Heggli from the Center for Music in the Brain, who carried out the study together with Postdoc Jan Stupacher and Centre Director, Professor Peter Vuust.

"What we’ve discovered is that the time of day affects the type of music we listen to. For example, the music we listen to in the evening is faster and more danceable than the music we listen to in the morning," he says.

Two billion streaming activities analyzed

In connection with the study, the researchers have analysed more than two billion streaming events on the music service Spotify.

In this way, they have identified five defined time blocks over a 24-hour cycle in which there are clear shared characteristics in the types of music that people listen to.

For example, the morning hours are characterised by music that is perceived as loud and more energetic compared with the other time blocks.

In the afternoon there is a clear change to music with an increased tempo, but it is not until after 20:00 that the tempo and danceability of the music reaches its maximum level.

This pattern is the same for all days of the week and differs only slightly in length and start time during weekends.

Music for different routines

According to Ole Adrian Heggli, the result provides new insight into our daily routines together with a detailed understanding of how they are reflected in our favourite music.

"Some of this is linked to the things we do. For example, we have different playlists for going for a run, for when we need to concentrate on work, and when we want to enjoy a lazy Sunday," he says.

Ole Adrian Heggli emphasises that the daily patterns are primarily applicable to the choice of playlists.

On the other hand, there are no clear patterns for the choice of individual numbers.

Insights to human behaviour

According to the researcher, the study is an example of how we can analyse our everyday lives on the basis of the digital traces we leave.

Andi it can potentially be valuable knowledge for several parties.

"Our study tells us something fundamental about human behaviour – how our music preferences change – through the traces that our online activities leave behind," says Ole Adrian Heggli and adds:

"This could help both musicians and online music services to get a better understanding of the type of music we prefer at different times of the day."

The study in brief

The study examines patterns in music preference in a publicly accessible dataset and analyzed the participants' impressions of the time preference of music listening. 

The study is financed by the Danish National Research Foundation and the Austrian Science fund. 

Conflicts of interests?: None.

The study is published in Royal Society Open Science on November 10. 2021.

Contact: 

Assistant Professor Ole Adrian Heggli from the Center for Music in the Brain

Phone: +4553571103

Mail: ole.heggli@clin.au.dk