Buzz
Whether you hear today's hottest hits on the radio, Spotify, or through a mixtape on your Sony Walkman, you’ve probably noticed that most of them hover around the three-minute mark.
As Vox outlines, this trend originated in the early 20th century, when shellac records first emerged. These records spun at varying speeds, but 78 RPM soon became the standard. Common record sizes were 10 inches, which could hold around three minutes of music per side, and 12 inches, which could carry roughly four to five minutes per side. To gain radio airplay and encourage purchases, artists had to work within these time constraints.
In the late 1940s, the 45 RPM record was born: a smaller, cheaper vinyl disc that could only hold about three minutes of music per side. Long-playing records (LPs) were also introduced around this time, but radio stations preferred the convenience of playing single tracks from 45s, which led to widespread sales. While the 10-inch 78s initially sparked the three-minute song trend, the 45s solidified it as a fixture for radio singles throughout the mid-20th century.
There were definitely exceptions to the norm. Bob Dylan’s 1965 track 'Like a Rolling Stone' stretches over six minutes, and radio stations were flooded with calls demanding the full version. The effort paid off: 'Like a Rolling Stone' became an unexpected radio success. More commonly, artists would trim their songs for radio play, as seen with David Bowie’s 1977 hit 'Heroes.' If listeners wanted the full six-minute experience, they had to buy the LP.
As music technology advanced from records to cassette tapes to CDs, the three-minute format remained a pop staple. According to Classic FM, this was partly because radio stations could fit more commercials in a broadcast with shorter songs. Record labels likely preferred shorter singles too, since longer songs didn’t yield bigger royalty payments. It also seems that listeners simply grew accustomed to short, punchy tracks, as Thomas Tierney, director of the Sony Music Archives Library, mentioned to Mashable: 'it’s embedded in our DNA.'
Today’s digital music environment seems more suited to longer pop songs than ever before. There are no physical limitations like record size to worry about, and with millions of people streaming music—or hearing it on platforms like TikTok—radio isn’t the only way to launch artists into mainstream fame. Still, scrolling through a Top 40 playlist, you won’t find many songs pushing the six-minute mark. In fact, numerous tracks clock in under three minutes. For example, Justin Bieber’s 'Ghost' runs for only two minutes and 33 seconds, and Lil Nas X’s 'THATS WHAT I WANT' is just two minutes and 23 seconds.
The rise of shorter songs could be explained by dwindling attention spans and the influence of social media, but that's not the only reason: the compensation model plays a role, too.
'Instead of earning money from physical sales, you now get paid based on streams, which only count if someone listens for at least 30 seconds,' songwriter Charlie Harding told The Verge. 'It makes sense to pack albums with shorter songs if you want to maximize streams,' he added.
In essence, success today is defined more by the number of streams than by sales. Contemporary pop artists are creating music that mirrors this transformation, much like how musicians of the 20th century adapted to the limitations of the traditional three-minute song.
