Do Major Album Releases Cause Car Crashes? A New Study Explores the Link Between Streaming and Traffic Fatalities
A new study suggests a potential correlation between major album releases, increased smartphone usage, and a rise in traffic fatalities. Researchers analyzed streaming data and accident reports to explore the connection.
A fascinating, if unsettling, new academic study has posited a link between major album releases and an increase in car crash fatalities. The research, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, raises questions about the impact of smartphone usage and music streaming on driver safety.
The paper, titled ‘Smartphones, Online Music Streaming, and Traffic Fatalities,’ was conducted by a team from Harvard Medical School. You can read the full study here: Smartphones, Online Music Streaming, and Traffic Fatalities
The researchers analyzed data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, which tracks fatal injuries from motor vehicle crashes in the US, alongside streaming data from Spotify. Their focus was on the release days of the 10 most-streamed albums in a single day between 2017 and 2022.
The study revealed that on days when major albums dropped, smartphone usage surged by 40 percent. Alarmingly, traffic fatalities in the US also saw a 15 percent increase on those same days.
The researchers acknowledge potential confounding factors, such as the common practice of releasing albums on Fridays, a day when people are generally more social. However, they accounted for holidays and periods of intense travel in their analysis.
Even considering the "Friday effect," the study found that “fatalities remained elevated on album release Fridays compared with the Fridays before and after.”
Interestingly, fatalities were more common among sober drivers and on days with good weather. The researchers suggest this indicates that drivers may be more prone to distraction when they perceive conditions as safer. The study also noted that deaths were higher in “single-occupant vehicles,” implying that passengers can mitigate risk by managing music streaming for drivers.
The most-streamed album on a single day during the study period (2017-2022) was Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ in 2022, with 184 million streams. Swift later broke that record with ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, which garnered a staggering 300 million streams.
Besides Taylor Swift, the top 10 albums included records by Drake (three times), Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar, Harry Styles, and Kanye West.
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