“Jam session” just took on a whole new meaning.
A recent study found a link between major album releases and deadly car crashes in the US, with traffic fatalities spiking on the day hit records landed on streaming services.
The increase came with a star-studded soundtrack, including music from Taylor Swift, Drake and Kendrick Lamar, with the effect particularly pronounced among younger drivers.
In the study, researchers at Harvard University compared accident statistics on the release days of the 10 most-streamed albums between 2017 and 2022 with those from the 10 days before and after each release.
The albums included Taylor Swift’s “Midnights,” “Red (Taylor’s Version)” and “Folklore”; Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy,” “Scorpion” and “Her Loss” with 21 Savage; Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti”; Kendrick Lamar’s “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers”; Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House”; and Kanye West’s “Donda.”
Using Spotify data, the researchers found an average of 123.3 million streams on the major album release days, compared with 86.1 million on the surrounding days.
The difference was striking on the roads, too. The researchers estimated an average of 139.1 traffic fatalities on album release days, compared with 120.9 on the surrounding days — an increase of 18.2 deaths.
Taken together, traffic fatalities were about 15% higher on the 10 release days, amounting to an estimated 182 excess lives lost.
But the effect varied by album. Drake’s three records appeared to be linked to the largest jumps in deadly car accidents, while the uptick associated with Taylor Swift’s three albums was comparatively smaller.
The release of Kanye West’s “Donda,” meanwhile, appeared to have essentially no effect on the fatality rate.
The researchers offered several possible explanations for the increase, including drivers handling their phones to stream new music, cranking up the volume and missing sounds they would normally hear, or simply becoming distracted by the excitement surrounding a highly anticipated release.
For the study’s first author, this wasn’t just a theory.
Vishal Patel, a surgical resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and clinical fellow at Harvard Medical School, was inspired to investigate the phenomenon after his wife texted him to listen to a song that had just hit streaming services.
He began scrolling through his phone. Moments later, he looked up and realized he was veering out of his lane.
“It hit me that a split second longer with my eyes off the road could have meant a serious accident,” Patel told The Harvard Gazette.
“Then I thought, if millions of people are doing the same thing at the same time — on the day a big album drops — the cumulative risk on the road must be enormous.”
Even so, the study has some limitations. The researchers couldn’t tell whether the drivers involved were actually streaming music or using their phones when they crashed.
Still, the characteristics of the people involved offered some clues.
For one, the increase was seen mostly among drivers who were alone in the car — in other words, without a passenger to serve as a DJ.
The pattern was also more pronounced among younger drivers, who may be more likely to stream music than older generations that prefer traditional radio.
The uptick was also concentrated among sober drivers and wasn’t limited to nighttime.
“These findings suggest that online music streaming through smartphones is associated with distracted driving and traffic fatalities,” the study authors wrote.
Every day, more than 120 Americans are killed in motor vehicle crashes — over 44,000 people a year — making traffic crashes a leading cause of death in the US.
The toll extends far beyond those who lose their lives, with millions of people suffering nonfatal injuries and hundreds of thousands left with long-term or permanent disabilities each year.
Not paying attention while behind the wheel plays a major role.
In the US, more than 3,200 people lose their lives each year in crashes involving a distracted driver, which can include texting, eating, drinking or, yes, scrolling through your playlist to find a favorite song, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
After all, as the agency points out, taking your eyes off the road for just five seconds while traveling 55 mph is like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed.
And Patel fears the problem could only get worse.
“Smartphones have dramatically expanded what’s possible to do while driving and, as cars become increasingly connected, the temptation to divide your attention is only going to grow,” he warned.
