Claim: Popular songs nowadays are shorter because of TikTok.

Question

Yes, popular songs are generally getting shorter, and part of that is due to platforms like TikTok and streaming services driving the change. According to Billboard, TikTok and streaming “fragmentary moments” favour shorter tracks. The Washington Times reported that many artists are adapting to algorithms by trimming intros or making songs around the 2½-3 minute mark. However, it isn’t only TikTok: analyses say the trend also reflects changes in songwriting, listener habits, and how streaming counts are measured. So the claim is broadly correct: songs are shorter and TikTok plays a role, but it isn’t the sole cause.

Answer 1

I find this claim to be based more so on the opinion of an individual. While many pop songs are getting used frequently on various social media apps like TikTok, I don't believe the length of the song is due to these apps affecting attention spans I think that it's the music artist's choice on how they want the album/songs to appear. In the article https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/apr/14/songs-getting-shorter-thanks-part-spotify-tiktok-algorithms/ It states how music artists songs are becoming shorter and shorter, of 3 minutes or less, and how artists are using the beginning of a song as a "hook" to maintain a listener's attention. While this style of song, is extremely popular and useful for various TikTok audios, I find that pop songs tend to be more of a mixed bag of genres and their populartiy, that it tends to be based solely on the artist(s) that created the song in any specific way.

Answer 2

This claim is true. Chartmetric’s 2024 Year in Music Report found that “the average Spotify charting song was around 3 minutes long—nearly 15 seconds shorter than in 2023 and 30 seconds shorter than in 2019.” This change in song length isn’t an imagined phenomenon, but a fact, and the widespread consumption of short-form media is the likely reason why. 

One song often mentioned when discussing the shortening of song lengths is Lil Yachty’s “Poland”, an 83-second-long song with an appealing hook that allowed the song to go viral quickly. Professor Andrew Mall, studying music and media at Northeastern University, believes that “Artists, especially new young artists, are simply just creating hooks and trying to circulate those on TikTok.” If this is true, it means that not only are songs being made shorter in length, but that they’re elaborately crafted around the demands of streaming services.

TikTok is a good platform to bring up, specifically, as its format demands that only a small part of the song is catchy, allowing artists to cut corners outside of these few critical seconds. Derek von Krogh, musician and producer who has worked with NENA, Samy Deluxe, and Silbermond, states that “Today’s music must be TikTok-friendly. It needs a key moment in the first 15 seconds that is so spectacular that it can act as a trailer for the whole song”. When social media users offer free advertising through the creation of content using just snippets of songs, the inevitable result is that songs following this model will generate the most revenue. 

Sources:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/apr/14/songs-getting-shorter-thanks-part-spotify-tiktok-algorithms/

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pop-songs-shorter-than-ever/

https://hmc.chartmetric.com/shorter-songs-trend-streaming-history/

https://blog.recordjet.com/en/the-revolution-of-pop-songs-how-streaming-and-social-media-are-revolutionizing-music-production/

Answer 3

Short answer, yes. Artists are tailoring their music to fit the short, fast-pace attention span of TikTok users (roughly 2 billion people). An article by the Washington Times highlights research done by Northeastern University, which says new young artists are trying to develop catchy, short 15-second hooks that catch traction on TikTok. Payments to artists on Spotify are highlighted by listeners reaching past the 30 second mark, so artists are trying to quickly grab artists attention, and once they have it, they don't have much of an incentive to keep you engaged the rest of the song. Artists simply don't "need" to write long music anymore, and it's actually beneficial to write short, catchy songs that listeners can stream over and over and over again. According to the article, hit songs in 2030 could be in the 2 minute mark, which is 2 minutes shorter than in 1990 (average of 4 minutes). Overall, statistics show that hit songs are getting shorter and shorter, and there's an abundance of evidence as to why this is potentially beneficial for artists. 

Source: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/apr/14/songs-getting-shorter-thanks-part-spotify-tiktok-algorithms/

Answer 4

The claim that popular songs are getting shorter because of Tiktok isn't entirely true. Artists nowadays are using Tiktok as a large form of promotion and in hand they tailor their work to the algorithm. The BBC researched this correlation seeing that the top 40 songs in the UK had a drastic drop in length in the beginning of 2018. The time line matches up to being right around the popularity of the parent app to Tiktok. The idea of shorter music is not a new thing so to speak. In later years like the 1900’s records were only able to hold about 3 minutes of content. Since then society has mostly stuck to a similar length though this varies much more nowadays.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-052ab668-403d-416f-b5a6-c5692313b9b4