Are Hit Songs Getting Longer In 2025?

Are hit songs getting longer in 2025? If so, to what extent is this a backlash against TikTok?

The rule of thumb has been that a single 45 record lasts 3 minutes, maybe a couple of seconds more.

This was driven by radio stations that refused to play anything more than that and a rule that artists and record companies meekly complied with.

That changed during the era of streaming and TikTok when they wanted to limit their music to fit in with short-form videos.

But in the ARIA Singles Chart commencing March 17, eleven cuts in the Top 20 were over the three-minute mark.

At No. 2 with 4 minutes and 11 seconds were Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars with Die With A Smile.

Breakthrough artist Lola Young’s Messy, at No. 4, lasted 4 minutes and 44 seconds.

Elsewhere in the Top 20 were Doechii’s Anxiety (4:04), Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us (4:34), Billie Eilish’s Birds Of A Feather (3.30), with Chappell Roan extending herself on Pink Pony Club (4.18) and Good Luck Babe (3.38).

Also waving the “size matters” flag were Kendrick Lamar & SZA’s All The Stars (3.55), Drake’s Nokia (4:01) and Alex Warren’s Ordinary (3:06).

In America, the average length of top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 rose by more than 20 seconds last year to 3:40, according to Hit Songs Deconstructed. 

At the same time, the amount of songs that gave themselves over a minute before reaching the chorus were up 23 per cent, the highest in a decade.

A further report found that five American Top 10s in 2024 exceeded five minutes. These were two each from Lamar and Taylor Swift, and Drake’s Family Matters, another instalment on his beef with Lamar, clocking in at bruising-for-a-cruising 7 minutes and 36 seconds.

US producer GENT! aka Gentuar Memishi, who secured Top 10 hits with Drake, Doja Cat and Lil Yachty, insists the growing length of singles is a direct backlash against artists and producers – and fans – having to squeeze music in to fit in with TikTok.

“The whole short-form thing has been pushed so hard,” he opined to Billboard. “The majority of the time, with short-form content, you need a gimmick, and I think music lovers are kind of tired of the gimmicks.”

Canadian-born Los Angeles-based Cirkut is another who believes it’s a TikTok backlash.

He explained his approach as a producer is to keep adding on and expanding the final mix until “I get the sound right”. 

As a result, he had no qualms that his successes as The Weeknd’s Starboy, Lady Gaga‘s Abracadabra, Hold Me Closer by Elton John & Britney Spears, and Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball went sailing well over the 3:30 mark, with Kanye West’s Hurricane shoving past 4:04.

He, too, agreed that there’s a U-turn on TikTok’s brevity, calling the increase of 20 seconds “significant.”

Of course, most producers agree that it’s probably far too early to call longer songs a permanent trend.

After all, the March 17 ARIA Chart was topped by Rosé & Bruno Mars’ APT. at 2:49. 

Others in the Top 20 included Kendrick Lamar’s Luther at 2:57, Gracie Abrams’ That’s So True at 2:46, Tate McRae’s Sports Car at 2:45 and Revolving Door at 3:00, and Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things at 3:01.

In addition, there was Chrystal’s The Days – Notion Remix at 2:49, A Bar Song (Tipsy) by Shaboozey (2:53), Denial Is A River by Doechii (2:39) and Sleepy Hallow’s version of Anxiety (2:28).

Melbourne-based producer Paul “Woody” Annison told TheMusic.com.au, “With radio no longer playing such an important role in the career path of an artist, the length of a track doesn’t come up as much as it used to.

“The main focus, especially with some of the younger artists that I work with, is getting the best arrangement and the most creative results.”

In his Red Door Sounds studio, Annison has been working with Seven Pound Halo, The Living End and The Refuge.

Australian songwriter and producer Michael Paynter explained: “My personal view is that the song will dictate how long it wants to be. Every time I feel the urge to cut or lengthen a song based on trends, I get the ick. 

“Within reason, a song should ‘feel’ right. Sometimes, a song can be 3 minutes, but the arrangement feels bloated. Sometimes it’s 4+, and you still feel like you want more.”

Paynter was speaking to TheMusic.com.au from Nashville where, with his MSquared partner Michael DeLorenzis, he spends a few months of the year, mostly recently working with country and country-pop acts such as Raelynn and Mason Ramsey.

THREE MINUTE RULE

RCA Records made the first vinyl 45 rpm (revolutions per minute) disc in 1949. 

These were a game changer, being cheap to make and cheap to sell to teenagers who also liked the fact they were small and could be easily carried around.

The vinyl’s technology allowed for three minutes of music before losing quality. 

This fitted in with radio’s Top 40 format, both in Australia and abroad, where the shorter the songs, the more ads they could squeeze in and make money from.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, the average single ran for 2:46.

But in 1968, The Beatles’ Hey Jude broke the barrier with 7 minutes and 11 seconds, and radio sulkily relented because they were the biggest band in the world at the time.

In the few years after, there was Richard Harris’ McArthur Park (7:21), Russell Morris’ The Real Thing (6.40), Barry Ryan’s Eloise (5:50), Fleetwood Mac’s Oh Well Pts. 1 &2 (8:56), Don McLean’s American Pie Pts. 1 & 2 (8:42), The Temptations’ Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone (6:54) and Stevie Wright’s Evie Pts 1, 2 and 3 (11:11).

With The Real Thing, EMI Records in Sydney was totally unaware of what Morris and his producer Ian “Molly” Meldrum had in a Melbourne studio spontaneously doubled it from a 3-minute+ track. 

When invoices for the recording came in, it thought it was for a full album. When EMI realised it was just for an A-side, it tried to seize the tapes and sack Meldrum!

The Beastie Boys even rapped about the 3 Minute Rule on the Paul’s Boutique album.

Through the years, tracks that stormed the charts despite their long tails included Meat Loaf’s I Would Do Anything For Love (12:00), the Michael Jackson-fronted USA For Africa’s We Are The World, Blondie’s Rapture (6:31) and Guns N’ Roses’ November Rain (8:57).

But by the 1980s, the compact disc format allowed singles to be an average of just over four minutes, growing to 4.19 by the 1990s.

Then, of course, streaming and short-form video ambled along, and by 2020, the average length pulled back to 3:50. 

Between 2018 and 2019, songs on the Billboard Hot 100 (and, presumably, the ARIA Singles Chart, too) were, on average, 30 seconds shorter.

The average UK number one in 1998 was four minutes and 16 seconds long, while 2019’s average was three minutes and three seconds.

In 2009, UK digital label Ostereo did a study of the length of every recent UK Number One. 

Its founder, Howard Murphy, suggested that the shift away from relying on radio as the main platform for breaking acts meant that artists, songwriters and producers could have found the freedom to push past the 3-minute mark.

But streaming brought its own constraints. With most streaming services, artists get royalties only if a consumer listens for 30 seconds. 

So, to ensure they didn’t skip to the next track, the song had to quickly hit the memorable hook. The shorter the song, the more replays and more royalties.

Murphy opined that shrinking attention spans and streaming platforms’ algorithms caused average hit songs to get shorter, while longer songs were becoming hits less often.

He told M Magazine: “Our own data suggests consumers’ attention spans are getting shorter. More people skip before a song has ended.

“There’s a theory that streaming algorithms see this as a signal of dissatisfaction, which means the algorithm is less likely to recommend that song to other users, which means it is less likely to become popular. 

“So, something as trivial as having an outro that drags on for too long could see a song underperform in the charts and on streaming platforms.”

Music fans didn’t seem to think that shorter songs were ripping them off.

Lil Yachty’s Poland (2022) charted around the world, sold half a million in the USA and got 153 million Spotify plays… despite being only 83 seconds.

Similarly, the 2:49 shortness of Harry Styles’ As It Was didn’t stop it from propelling to Number One in 20 countries, including Australia, and setting a new world record for most streams within 24 hours by a male.

Similarly, Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road peeping through at a mere 1:53 didn't stop it from launching his career, going to Number One in America and Australia (where it stayed for 13 weeks at the top spot) and getting him signed to Columbia Records.

WHAT NOW FOR ALBUMS?

But if music fans are accepting longer singles, how will this translate to albums?

There’s a drift back to the long player for various reasons in recent times. Australian sales of vinyl grew 14 per cent to $42 million in 2023, representing 70 per cent of the music sold in a physical format.

But will there be a greater acceptance of these as they also grow in length with more tracks?

Examples included Drake’s Certified Lover Boy (running 86 minutes.02 seconds), Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 (70:14), Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter (78.21), The Weekend’s The Highlights (Deluxe) (77.55) and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology (65:08).

Michael Paynter, as a songwriter and producer, thought the length of albums was irrelevant.

“Songs with great arrangements, and more than that, great songs themselves, will be what keeps people pressing play on more music,” he summed up.