Album Releases Associated with a 15% Rise in U.S. Fatal Crashes

A new epidemiological study examined traffic-fatality records surrounding the U.S. release dates of ten high-profile music albums between 2017 and 2022. By comparing the day of each release with the ten days before and after, the researchers found a 15.1 % relative increase in fatal crashes on the release days. The authors estimate this corresponds to approximately 182 additional deaths attributable to those dates.

The Guardian

The analysis focused on albums that generated the largest single-day Spotify streaming volumes, including *Midnights* by Taylor Swift (released on October 21 2022), *Scorpion* by Drake (released on June 29 2018), and *Harry’s House* by Harry Styles (released on May 20 2022). Streaming of the top 200 U.S. songs was 43 % higher on release days than on surrounding days, indicating a national surge in music-related phone activity. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, treated these release dates as natural experiments because they create spikes in smartphone use unrelated to weather, road conditions, or typical driver behavior.

The Guardian

• Streaming increase: 43 % higher top-200 song volume on release days.

The Guardian

• Fatality rise: 15.1 % more traffic deaths on release days versus comparable days.

The Guardian

• Estimated excess deaths: ~182 fatalities across the ten release dates.

The Guardian

• Higher risk groups: younger drivers, male drivers, solo drivers, and drivers of vehicles equipped with built-in infotainment systems experienced the greatest increase.

The Guardian

The study’s first author, Dr Vishal Patel of Harvard Medical School, emphasizes that accessing music on a smartphone requires multiple steps—unlocking the device, opening the app, locating the new release, and selecting a track—each of which diverts visual attention from the road. Patel suggests streaming platforms could modify promotional notifications to remind users to set up music before driving. He also recommends that drivers complete any phone interaction prior to vehicle movement and, when possible, hand the device to a passenger. Patel said, noting that the fatality increase was almost entirely among drivers who were alone.

The Guardian

• “You can’t randomise people into using their phones, and drivers rarely volunteer what they were doing in the seconds before a crash,” — Dr Vishal Patel, first author of the study based at Harvard Medical School

The Guardian

• “What it establishes is that these days are genuinely different in terms of national engagement with music, which is the premise the whole study rests on,” — Patel. The, first author

The Guardian