Why Don't Songs Fade Out Anymore? Mailbag

This month we dive into questions about micro-genres, expensive albums, common song titles, and so much more

If you enjoy this newsletter, consider ordering a copy of my debut book, Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us about the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves. It’s a data-driven history of popular music covering 1958 to 2025.

Today’s newsletter is another mailbag edition of Can’t Get Much Higher, or the newsletter where I answer reader questions. This month we cover questions about album titles, The Beatles, collecting records, and so much more.

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What is the most common song and album title? - Abby

This is rare data that I have for both the US and the UK. The most common song title to chart on the Hot 100 in US history is “Hold On.” For the UK’s pop chart, it is “Stay.” For those same countries, the titles shift if we just look at them since 2000. In the US, it is “Home.” In the UK, it is “Beautiful.”

I only have album names in the US, but I can tell you that album names are recycled less frequently. Here are all of the album names that have charted twice on the Billboard 200 between 1963 and 2024:

• Music: Carole King & Madonna

• 4: Foreigner & Beyonce

• Faith: George Michael & Pop Smoke

• Unplugged: Eric Clapton & Alicia Keys

• Now: Maxwell & Shania Twain

• Believe: Disturbed & Justin Bieber

• Kamikaze: Twista & Eminem

• Chapter V: Staind & Trey Songz

• 21: Omarion & Adele

• Epiphany: T-Pain & Chrisette Michele

• Revival: Selena Gomez & Eminem

• American Dream: LCD Soundsystem & 21 Savage

Shout out to Eminem for being so lazy with album names that he ended up on here twice. Also, shout out to Zach Schonfeld, whom I once interviewed, for a great piece from 2023 where he ranked every album named The Album.

Have music collectables, like albums or singles, enjoyed a run up in value like baseball cards? - Jeff

Not really. In the long run, collectible markets are largely governed by supply-and-demand. Among music made by popular artists, the supply is so massive that you can always find a cheap copy of the most celebrated albums. Even an original pressing of a famous album, like Abbey Road, isn’t going to break the bank.

Prices only begin to rise when supply is truly limited. In 2021, for example a one-off recording of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” went for nearly $2 million. In 2009, a very rare single by soul singer Frank Wilson was purchased for about $40,000. If you are curious about this topic, journalist Amanda Petrusich wrote an interesting book called Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78rpm Records back in 2015.

Amanda Petrusich’s book on musical collectibles

This is only tangentially related to your question, but in recent years, music as a financial asset, rather than physical good, has seen a run-up in value. You may have seen the catalogs of artists like Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, and Bruce Springsteen being purchased for eye-popping sums. There is more investment interest in this space as the music business has become more financialized.

When I listen to oldies radio, lots of songs end with a fade out. I can’t think of a single hit from recent decades that ends by just getting gradually quieter. Did this change happen abruptly at some point in the past or did it (AHEM!) fade out? - Benjamin