How long is your favourite album?

Examining the length of Grammy-award-winning albums

Aug 09, 2024

Hello Everyone. TGIF.

How’s the week been for you?
I’ll bore you with details about mine. It involved some work at my 9-5, and following the Olympics as it nears its end. One interesting thing I’ve observed is the relationship between state capacity, economics, and performance at the Olympics.
This article has some interesting insights into the matter.

The newsletter gained two new subscribers between last Friday and today. It’s thrilling news because I didn’t do much promo this past week. My friend, Fiyin suggested some ideas for this week. I didn’t explore them today but they helped shape my thinking.

Please keep the feedback and suggestions coming.

If you missed last week’s newsletter, you can read it here.

Here’s a quick fun fact before you read today’s newsletter

3.343 quindecillion years

The time it will take you to listen to Bull of Heaven’s 2014 album 310: ΩΣPx0(2^18×5^18)p*k*k*k.

Now to this week’s newsletter:

Music and sound is a huge part of our lives. We remember the song(s) played at our graduation, birthday, wedding, and every major milestone. If you plan to turn up at the club or a rave this weekend, you already know the song(s) that will create a blast.

In recent years, there has been a flurry of articles bemoaning the length of music. A constant culprit across multiple articles is streaming.

Come to think of it, there’s no perfect length for an album or a song to last. The beauty of art is personal taste. However, sometimes, an album/ a song can be too long. I’m side-eyeing Bull of Heaven’s 2014 album.

What’s the standard length of an album?

The list of Grammy Award-winning albums from 1959 is a good case study. Overall, it shows that good albums come in varying lengths. Sometimes, they are below the 5-minute mark. Many times, they are above the 50-minute mark. Only a few times do they surpass the 100-minute mark.