The Short Answer
Partly. The median release got about 3 dB quieter after 2019, and fewer releases are mastered above Spotify's -14 LUFS target. But most releases still are, and peaks above 0 dBTP are still common. Punch, measured as crest factor, has not recovered.
Loudness by Release Year
Each row is the median of the releases we measured in that period. "Turned down on Spotify" is the share of releases louder than -14 LUFS.
| Release years | Releases | Median LUFS | Turned down on Spotify | Peak above 0 dBTP | Median crest factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004–2014 | 16 | -9.8 | 94% | 69% | 11.8 dB |
| 2015–2019 | 29 | -9.5 | 86% | 76% | 11.2 dB |
| 2020–2022 | 45 | -12.5 | 80% | 51% | 12.1 dB |
| 2023–2024 | 61 | -11.2 | 75% | 61% | 11.1 dB |
These are not random samples of all music, and the earliest group has only 16 releases. Read the direction of the trend, not the exact decimals.
What Changed and What Did Not
1. Loudness peaked in the late 2010s. The median release was at -9.5 LUFS in 2015–2019, then dropped to -12.5 for 2020–2022. It has crept back up to -11.2 for 2023–2024.
2. Fewer releases get turned down, but most still do. The share of releases louder than -14 LUFS fell from 94% to 75%. Three in four new releases still arrive louder than Spotify plays them.
3. True-peak overs have not gone away. 61% of 2023–2024 releases peak above 0 dBTP. That is the figure that matters for MP3 and AAC encoding, where inter-sample peaks can distort.
4. Punch has not come back. Median crest factor sits between 11 and 12 dB in every period. Turning the volume down on the platform does not restore transients that were limited away in the master.
What This Means for Your Master
- You do not need to match the loudest releases. Even the recent median (-11.2 LUFS) is turned down on Spotify.
- Keep your true peak under -1 dBTP. It costs nothing in perceived loudness and protects the encode.
- Keep your dynamics. If the platform will lower the level anyway, spend the headroom on punch. See dynamic range by genre and streaming loudness by genre.
- Check the target for where it will be heard. Targets differ by platform: see the guides for SoundCloud, YouTube Music and vinyl, and our guide to how loud your master should be.
Check your track free: measure its LUFS and true peak and see what Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and 5 more platforms will do to it. Open the free LUFS checker →
How We Measured
We analyzed the 151 commercially released masters in our research library (released 2004 to 2024, most from 2018 on). Integrated loudness was measured with ITU-R BS.1770-4, and true peak with 4× oversampled detection. Crest factor is the average peak-to-average ratio. Releases are grouped by release year. The full method is on our methodology page and in the 2026 loudness research.
Using this data? You're welcome to cite it with a link to this page.