Gen Z Music: Trends in Consumption & Listening Habits

In 1965, Bob Dylan released The Times They Are a-Changin'. Dylan was a Baby Boomer, but he was speaking to the Greatest Generation on the album's title track when he crooned:

"Come mothers and fathers / Throughout the land / And don't criticize / What you can't understand..."

We have to wonder: is it possible to draw a straight line from Dylan's era-defining ballad to 1988's Parents Just Don't Understand?

That particular bop — penned and performed by Gen X Philadelphians DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince 23 years later — was in turn aimed at Boomers, and it won a freaking Grammy.

Maybe. Maybe not. Parental misunderstanding is something of a generational commonality, after all. (Even Millennials had Kim by Eminem and Numb by Linkin Park — which we'll try not to hold against them.)

Will Gen Z lyrically roast their own parents? Perhaps their love for nostalgia will keep them loyal.

Or, it will spark a resurgence of 60's folksy angst or late '80s inoffensive boom-bap that will get the job done.

What we do know is how Gen Z will listen to such a song if it does come along.

That's because Knit recently conducted a survey exploring Gen Z music consumption and listening habits, just in time for Spotify Wrapped season*.

Here's a sneak peek about what we learned about Gen Z music consumption and listening habits in the process:

Want more? Come back next week for a deep dive into Gen Z and music, and get in touch today to learn how you can customize your own panel of Generation Z respondents to get some answers of your own.

Here at Knit, we're not too proud to share our own Spotify Wrapped top artists. Think you can guess who are the Gen Z-ers in this bunch?

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