Fatal car crashes increase on days of major album releases, study says

NewsMusic News Fatal car crashes increase on days of major album releases, study says A team from Harvard Medical School studied smartphone usage and found an alarming correlation By Max Pilley 8th March 2026 Manchester City's Mike Summerbee demonstrating the built in record player in his new Swedish sports car. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images) A new academic study has suggested that deaths from car crashes are higher on days when major albums are released. A paper was published by the National Bureau of Economic Research last month under the title ‘Smartphones, Online Music Streaming, and Traffic Fatalities’, with research being conducted by a team from Harvard Medical School. Advertisement They analysed data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, which tracks fatal injuries suffered in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the US, as well as Spotify streaming data, and focused on the days of release of the 10 most streamed albums in a single day between 2017 and 2022. The analysis found that on the days of major album releases, smartphone usage in general surged by 40 per cent, and on those days, traffic fatalities in the US also increased by 15 per cent. The researchers acknowledged that there are other potential factors at play – for example, albums are commonly released on Fridays, when people are more likely to socialise – but they did account for holidays and intense travel periods in their analysis. Despite Friday being a day when many people go out, they found that “fatalities remained elevated on album release Fridays compared with the Fridays before and after”. Recommended They also found that fatalities were more common among sober drivers and on days with good weather, which they say suggests drivers may be more likely to allow themselves to be distracted when they think conditions are safer. Deaths were also higher among “single-occupant vehicles”, suggesting that passengers reduce the risk of accidents when they manage music streaming devices in place of drivers. The most streamed album on a single day during the period of observation – 2017 to 2022 – was Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ in 2022, with 184million streams. Swift went on to shatter that record two years later with ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, which racked up 300million streams. Swift had two other albums in the top 10, which also included records by Drake (three times), Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar, Harry Styles and Kanye West. You May Also Like Advertisement TRENDING Harry Styles – ‘Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally’ review: pop superstar lets the light in The Kooks to play The Great Escape 20th anniversary show presented by NME Christian Bale’s Frankenstein was inspired by Sid Vicious and Richey Edwards: “I’m a massive Manics fan” Chalk’s uncompromising dance-punk is fuelled by personal vulnerability and political questioning The biggest video game concerts you can’t miss in 2026 Advertisement More Stories Music News Fatal car crashes increase on days of major album releases, study says Music News Country Joe McDonald, singer with Country Joe & The Fish, dies aged 84 Film News Quentin Tarantino’s first play reported to be launching in London in 2027 Music News Watch Sleaford Mods perform with Orbital, Gwendoline Christie, Life Without Buildings’ Sue Tompkins and more at London Brixton Academy show Music News Franz Ferdinand attack IDF for using ‘Take Me Out’ in propaganda video: “This makes us both nauseous and furious” Music News Watch Gorillaz make ‘SNL’ debut with ‘Clint Eastwood’ and ‘The Moon Cave’