Americans Are Listening To More Music.

There is good news for the thousands of radio stations playing music. Americans may have more media choices than ever before, including more spoken word options like podcasts, but a just-released survey of adults 18+ from YouGov finds one in five U.S. adults are listening to more music than a year ago.

And even with all the potential distractions, the vast majority — 61% — report that their music consumption has remained the same. Only 13% report they’re listening to less music than they did a year ago.

Potentially offering more positive news for the long-term listening trends of music radio, the YouGov survey says those spending more time with radio skew younger. The survey finds three-quarters (76%) of Americans who say they’re listening to more music fall in the Gen Z (45%) and Millennial (31%) age groups. That’s two to three times the 15% of Gen X adults who say they’re spending more time with music. Baby Boomers are the least likely to say the same, with just 8% reporting they’re listening to more music vs. a year ago.

Overall, the survey shows 84% of Americans say music is either “very” or “fairly” important to them, with 61% saying they listen to “about the same” amount of music vs. a year ago, while just 13% say they’re listening to less music.

While YouGov reports that nearly half of Americans listening to more music are discovering new music from radio, other research continues to show that Gen Z and Millennials remain heavy radio listeners.

There is also a good case to be made for stations and radio personalities plugging new songs and artists on their social media feeds. The survey finds more than half (52%) of adults say they hear about new music from social media and music blogs.

As YouGov reports that nearly half of Americans listening to more music are discovering new music from radio, it backs up other research that continues to show that Gen Z and Millennials remain heavy radio listeners.

According to Edison Research’s Share of Ear, radio accounts for 47% of Gen Z’s ad-supported audio time vs. 31% for streaming music. When it comes to in-car listening, Edison finds that AM/FM radio remains the dominant ad-supported audio platform among Americans 13 to 34. AM/FM radio, including both over-the-air broadcasts and radio streams, accounts for 70% of ad-supported in-car audio listening among the younger demographic, putting it well ahead of other platforms.