{"id":1462263,"date":"2026-01-27T11:58:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T08:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1462263"},"modified":"2026-01-27T11:58:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T08:58:00","slug":"why-are-we-so-nostalgic-for-the-music-of-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1462263","title":{"rendered":"Why are we so nostalgic for the music of 2016?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img no-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.78\" data-template=\"Standard Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Untitled design\" class=\"img\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1435271-1.jpg\" width=\"1920\" title=\"1435271-1\"><\/span><\/span><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><time datetime=\"2026-01-27T11:58:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"27 January 2026\"><span class=\"month\">January<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"27\">27,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - music\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a><br \/>\n\/<br \/>\n<a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/feature\">Feature<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"standard-tag-container\"><a class=\"standard-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a> \/<br \/>\n<a class=\"standard-series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/feature\">Feature<\/a><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>Why are we so nostalgic for the music <span class=\"nowrap\">of 2016?<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>The so-called \u20182016 Trend\u2019 is currently dominating social media, but this nostalgia tells us more about society\u2019s present than it does <span class=\"nowrap\">music\u2019s past<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-01-27T11:58:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"27 January 2026\"><span class=\"month\">January<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"27\">27,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-01-27T11:58:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"27 January 2026\"><span class=\"month\">January<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"27\">27,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/solomonpacemccarrick\">Solomon Pace-McCarrick<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>2026 is now in full swing, but the internet only seems to care about one thing: 2016. Right now, my Instagram feed is full of people sharing 2016 Rio-filtered throwback selfies, screenshots of <\/span><em><span>Stranger Things<\/span><\/em><span>\u2019 first season (as if it ever went away), and posts lamenting the ten years since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/frank-ocean\">Frank Ocean<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/rihanna\">Rihanna<\/a> last dropped music (<\/span><em><span>Smurf <\/span><\/em><span>soundtrack conveniently notwithstanding). This so-called \u20182016 Trend\u2019 has dominated the year so far, but, in music at least, it\u2019s nothing new \u2013 people have long held up 2016 albums as some of the best in recent memory, and this has only intensified over the past month. But was 2016 <\/span><em><span>really <\/span><\/em><span>that good for music? And, if not, where is this nostalgia coming from?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Perhaps the most vocal proponent of this musical trend over the past few years has been British comedian James Acaster, whose 2021 podcast <\/span><em><span>Perfect Sounds<\/span><\/em><span> is entirely dedicated to convincing listeners that 2016 was, in his words, \u201cthe best year for music ever\u201d. Across 117 episodes, Acaster argues that albums like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/beyonce\">Beyonc\u00e9<\/a>\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Lemonade<\/span><\/em><span>, Danny Brown\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Atrocity Exhibition<\/span><\/em><span>, David Bowie\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Blackstar<\/span><\/em><span>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/kendrick-lamar\">Kendrick Lamar<\/a>\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Untitled Unmastered<\/span><\/em><span>,<\/span><span>and dozens more exemplify his point. More widely, the fact that 2016 was also the last time we heard from David Bowie, Radiohead, Rihanna, Frank Ocean and Kanye West (as opposed to Ye), would seem to support the idea that 2016 was some sort of musical turning point.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Dr Ethan Heine, adjunct professor of musicology at NYU, however, isn\u2019t convinced. \u201cIt\u2019s just such a weird year to pick as a watershed moment,\u201d he tells Dazed over video call. \u201cIt\u2019s not like it\u2019s 1968, or the year <\/span><em><span>Thriller <\/span><\/em><span>came out. I mean, I like Rihanna, but is that really the kind of vitamin that we\u2019re missing in our cultural diet right now? Look, music was 90 per cent garbage in 2016, it\u2019s 90 per cent garbage now, and it will be 90 per cent garbage until the end of time.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"p2bp4aeRuKc\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p2bp4aeRuKc\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Still, while Dr Heine is sceptical of the \u20182016 Trend\u2019 in music, he has noticed his students becoming increasingly nostalgic for musical eras gone by. \u201cMy students are such boomers in a lot of ways,\u201d he explains. \u201cA lot of them love yacht rock and drum \u2018n\u2019 bass, they\u2019re chopping up the [iconic jungle sample] Amen break like it\u2019s 1997, and I think that\u2019s great. Young people are a lot more hip to stuff from the past nowadays.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For Dr Heine, however, the origin of this nostalgia lies beyond the releases themselves. \u201cMusic communicates nonverbal feelings very well and, to me, [the 2016 trend] seems less about music and more about a time when the internet actually worked,\u201d he continues. \u201cIt was before AI slop, before people were getting radicalised into the manosphere through YouTube recommendations, before Trump. 2016 does feel like a bit of a political and social turning point.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s telling that, in a podcast uploaded just before the \u20182016 Trend\u2019 took hold, Irish podcaster Blindboy brands 2016 as \u201cthe year that everything went to shit\u201d. \u201cIn the mid-2010s, social media content was kind of dumb,\u201d he explains in the episode. \u201cI used to use Twitter on my laptop, and, in 2016, Twitter started moving onto my phone. Feeds changed. 2016 was the year of the infinite scroll, where you\u2019re just scrolling and scrolling through miserable content. News is now reported to survive in the algorithm rather than to inform us, and these algorithms prioritise negative, threatening content [to maximise engagement].\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the first month of 2026 alone, these same algorithms have already served up explicit images of children (thanks X), World War 3 hysteria surrounding President Trump\u2019s foreign policy, and videos of multiple murders committed by ICE agents in America. In view of all of that, it\u2019s not surprising that people would be gravitating towards music that reminds them of simpler times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"diIFhc_Kzng\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/diIFhc_Kzng\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Deeper still, many of these technological shifts have manifested in the way we consume music, too. Where music streaming accounted for just seven per cent of music listening in 2010, this had jumped to 80 per cent by 2019 \u2013 a shift which has, among other things, led to diminished income for artists. \u201cThe music industry is kind of like the broader economy in that there\u2019s a small number of people who are making incredible amounts of money and there isn\u2019t a middle class of musicians anymore,\u201d Dr Heine explains of the reduced royalties streaming platforms like Spotify pay artists. He goes on to suggest that Rihanna\u2019s increasing role as a fashion entrepreneur rather than an artist is evidence of this trend: \u201cIt seems kind of sad that, like a person at her level just can\u2019t make money from music alone, or at least enough of it for her own right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Elsewhere, mirroring its growing role in social media, the past year has seen growing calls for streaming platforms to regulate the use of AI. For example, amid a 2025 controversy in which the creators of viral, AI-assisted single \u201cI Run\u201d were accused of appropriating Jorja Smith\u2019s voice without consent, Smith\u2019s record label FAMM called for greater controls over AI in the music industry. \u201cThis isn\u2019t about Jorja, it\u2019s bigger than one artist or one song,\u201d they wrote in an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DRm-uVXiKf-\/?hl=en&amp;img_index=10\"><span>Instagram post<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cThe usage and efficacy of AI is growing at an alarming rate and outpacing regulation. \u2018I Run\u2019 seems to be a clear example of why we all need to push for some guard rails before the moment is lost.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>So, while 2016 may not have been the best year for music of all time, or even in recent memory, it does tell us something about the world we live in today, and that, Dr Heine believes, might still be useful. \u201cHopefully we can turn this nostalgia into a drive to push back against some of these developments,\u201d he concludes. \u201cIf you miss the pre-Spotify world, you can still buy stuff off iTunes. I\u2019m always telling my students, \u2018Bandcamp is where the weirdos are, and where they can actually get paid\u2019. [Anti-streaming] sentiment is definitely building, anti-AI sentiment is definitely building. Resistance is mounting.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>2026 is now in full swing, but the internet only seems to care about one thing: 2016. Right now, my Instagram feed is full of people sharing 2016 Rio-filtered throwback selfies, screenshots of <\/span><em><span>Stranger Things<\/span><\/em><span>\u2019 first season (as if it ever went away), and posts lamenting the ten years since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/frank-ocean\">Frank Ocean<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/rihanna\">Rihanna<\/a> last dropped music (<\/span><em><span>Smurf <\/span><\/em><span>soundtrack conveniently notwithstanding). This so-called \u20182016 Trend\u2019 has dominated the year so far, but, in music at least, it\u2019s nothing new \u2013 people have long held up 2016 albums as some of the best in recent memory, and this has only intensified over the past month. But was 2016 <\/span><em><span>really <\/span><\/em><span>that good for music? And, if not, where is this nostalgia coming from?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Perhaps the most vocal proponent of this musical trend over the past few years has been British comedian James Acaster, whose 2021 podcast <\/span><em><span>Perfect Sounds<\/span><\/em><span> is entirely dedicated to convincing listeners that 2016 was, in his words, \u201cthe best year for music ever\u201d. Across 117 episodes, Acaster argues that albums like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/beyonce\">Beyonc\u00e9<\/a>\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Lemonade<\/span><\/em><span>, Danny Brown\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Atrocity Exhibition<\/span><\/em><span>, David Bowie\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Blackstar<\/span><\/em><span>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/kendrick-lamar\">Kendrick Lamar<\/a>\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Untitled Unmastered<\/span><\/em><span>,<\/span><span>and dozens more exemplify his point. More widely, the fact that 2016 was also the last time we heard from David Bowie, Radiohead, Rihanna, Frank Ocean and Kanye West (as opposed to Ye), would seem to support the idea that 2016 was some sort of musical turning point.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Dr Ethan Heine, adjunct professor of musicology at NYU, however, isn\u2019t convinced. \u201cIt\u2019s just such a weird year to pick as a watershed moment,\u201d he tells Dazed over video call. \u201cIt\u2019s not like it\u2019s 1968, or the year <\/span><em><span>Thriller <\/span><\/em><span>came out. I mean, I like Rihanna, but is that really the kind of vitamin that we\u2019re missing in our cultural diet right now? Look, music was 90 per cent garbage in 2016, it\u2019s 90 per cent garbage now, and it will be 90 per cent garbage until the end of time.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"p2bp4aeRuKc\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p2bp4aeRuKc\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Still, while Dr Heine is sceptical of the \u20182016 Trend\u2019 in music, he has noticed his students becoming increasingly nostalgic for musical eras gone by. \u201cMy students are such boomers in a lot of ways,\u201d he explains. \u201cA lot of them love yacht rock and drum \u2018n\u2019 bass, they\u2019re chopping up the [iconic jungle sample] Amen break like it\u2019s 1997, and I think that\u2019s great. Young people are a lot more hip to stuff from the past nowadays.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For Dr Heine, however, the origin of this nostalgia lies beyond the releases themselves. \u201cMusic communicates nonverbal feelings very well and, to me, [the 2016 trend] seems less about music and more about a time when the internet actually worked,\u201d he continues. \u201cIt was before AI slop, before people were getting radicalised into the manosphere through YouTube recommendations, before Trump. 2016 does feel like a bit of a political and social turning point.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s telling that, in a podcast uploaded just before the \u20182016 Trend\u2019 took hold, Irish podcaster Blindboy brands 2016 as \u201cthe year that everything went to shit\u201d. \u201cIn the mid-2010s, social media content was kind of dumb,\u201d he explains in the episode. \u201cI used to use Twitter on my laptop, and, in 2016, Twitter started moving onto my phone. Feeds changed. 2016 was the year of the infinite scroll, where you\u2019re just scrolling and scrolling through miserable content. News is now reported to survive in the algorithm rather than to inform us, and these algorithms prioritise negative, threatening content [to maximise engagement].\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the first month of 2026 alone, these same algorithms have already served up explicit images of children (thanks X), World War 3 hysteria surrounding President Trump\u2019s foreign policy, and videos of multiple murders committed by ICE agents in America. In view of all of that, it\u2019s not surprising that people would be gravitating towards music that reminds them of simpler times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"diIFhc_Kzng\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/diIFhc_Kzng\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Deeper still, many of these technological shifts have manifested in the way we consume music, too. Where music streaming accounted for just seven per cent of music listening in 2010, this had jumped to 80 per cent by 2019 \u2013 a shift which has, among other things, led to diminished income for artists. \u201cThe music industry is kind of like the broader economy in that there\u2019s a small number of people who are making incredible amounts of money and there isn\u2019t a middle class of musicians anymore,\u201d Dr Heine explains of the reduced royalties streaming platforms like Spotify pay artists. He goes on to suggest that Rihanna\u2019s increasing role as a fashion entrepreneur rather than an artist is evidence of this trend: \u201cIt seems kind of sad that, like a person at her level just can\u2019t make money from music alone, or at least enough of it for her own right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Elsewhere, mirroring its growing role in social media, the past year has seen growing calls for streaming platforms to regulate the use of AI. For example, amid a 2025 controversy in which the creators of viral, AI-assisted single \u201cI Run\u201d were accused of appropriating Jorja Smith\u2019s voice without consent, Smith\u2019s record label FAMM called for greater controls over AI in the music industry. \u201cThis isn\u2019t about Jorja, it\u2019s bigger than one artist or one song,\u201d they wrote in an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DRm-uVXiKf-\/?hl=en&amp;img_index=10\"><span>Instagram post<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cThe usage and efficacy of AI is growing at an alarming rate and outpacing regulation. \u2018I Run\u2019 seems to be a clear example of why we all need to push for some guard rails before the moment is lost.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>So, while 2016 may not have been the best year for music of all time, or even in recent memory, it does tell us something about the world we live in today, and that, Dr Heine believes, might still be useful. \u201cHopefully we can turn this nostalgia into a drive to push back against some of these developments,\u201d he concludes. \u201cIf you miss the pre-Spotify world, you can still buy stuff off iTunes. I\u2019m always telling my students, \u2018Bandcamp is where the weirdos are, and where they can actually get paid\u2019. [Anti-streaming] sentiment is definitely building, anti-AI sentiment is definitely building. Resistance is mounting.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>2026 is now in full swing, but the internet only seems to care about one thing: 2016. Right now, my Instagram feed is full of people sharing 2016 Rio-filtered throwback selfies, screenshots of <\/span><em><span>Stranger Things<\/span><\/em><span>\u2019 first season (as if it ever went away), and posts lamenting the ten years since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/frank-ocean\">Frank Ocean<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/rihanna\">Rihanna<\/a> last dropped music (<\/span><em><span>Smurf <\/span><\/em><span>soundtrack conveniently notwithstanding). This so-called \u20182016 Trend\u2019 has dominated the year so far, but, in music at least, it\u2019s nothing new \u2013 people have long held up 2016 albums as some of the best in recent memory, and this has only intensified over the past month. But was 2016 <\/span><em><span>really <\/span><\/em><span>that good for music? And, if not, where is this nostalgia coming from?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Perhaps the most vocal proponent of this musical trend over the past few years has been British comedian James Acaster, whose 2021 podcast <\/span><em><span>Perfect Sounds<\/span><\/em><span> is entirely dedicated to convincing listeners that 2016 was, in his words, \u201cthe best year for music ever\u201d. Across 117 episodes, Acaster argues that albums like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/beyonce\">Beyonc\u00e9<\/a>\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Lemonade<\/span><\/em><span>, Danny Brown\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Atrocity Exhibition<\/span><\/em><span>, David Bowie\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Blackstar<\/span><\/em><span>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/kendrick-lamar\">Kendrick Lamar<\/a>\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Untitled Unmastered<\/span><\/em><span>,<\/span><span>and dozens more exemplify his point. More widely, the fact that 2016 was also the last time we heard from David Bowie, Radiohead, Rihanna, Frank Ocean and Kanye West (as opposed to Ye), would seem to support the idea that 2016 was some sort of musical turning point.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Dr Ethan Heine, adjunct professor of musicology at NYU, however, isn\u2019t convinced. \u201cIt\u2019s just such a weird year to pick as a watershed moment,\u201d he tells Dazed over video call. \u201cIt\u2019s not like it\u2019s 1968, or the year <\/span><em><span>Thriller <\/span><\/em><span>came out. I mean, I like Rihanna, but is that really the kind of vitamin that we\u2019re missing in our cultural diet right now? Look, music was 90 per cent garbage in 2016, it\u2019s 90 per cent garbage now, and it will be 90 per cent garbage until the end of time.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"p2bp4aeRuKc\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p2bp4aeRuKc\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Still, while Dr Heine is sceptical of the \u20182016 Trend\u2019 in music, he has noticed his students becoming increasingly nostalgic for musical eras gone by. \u201cMy students are such boomers in a lot of ways,\u201d he explains. \u201cA lot of them love yacht rock and drum \u2018n\u2019 bass, they\u2019re chopping up the [iconic jungle sample] Amen break like it\u2019s 1997, and I think that\u2019s great. Young people are a lot more hip to stuff from the past nowadays.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For Dr Heine, however, the origin of this nostalgia lies beyond the releases themselves. \u201cMusic communicates nonverbal feelings very well and, to me, [the 2016 trend] seems less about music and more about a time when the internet actually worked,\u201d he continues. \u201cIt was before AI slop, before people were getting radicalised into the manosphere through YouTube recommendations, before Trump. 2016 does feel like a bit of a political and social turning point.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s telling that, in a podcast uploaded just before the \u20182016 Trend\u2019 took hold, Irish podcaster Blindboy brands 2016 as \u201cthe year that everything went to shit\u201d. \u201cIn the mid-2010s, social media content was kind of dumb,\u201d he explains in the episode. \u201cI used to use Twitter on my laptop, and, in 2016, Twitter started moving onto my phone. Feeds changed. 2016 was the year of the infinite scroll, where you\u2019re just scrolling and scrolling through miserable content. News is now reported to survive in the algorithm rather than to inform us, and these algorithms prioritise negative, threatening content [to maximise engagement].\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the first month of 2026 alone, these same algorithms have already served up explicit images of children (thanks X), World War 3 hysteria surrounding President Trump\u2019s foreign policy, and videos of multiple murders committed by ICE agents in America. In view of all of that, it\u2019s not surprising that people would be gravitating towards music that reminds them of simpler times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"diIFhc_Kzng\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/diIFhc_Kzng\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Deeper still, many of these technological shifts have manifested in the way we consume music, too. Where music streaming accounted for just seven per cent of music listening in 2010, this had jumped to 80 per cent by 2019 \u2013 a shift which has, among other things, led to diminished income for artists. \u201cThe music industry is kind of like the broader economy in that there\u2019s a small number of people who are making incredible amounts of money and there isn\u2019t a middle class of musicians anymore,\u201d Dr Heine explains of the reduced royalties streaming platforms like Spotify pay artists. He goes on to suggest that Rihanna\u2019s increasing role as a fashion entrepreneur rather than an artist is evidence of this trend: \u201cIt seems kind of sad that, like a person at her level just can\u2019t make money from music alone, or at least enough of it for her own right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Elsewhere, mirroring its growing role in social media, the past year has seen growing calls for streaming platforms to regulate the use of AI. For example, amid a 2025 controversy in which the creators of viral, AI-assisted single \u201cI Run\u201d were accused of appropriating Jorja Smith\u2019s voice without consent, Smith\u2019s record label FAMM called for greater controls over AI in the music industry. \u201cThis isn\u2019t about Jorja, it\u2019s bigger than one artist or one song,\u201d they wrote in an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DRm-uVXiKf-\/?hl=en&amp;img_index=10\"><span>Instagram post<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cThe usage and efficacy of AI is growing at an alarming rate and outpacing regulation. \u2018I Run\u2019 seems to be a clear example of why we all need to push for some guard rails before the moment is lost.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>So, while 2016 may not have been the best year for music of all time, or even in recent memory, it does tell us something about the world we live in today, and that, Dr Heine believes, might still be useful. \u201cHopefully we can turn this nostalgia into a drive to push back against some of these developments,\u201d he concludes. \u201cIf you miss the pre-Spotify world, you can still buy stuff off iTunes. I\u2019m always telling my students, \u2018Bandcamp is where the weirdos are, and where they can actually get paid\u2019. [Anti-streaming] sentiment is definitely building, anti-AI sentiment is definitely building. Resistance is mounting.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>2026 is now in full swing, but the internet only seems to care about one thing: 2016. Right now, my Instagram feed is full of people sharing 2016 Rio-filtered throwback selfies, screenshots of <\/span><em><span>Stranger Things<\/span><\/em><span>\u2019 first season (as if it ever went away), and posts lamenting the ten years since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/frank-ocean\">Frank Ocean<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/rihanna\">Rihanna<\/a> last dropped music (<\/span><em><span>Smurf <\/span><\/em><span>soundtrack conveniently notwithstanding). This so-called \u20182016 Trend\u2019 has dominated the year so far, but, in music at least, it\u2019s nothing new \u2013 people have long held up 2016 albums as some of the best in recent memory, and this has only intensified over the past month. But was 2016 <\/span><em><span>really <\/span><\/em><span>that good for music? And, if not, where is this nostalgia coming from?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Perhaps the most vocal proponent of this musical trend over the past few years has been British comedian James Acaster, whose 2021 podcast <\/span><em><span>Perfect Sounds<\/span><\/em><span> is entirely dedicated to convincing listeners that 2016 was, in his words, \u201cthe best year for music ever\u201d. Across 117 episodes, Acaster argues that albums like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/beyonce\">Beyonc\u00e9<\/a>\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Lemonade<\/span><\/em><span>, Danny Brown\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Atrocity Exhibition<\/span><\/em><span>, David Bowie\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Blackstar<\/span><\/em><span>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/kendrick-lamar\">Kendrick Lamar<\/a>\u2019s <\/span><em><span>Untitled Unmastered<\/span><\/em><span>,<\/span><span>and dozens more exemplify his point. More widely, the fact that 2016 was also the last time we heard from David Bowie, Radiohead, Rihanna, Frank Ocean and Kanye West (as opposed to Ye), would seem to support the idea that 2016 was some sort of musical turning point.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Dr Ethan Heine, adjunct professor of musicology at NYU, however, isn\u2019t convinced. \u201cIt\u2019s just such a weird year to pick as a watershed moment,\u201d he tells Dazed over video call. \u201cIt\u2019s not like it\u2019s 1968, or the year <\/span><em><span>Thriller <\/span><\/em><span>came out. I mean, I like Rihanna, but is that really the kind of vitamin that we\u2019re missing in our cultural diet right now? Look, music was 90 per cent garbage in 2016, it\u2019s 90 per cent garbage now, and it will be 90 per cent garbage until the end of time.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"p2bp4aeRuKc\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p2bp4aeRuKc\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Still, while Dr Heine is sceptical of the \u20182016 Trend\u2019 in music, he has noticed his students becoming increasingly nostalgic for musical eras gone by. \u201cMy students are such boomers in a lot of ways,\u201d he explains. \u201cA lot of them love yacht rock and drum \u2018n\u2019 bass, they\u2019re chopping up the [iconic jungle sample] Amen break like it\u2019s 1997, and I think that\u2019s great. Young people are a lot more hip to stuff from the past nowadays.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For Dr Heine, however, the origin of this nostalgia lies beyond the releases themselves. \u201cMusic communicates nonverbal feelings very well and, to me, [the 2016 trend] seems less about music and more about a time when the internet actually worked,\u201d he continues. \u201cIt was before AI slop, before people were getting radicalised into the manosphere through YouTube recommendations, before Trump. 2016 does feel like a bit of a political and social turning point.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s telling that, in a podcast uploaded just before the \u20182016 Trend\u2019 took hold, Irish podcaster Blindboy brands 2016 as \u201cthe year that everything went to shit\u201d. \u201cIn the mid-2010s, social media content was kind of dumb,\u201d he explains in the episode. \u201cI used to use Twitter on my laptop, and, in 2016, Twitter started moving onto my phone. Feeds changed. 2016 was the year of the infinite scroll, where you\u2019re just scrolling and scrolling through miserable content. News is now reported to survive in the algorithm rather than to inform us, and these algorithms prioritise negative, threatening content [to maximise engagement].\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the first month of 2026 alone, these same algorithms have already served up explicit images of children (thanks X), World War 3 hysteria surrounding President Trump\u2019s foreign policy, and videos of multiple murders committed by ICE agents in America. In view of all of that, it\u2019s not surprising that people would be gravitating towards music that reminds them of simpler times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"diIFhc_Kzng\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/diIFhc_Kzng\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Deeper still, many of these technological shifts have manifested in the way we consume music, too. Where music streaming accounted for just seven per cent of music listening in 2010, this had jumped to 80 per cent by 2019 \u2013 a shift which has, among other things, led to diminished income for artists. \u201cThe music industry is kind of like the broader economy in that there\u2019s a small number of people who are making incredible amounts of money and there isn\u2019t a middle class of musicians anymore,\u201d Dr Heine explains of the reduced royalties streaming platforms like Spotify pay artists. He goes on to suggest that Rihanna\u2019s increasing role as a fashion entrepreneur rather than an artist is evidence of this trend: \u201cIt seems kind of sad that, like a person at her level just can\u2019t make money from music alone, or at least enough of it for her own right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Elsewhere, mirroring its growing role in social media, the past year has seen growing calls for streaming platforms to regulate the use of AI. For example, amid a 2025 controversy in which the creators of viral, AI-assisted single \u201cI Run\u201d were accused of appropriating Jorja Smith\u2019s voice without consent, Smith\u2019s record label FAMM called for greater controls over AI in the music industry. \u201cThis isn\u2019t about Jorja, it\u2019s bigger than one artist or one song,\u201d they wrote in an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DRm-uVXiKf-\/?hl=en&amp;img_index=10\"><span>Instagram post<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cThe usage and efficacy of AI is growing at an alarming rate and outpacing regulation. \u2018I Run\u2019 seems to be a clear example of why we all need to push for some guard rails before the moment is lost.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>So, while 2016 may not have been the best year for music of all time, or even in recent memory, it does tell us something about the world we live in today, and that, Dr Heine believes, might still be useful. \u201cHopefully we can turn this nostalgia into a drive to push back against some of these developments,\u201d he concludes. \u201cIf you miss the pre-Spotify world, you can still buy stuff off iTunes. I\u2019m always telling my students, \u2018Bandcamp is where the weirdos are, and where they can actually get paid\u2019. [Anti-streaming] sentiment is definitely building, anti-AI sentiment is definitely building. Resistance is mounting.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<div class=\"article-series\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">More on these topics<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-series\"><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/feature\">Feature<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/frank-ocean\">Frank Ocean<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/rihanna\">Rihanna<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/radiohead\">Radiohead<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/david-bowie\">David Bowie<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> Source URL: https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/69488\/1\/2016-the-last-good-year-for-music-beyonce-lemon-blond-frank-ocean<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January\u00a0 27,\u00a0 2026 Music \/ Feature Music \/ Feature Why are we so nostalgic for the music of 2016? The so-called \u20182016 Trend\u2019 is currently dominating social media, but this nostalgia tells us more about society\u2019s present than it does music\u2019s past January\u00a0 27,\u00a0 2026 January\u00a0 27,\u00a0 2026 TextSolomon Pace-McCarrick 2026 is now in full [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1462264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[76],"class_list":["post-1462263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1462263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1462263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1462263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1462264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1462263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1462263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1462263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}