Get unlimited access to everything VICE has to offer.

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

People Get in Way More Fatal Car Crashes on Days Hot New Music Drops

Maybe stay home the day of the next Taylor Swift drop.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

It seems that when a major music artist releases a new album of certified bangers, one of those bangers is your car banging into a tree, or a light pole, or another car.  

According to a recent working paper from researchers affiliated with Harvard Medical School, first noticed by The Register, there is a statistically significant correlation between the release days of the world’s most-streamed albums and a spike in U.S. traffic fatalities.

Of course, please keep in mind that correlation does not equal causation.

The study used data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and Spotify’s charts to track the top 10 most-streamed albums between 2017 and 2022. On days when major artists like Taylor Swift or Drake released new music, streaming volumes surged by nearly 40 percent. Simultaneously, traffic deaths jumped by 15 percent. While a 15 percent increase might sound “modest” in academic speak, in the real world, that’s a lot of people dying because they were swept up by the rhythm and plowed straight into a wall.

Could Friday Afternoon Beers Cause Car Crashes, Not New Music?

New album drops might be the culprit, but it could just as well be that new albums typically release on Fridays when people are partying and driving. The researchers accounted for that. They adjusted for holidays, day of the week bias, and even driver sobriety. After all that, the spike remained consistent among sober drivers and during both day and night hours, meaning that the culprit is a post-work beer or two to blow off some steam as people ease into the weekend as much as it is the distraction of the anticipated new album drop.

There might be one specific type of Friday new album listener in danger. A weird trend in the data shows the rise in fatalities was more pronounced in cars equipped with Apple CarPlay. Searchers suspect that in-car tech that mirrors your phone makes people more willing to fiddle with their playlists while barreling down the street.

We spent years worrying about texting and driving, but the new threat is our collective inability to stop rocking out in our cars. While the tech and automotive industries try to find a way to thread the needle between safety and providing the in-car entertainment we desire, the rest of us should probably be a little bit more proactive and just hold off on listening to that new Taylor Swift joint until we get home.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

Photo: kotijelly / Getty Images People Get in Way More Fatal Car Crashes on Days Hot New Music Drops 30 seconds ago By Luis Prada

People Get in Way More Fatal Car Crashes on Days Hot New Music Drops

NASA's Artemis II. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images NASA Scrapped Its Plan to Put Astronauts on the Moon With Artemis III 26 minutes ago By Luis Prada

NASA Scrapped Its Plan to Put Astronauts on the Moon With Artemis III

Photo: Yana Iskayeva / Getty Images Waking Up at 5 A.M. Works Best for One Type of Person 45 minutes ago By Ashley Fike

Waking Up at 5 A.M. Works Best for One Type of Person

The Soulseek AI Homer Simpson troll (Picture by Ben Ditto) We Got Him: The Troll Corrupting Soulseek With ‘Potentially Infinite’ AI Homer Simpson Songs Slams His Haters 1 hour ago By Adam Christopher Smith

We Got Him: The Troll Corrupting Soulseek With ‘Potentially Infinite’ AI Homer Simpson Songs Slams His Haters

By Adam Christopher Smith

Photo: Zufar Kamilov / Getty Images Americans Eat a Ton of Fast Food for the Reason You Think 1 hour ago By Ashley Fike

Americans Eat a Ton of Fast Food for the Reason You Think

JMEnternational/Getty Images Mark Ronson Recalled First Meeting Amy Winehouse 20 Years Ago During BRIT Award Speech 2 hours ago By Lauren Boisvert

Mark Ronson Recalled First Meeting Amy Winehouse 20 Years Ago During BRIT Award Speech

Photo: ncognet0 / Getty Images Cruise Ship Partiers Just Set a World Record for Most Margaritas in 8 Hours 4 hours ago By Ashley Fike

Cruise Ship Partiers Just Set a World Record for Most Margaritas in 8 Hours

Photo: yogysic / Getty Images Gen Alpha Is Sick of Superheroes. They Want Father Figures Instead. 4 hours ago By Luis Prada

Gen Alpha Is Sick of Superheroes. They Want Father Figures Instead.

Screenshot: The Pokémon Company Pokémon Winds and Waves Release Date Might Be Sooner Than Expected, Leaker Hints 4 hours ago By Brent Koepp

Pokémon Winds and Waves Release Date Might Be Sooner Than Expected, Leaker Hints

Photo: Olga Rolenko / Getty Images 3 Books That Feel Like the First Day of Spring 4 hours ago By Sammi Caramela

3 Books That Feel Like the First Day of Spring

Add your account details

© Vice