Major Album Releases Tied to 15% Increase in US Traffic Deaths, Study Finds

A new Harvard study examining smartphone use and distracted driving has found a 15% increase in US traffic fatalities on the days that major albums are released on streaming services. Published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open, the study focused on the 10 albums with the most first-day Spotify streams from 2017 through 2022. This includes Taylor Swift’s Midnights, Drake’s Certified Lover Boy, and Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti, with other releases by Swift and Drake alongside albums by Kendrick Lamar, Harry Styles, and Kanye West. The study was based on 233,809 US traffic deaths during that period and measured the 10-day window before and after the release date of these albums. It found that there was an average of 139.1 deaths from car crashes on release dates compared to 120.9 average deaths on surrounding days. This difference of 18.2 average fatalities marks a 15.1% increase on album release days. In an interview with CNN, Harvard Medical School researcher Dr. Vishal Patel revealed he was inspired to conduct the study after his own experience drifting out of his lane while scrolling through Spotify to find a new Taylor Swift album, eventually deciding to use the Fatality ...