Therapeutic Music vs. Pop Music: Is There a Difference?

When Spotify released its 2025 year-in-review report, Spotify Wrapped, one feature in particular got the internet talking: Listening Age. 

Suddenly, people of all biological ages couldn’t stop posting about their musical listening ages. There were the twenty-four-year-olds bemoaning their 62-year-old listening habits and the 40-somethings owning up to having the taste of a teenager. Thought articles couldn’t decide if the new feature was spot-on, far off, or somewhere in between—but one thing was for certain: it struck a nerve. 

What was intended as a fun marketing tool got people asking themselves: How do musical tastes shift, or stay the same, as we get older?

It turns out this question has intrigued researchers for a long time, before Spotify was even a blip. Here’s what science has revealed about how musical preferences evolve, and the ages at which they tend to be the most malleable.  

Finding the most formative music years

Back in 1989, a foundational study came out declaring that people’s penchant for popular music seems to follow a U-shaped curve. That is, their preference for the music of the moment grows until they reach the age of 24, and then starts to wane. Many interpreted this study to mean that the music we listen to in early adulthood has the strongest influence on our lifelong music habits. 

Subsequent studies have come to the same basic conclusion: What we are exposed to when we’re relatively young tends to shape our preferences for the rest of our lives—in music, but also in fashion, television, etc. However, the exact age at which musical preferences develop is still up for debate. More recently, researchers have argued that the golden age probably happens earlier in life, when we’re closer to 14 years old or 17 years old instead of twenty four. However, most agree that the decade between 15 and 25 seems to be an important one. 

Interestingly, people seem to resonate with the music they listened to when they fell in this age window and the music that their parents listened to at this age. This suggests that musical preference is, to a certain extent, passed along through generations. 

A lifelong evolution

While musical taste seems to firm up when we’re in our teens and 20s, it doesn’t completely solidify. Changes can still happen throughout our lives, for many reasons. 

To investigate how, one study aptly titled Music through the ages tracked over 250,000 people to see how their musical attitudes and preferences evolved from adolescence through middle age. Researchers found that as people got older, they tended to start liking some genres of music more and others less, and these shifts were largely shaped by personality. For example, having a more ‘open’ personality was associated with an increasing preference for classical and jazz music in middle adulthood. 

Others posit that our taste for certain music evolves naturally once we have more years under our belt. Some genres, like classical and jazz, tend to be more complex, and so enjoying them might take more musical knowledge and listening experience, which can come with age. The memories we form around certain songs or genres of music also likely shape how we perceive those songs over the years. 

Maybe you’re born with it

While your response to music is partially the result of age and lived experience, there also seems to be a genetic component at play. Based on research on twins, the ability to elicit pleasure from music is partially heritable. Musical talent is also thought to be genetically determined, at least in part. 

The latest research on this topic finds that, in general, people tend to have a more “omnivorous” musical diet and enjoy hearing different genres and styles when they’re young. After analyzing over two billion listening sessions on Last.fm from 2005-2020, researchers found that young people listened to a wider variety of songs, favoring new releases but also exploring older music. This listening pattern persisted until the age of 40 or so, when people’s preferences tended to become more focused, narrowing in on the music they liked when they were young. “Beyond 40, current music consumption declines, and nostalgia-driven listening dominates,” researchers write. 

Your musical companion through the ages

Spiritune is designed to appeal to every type of music lover—no matter if you’re a disco-crazy 60’s baby or a millennial with a penchant for pop-punk. Instead of focusing on a particular style, it’s built with the intention of “making music accessible for everyone,” says Daniel Bowling, Ph.D., Spiritune’s Scientific Co-founder. 

Spiritune music tracks use principles of music therapy and neuroscience to lead listeners through noticeable changes in mood and energy in just a few minutes. Composed with genre-agnostic instruments and beats, they’re made to be therapeutic for everyone—no matter their listening age.

Like what you're reading? Sign up for Spiritune’s newsletter to get a monthly music therapy download straight to your inbox. Haven’t tried Spiritune yet? Download it today with a free trial!

Humans have been making music for at least 40,000 years. Millennia later, we’re still learning new things about the remarkable ways our bodies respond to sound. 

This year, scientists honed in on how music can help reduce the pain of a hospital stay, ease the trauma of war and displacement, enhance our ability to stay on task, and much more. There were over 700 music therapy studies published this year—and these five really had our team talking:

1. Using sound to ease the trauma of displacement.

Forced displacement from war and natural disaster is a growing threat to global health—one that a cross-cultural intervention like music may be uniquely well-suited to. 

Case in point: This year, displaced mothers and children from Ukraine reported significant mental health improvements after just eight weeks of a music therapy intervention. Caregivers showed fewer signs of PTSD, depression, and anxiety after the sessions, while children had improved communication and better socio-emotional functioning. According to their mothers, the kids were also able to “open up” more after playing instruments, singing Ukrainian songs, and engaging in musical rituals. 

2. Finding the right tune for focused work.

Music can help make monotonous tasks like computer work more enjoyable—but not just any song or playlist will do the trick. 

This spring, a randomized controlled study, Effects of Music Advertised to Support Focus on Mood and Processing Speed, found that Spiritune is significantly more effective at improving mood and performance during cognitive tests than other forms of music, such as Spotify’s “Deep Focus” playlist and popular songs from the Billboard Hot 100.

The study, which involved 196 healthy adults, concluded that Spiritune’s science-driven compositions were four times more effective than other music at reducing negative emotional states. An impressive 76% of participants were in a better mood after listening to them. Spiritune was also the only type of music to improve executive function and cognition.

It only took 7-10 minutes for these benefits to occur, demonstrating that listening to Spiritune is a fast and effective way to lock into work mode and improve productivity.

Get an inside look at the research here.

3. Demystifying the body’s response to sound.

New research suggests that listening to music is far from a passive process. When you press play on a song, your body and brain may actively synchronize with the rhythm and harmony of the track.

This year, a team of researchers led by Edward W. Large at the University of Connecticut reviewed existing literature to propose a new explanation for humans' musical response: the "neural resonance theory." This theory states that our brain waves actually synchronize to the rhythms of the music we listen to. Our urge to smile, dance, and groove with certain beats is the result of this physical embodiment. 

"This means that the human body is very much part of the music-making process. Neurons vibrate like a plucked guitar string. Seen on an EEG, brainwaves dance to drumbeats," reads a UConn recap of the study.

Concetta Tomaino, DA, the Executive Director of The Institute for Music & Neurologic Function and the Music Therapy Advisor at Spiritune, considers this one of the most important papers of the year because it takes fundamental principles of neuroscience and applies them in an exciting new way.

4. Investigating music’s potential for healthcare patients.

This year, experiments across the globe investigated how music can make hospitals and medical centers more comfortable for patients. 

In two general hospitals in Colombia, researchers found that both live music and pre-recorded music could reduce visitors’ anxiety and stress. Over in Ohio, a study across ten medical centers found that musical therapy sessions incorporating singing, playing instruments, and relaxation techniques tended to be the most effective at reducing pain in those with various diagnoses. 

5. Exploring music’s role in the operating room.

Music might be able to ease our stress even when we’re not consciously aware that it’s playing, a new study suggests. For this research, surgery patients were set up with noise-cancelling headphones before being put under anesthesia. Some of them listened to calming instrumental music during their procedures; the others didn’t listen to anything. 

Researchers monitored the amount of medication that both groups needed, and sure enough, patients who listened to music required lower doses of propofol (an anesthetic) and fentanyl (a painkiller) during their surgeries. This implies that music might help calm down the nervous system and stress response even when the brain is “offline.” 

“The unconscious mind still has areas that remain active. Even if the music isn't explicitly recalled, implicit awareness can lead to beneficial effects,” Farah Husain, a co-author on the study, tells BBC News. 

Furthermore, the music-listening patients had lower levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) once they woke up, leading researchers to believe that music therapy can be a helpful tool both during and after taxing events like surgeries. 

6. Reinforcing music’s role in neurodegenerative disease treatment.

Researchers have long suspected that music therapy might help those with neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. This year, two sweeping scientific reviews reinforced music’s potential to combat cognitive decline. 

First, a review of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research concluded that music can “act as a guardian of memory in AD,” combating memory loss by enhancing activity in certain brain regions. The paper also points out that music can open up non-verbal communication pathways, allowing patients to engage with their caregivers in new ways.

Then, a comprehensive analysis of Parkinson’s research found that a type of music therapy known as rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) can improve certain symptoms of the disease, like balance issues and gait abnormalities, by up to 20 percent. 

Study authors support music therapy as a low-cost, minimally invasive option for neurodegenerative disease patients, and predict that it will only become more widespread in the years ahead. 

Like what you're reading? Sign up for Spiritune’s newsletter to get a monthly music therapy download straight to your inbox. Haven’t tried Spiritune yet? Download it today with a free trial!

As we get older, our relationship with stress tends to change. While everyone’s different, research shows that, on average, younger people tend to feel stress more regularly and intensely than older adults. A recent Stress in America™ survey from the APA found that new technologies and lingering after-effects of the pandemic are putting even more strain on teens’ mental health, leading some of today’s Gen Z adults and younger millennials to report feeling “completely overwhelmed” by stress.

Universities around the country have an opportunity to equip young adults with tools to manage this stress in college and beyond. A unique program at Yale University is showing how students can improve their mental health with holistic stress management tools - including, we’re proud to say, Spiritune.

The Good Life Approach

The Good Life Center at Yale is an organization that equips students with evidence-based skills for fostering mental, physical, social, and emotional well-being. They host events that help students unwind with practices like yoga and art, as well as carve out physical spaces for health and relaxation (think: a green room filled with plants and natural materials). 

The Center also provides students with tools they can use to combat stress in the moment. When the pressures of maintaining healthy relationships, getting good grades, and planning for the future start to add up, these science-backed techniques can help them get back to baseline.

“By offering accessible, evidence-based opportunities to build healthy habits, we help students build a more balanced and fulfilling college experience,” Bethel Asomaning, The Good Life Center’s 2025-2026 Director of Programming, tells Spiritune.

A Flexible Tool for Students

Starting this academic year, The Good Life Center is offering students a free subscription to Spiritune’s music library. This new offering comes on the heels of scientific research showing that music can be uniquely therapeutic for adolescents—providing an avenue to manage emotions, ease anxiety, and build self-confidence.

“By giving students a simple yet effective way to regulate their mood and enhance focus, this partnership advances our mission of making well-being a more frequent practice,” says Asomaning.

Here’s how it works: Using a customized link, students can sign up for a free Spiritune subscription with their school email address. Once enrolled, they receive full access to Spiritune’s music library and all customization features, allowing them to tailor the experience to their current needs and wellness goals. So far, over 100 students have downloaded the app and put it to use to sharpen focus before study sessions, calm the mind before sleep, and more.

Only a few months into the school year, early student feedback has been encouraging. “Many have shared that Spiritune has noticeably improved their ability to concentrate and manage stress while studying,” Asomaning says. 

Students appreciate the app’s flexibility and accessibility, too. Since its tracks can be played to meet the demands of any time of day—morning, afternoon, or evening—it’s a helpful companion from the dorm room to the library. Its customized music arrangements can also guide students through a number of emotions—from sadness to stress to boredom—quickly and effectively.  

“Spiritune’s scientific foundation, combined with its accessibility and usability, makes it a helpful tool for students as they integrate wellness into their rest, work, and daily rhythms of life,” Asomaning says.  

Music Medicine for a New Generation

We’re thrilled to see how our partnership with Yale is equipping young adults to more effectively manage their mental health. 

“Spiritune leverages a tool that young adults are already engaging with daily: music! The early results from Yale show how the app can help students in a low-stigma, intuitive way,” says Jamie Pabst, Spiritune Founder and CEO. “For us, this partnership reinforces a core mission: to make evidence-based musical support easy to use, widely accessible, and part of how the next generation takes care of their mental health.”

Like what you're reading? Sign up for Spiritune’s newsletter to get a monthly music therapy download straight to your inbox.