{"id":2940,"date":"2018-10-06T03:19:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-06T03:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/amazon-reveals-alexas-most-requested-albums\/"},"modified":"2018-10-06T03:19:50","modified_gmt":"2018-10-06T03:19:50","slug":"amazon-reveals-alexas-most-requested-albums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/amazon-reveals-alexas-most-requested-albums\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon reveals Alexa’s most-requested albums"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Adele, Michael Jackson and Dua Lipa are among Alexa’s most-popular artists
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Ed Sheeran’s \u00f7 is the most-requested album on Amazon’s voice-activated speakers, the company has revealed.<\/p>\n

It’s hardly surprising: The record was the UK’s best-seller last year, shifting more than 2.5 million copies.<\/p>\n

Hit records by George Ezra, Adele and Dua Lipa also feature in the Top 50, which was released to coincide with National Album Day.<\/p>\n

But a closer look at Alexa’s most-popular albums reveals behaviour that may concern the music industry.<\/p>\n

When people use voice commands to stream music, they consistently ask for songs they already know, with new artists largely frozen out of the picture.<\/p>\n

For instance, Ed Sheeran accounts for three of the top five most-requested records; while there are multiple entries in the Top 50 for stars like Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Little Mix, and Katy Perry.<\/p>\n

Just eight of Alexa’s top 50 albums were released this year, and only two of those were debuts – Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy and Anne-Marie’s Speak Your Mind.<\/p>\n

By contrast, the Official Charts Company says 16 of this year’s best-selling albums are new releases, with three debuts in the Top 40.<\/p>\n

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The Alexa chart highlights a known problem with voice-activated listening – that there’s a significant barrier to discovering new music.<\/p>\n

“If you’re looking at Spotify on your phone or your computer a lot of stuff is presented to you, so you might go, ‘Oh, so-and-so’s got a new album out, I’ll give that a go'” says Mark Sutherland, editor of Music Week.<\/p>\n

“But if all the decision-making is put upon you, and you have to tell Alexa what to choose, then inevitably you’re likely to go for tried-and-trusted, more familiar music.”<\/p>\n