Why Music Gets Released on Fridays

By Malena Segovia | December 15, 2021

Ever notice new music always gets released on Fridays at midnight? Well, there’s a reason why it’s so important. For over 25 years, albums in the U.S. came out on Tuesdays but due to declining sales, New Music Friday became the standard for the industry in 2015. Later that year, the Friday release date was set in 60 countries.

With digital formatting becoming the default for music listeners, it created a threat to releases worldwide. If, for example music was being released in Germany earlier, it was easy for them to leak and ruin the release in the United States. With choosing a single day worldwide, it would limit listeners from uploading the music to piracy sites for free.

You might ask: wouldn’t it be beneficial for some artists to release in the middle of the week instead to avoid competition? The answer is no. Billboard tracks sales and streams from Friday to Thursday every week. By releasing on a Tuesday, Billboard would only count streams from Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Therefore by releasing on Friday, artists would be getting more sales since it’s being tracked for all 7 days of the week. Streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music update their music playlists in Fridays as well, so it gives artists more chances of being featured on them.

Although Fridays may seem like a hectic day with so many releases, it is helpful to have it all on one place and if you’re a music fan, make sure to keep those alarms on every Friday!

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Author’s Bio: Malena Segovia is a senior at California State University, Northridge studying Public Relations with a minor in Pop Culture. She is passionate about the entertainment industry and hopes to work in Film & TV. She is currently doing PR for The Independent 88.5 FM.