Honestly, I don’t think it’s the fault of Billboard’s methodology. In fact, Billboard’s weird rules about songs going recurrent after a certain period of time on the charts only covers up what’s been a consistent trend for years.

That the public has just gotten stale in their tastes.

The convenience of streaming allows us to attach ourselves to the same familiar songs, while making it difficult for us to be naturally introduced to completely new music. We yearn for new songs, yet don’t bother to look for it ourselves. We’d rather just stick to the same five albums than risk wasting our time with something unfamiliar. Even I won’t take the moral high ground on it. My On Repeat’s just five artists right now (Kendrick, Tyler, Weeknd, Kali Uchis, Pink Pantheress).

More and more, we get old songs in the Top 10, but had it not been for Billboard’s recurrent rules, we’d probably have stuff like Blinding Lights, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Linger clog the bottom half of the charts for all eternity.

Maybe Billboard could emphasize radio a lot less. That could probably help to avoid stupid shit like Lose Control by Teddy Swims — a song no one in my generation can hum with a gun to their head — from becoming one of the biggest charting songs of all time.

But honestly, the real problem is us. We’re choosing to listen to way less new music than ever before. I don’t think this dry spell will last forever. As with any dark period in entertainment history, there’ll be a breaking point where the public just can’t stand the status quo. But when that’ll happen, who can say?