AI-Generated Music Tops Streaming Charts Amid Rising Upload Volumes and Political Themes

AI-generated music has rapidly gained prominence on streaming platforms like Spotify, with tracks by AI artist Breaking Rust dominating charts. Their songs "Walk my walk" and "Livin’ on borrowed time" alternated atop Spotify's Viral 50 chart in the USA, and "Walk my walk" led Billboard's Country digital song sales for three consecutive weeks, as reported by both Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet.

This surge in AI-created music extends beyond classic country, with politically charged pieces such as JW Broken Veteran's "We say no, no, no to an asylum center" reaching Spotify's global charts, although rights issues have led to its removal from Spotify and YouTube.

Streaming platform Deezer revealed that approximately 50,000 AI-generated songs are uploaded daily, representing about one-third of new music content. A Deezer-conducted study surveying 9,000 individuals across eight countries found that 97% could not distinguish between music made by AI and humans, underscoring challenges in listener perception.

Musician Ed Newton-Rex described the surge as a fast-moving trend, emphasizing the vast volume of AI music being produced and uploaded. Another AI artist, Velvet Sundown, achieved more than one million streams on Spotify last summer, highlighting continued listener engagement with AI music.

These developments signal both the growing influence of AI in music creation and the complexities it introduces, including the blending of musical genres, political messaging, and questions around authenticity and rights management.