If you listen to music in your car, you are not alone. Even today, that is where most of us do our music listening. And surprisingly, even with all the choices available to us today, good old AM/FM radio, with 24 percent of all users, is still the number one choice of motorists.
Not far behind, however, is internet radio, with 23 percent of all drivers listening to music in this way.
But what about CDs? Today, only 9 percent of all drivers who want to listen to music while driving, still use a CD for that purpose.
Of the streaming music services available to drivers, Pandora leads the pack with 39 percent of all streaming music listeners using this free service.
Music In Your Car With Your Smartphone
If you listen to music in your car, what about your smartphone? Research done in 2013 showed that 56 percent of US smartphone owners used their smartphone to listen to music while driving. Of that group, 60 percent listened to their own music catalog, while 65 percent used internet radio apps like Pandora and 30 percent used on-demand services like Spotify.
And the number of smartphone owners using their smartphone to listen to music is growing. 54 percent of this group spent more time listening to music on their smartphone in 2014 than they did in 2012.
If you listen to music in your car, do you still do so by way of the radio? Surprisingly, AM/FM radio is holding on tenuously to its number one position for in car music listeners. But why?
First and foremost it is free. It is also accessible to everyone.
According to a recent survey, 69 percent of working Americans have an average daily commute time of 25 minutes. So on the average workday, over one-third of all the drivers around you on the road are listening to the radio.
When It Comes To Music In Your Car Who Listens The Most?
But who listens the most? The answer may surprise you. Research show that it is female teen drivers who listen to music on the radio more than any other group of drivers. Following closely behind are 25-34 year-old males.
Take a look at the graph below to get a better idea of our listening preferences while behind the wheel.
Apparently, rather than listening to music in your car, 2 percent of drivers simply hum to themselves while driving.
For those of us who have been driving for decades, the potential embarrassment of seeing someone looking over at you as you sing along with the music in your car has diminished.
Today, that curious driver alongside you cannot be sure if you are singing along with one of your favorite songs, or if you are simply having a hands free phone conversation.
So with no more potential embarrassment to worry about, if you want to listen to music in your car and want to sing as you drive, I say “Let her rip!”