No matter where you usually hear todays top hits， youve probably noticed that they tend to be around three minutes long.

As Vox explains， the custom dates back to the early 20th century， when shellac records first appeared in the market. The rates at which these records spun varied， but 78 revolutions per minute （RPM） quickly became the norm. The most popular record sizes were 10 inches—which could hold about three minutes of music per side—and 12 inches， which held roughly four to five minutes per side. To get radio stations to broadcast their music and get people to buy it， musicians pretty much had to consider those time limits.

無論你習(xí)慣在哪兒聽歌，你應(yīng)該能注意到流行歌曲通常長3分鐘左右。

Vox公司解釋道，這一慣例源自20世紀(jì)早期，當(dāng)時蟲膠制作的黑膠唱片（粗紋唱片）剛剛在市場上出現(xiàn)。這些唱片的轉(zhuǎn)速各有不同，但是每分鐘78圈的轉(zhuǎn)速很快便成了業(yè)內(nèi)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。最流行的唱片大小是10英寸（25.4厘米）和12英寸（30.48厘米），前者每一面可以播放3分鐘音樂，后者每一面可以播放4—5分鐘音樂。為了讓電臺播放他們的音樂，讓人們購買他們的唱片，音樂人基本上都會遵從這些時間限制。

The late 1940s saw the birth of the 45 RPM record： a smaller， cheaper disc made of vinyl that couldnt manage much more than three minutes of music per side. Long-playing records （LPs） were introduced around the same time， but it was much easier for radio stations to play single tracks from 45s—which hordes of listeners then went out and bought. While 10-inch 78s had originated the three-minute trend， 45s really helped make it a necessity for radio singles throughout the mid-20th century.

As music technology evolved over the years， from records to cassette tapes to CDs， three minutes didnt fall out of fashion as the de facto standard for pop songs. According to Classic FM， this is partly because radio stations could fit more commercials into a program if the songs stayed relatively short. Record labels may have favored shorter singles， too， since longer songs didnt mean fatter royalty checks. Its also likely that pop music listeners just preferred concision; after all， its what the last several decades had taught them to expect. As Thomas Tierney， director of the Sony Music Archives Library， told Mashable， “Its embedded in our DNA.”

20世紀(jì)40年代晚期，45轉(zhuǎn)的唱片誕生了，這種由乙烯基塑料制作的更小更廉價(jià)的黑膠唱片每一面只能播放3分鐘左右的音樂。大概在同一時間，密紋唱片也上市了，但是電臺播放45轉(zhuǎn)的單聲道唱片要容易得多。大批聽眾在聽過電臺的音樂之后，就會去購買這種唱片。盡管3分鐘的潮流是由78轉(zhuǎn)的10英寸唱片引發(fā)的，但是45轉(zhuǎn)的唱片卻讓20世紀(jì)中葉的電臺單曲不得不控制在3分鐘以內(nèi)。

過去這些年，音樂技術(shù)不斷進(jìn)步，從唱片到磁帶再到光盤……然而3分鐘作為流行歌曲實(shí)際長度的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)并沒有過時。據(jù)Classic FM電臺介紹，一部分原因是如果歌曲相對較短，電臺就能在節(jié)目中插播更多商業(yè)廣告。唱片公司應(yīng)該也青睞較短的單曲，因?yàn)闀r間長的單曲并不能給他們帶來更多版稅。不過也可能是因?yàn)榱餍懈枨穆牨娋褪窍矚g簡短的歌，畢竟，過去幾十年他們已經(jīng)養(yǎng)成了這種聽歌習(xí)慣。索尼音樂資料圖書館館長托馬斯·蒂爾尼在接受博客網(wǎng)站Mashable采訪時說：“這已經(jīng)根植于我們的DNA中了?！?/p>

Today， many tracks come in under three minutes long. Shorter attention spans and social medias influence might explain the trend toward brevity， but its not the only factor： The compensation model matters， too.

“Instead of getting paid by physical sales， youre getting paid in a stream， which only counts if someone listens to 30 seconds of a song，” songwriter Charlie Harding told The Verge. “It actually makes sense if you can have more songs streamed at a time， which means that you want to pack your album full of much shorter songs.”

In other words， success is now less about sales and more about number of streams. Todays pop stars are making music that reflects the shift—not unlike how 20th-century musicians learned to work within the confines of the original three-ish-minute limit.

如今，許多單曲時長都不到3分鐘。人們的注意力持續(xù)時間變短以及社交媒體的影響或許可以解釋流行歌曲為什么越來越短，但是除此之外，還有報(bào)酬機(jī)制的因素。

作曲人查理·哈爾丁在接受網(wǎng)站The Verge采訪時說：“現(xiàn)在不是根據(jù)唱片銷量，而是根據(jù)流量來收費(fèi)，一首歌收聽時間達(dá)到30秒才能計(jì)入流量。這樣一來，你會想在流媒體平臺上一次播放更多歌曲，這意味著你會在專輯中收錄更多短歌?！?/p>

換言之，如今一張唱片成功，與銷量的關(guān)系沒那么大，而流量則重要得多?，F(xiàn)在的流行歌手在制作音樂時也會反映當(dāng)下形勢的變化，這與20世紀(jì)的音樂人學(xué)著在3分鐘的播放限制內(nèi)創(chuàng)作并無不同。

Word Bank

horde /h??d/ n. 一大群人

There are always hordes of tourists here in the summer.

royalty check 版稅

embed /?m'bed/ v. 使牢牢嵌入；使根深蒂固

These attitudes are deeply embedded in our society.

brevity /'brev?ti/ n. 短暫