1 in 3 Gen Zs are unfamiliar with The Beatles, says survey

21 May 2022, 18:00

The Beatles with Gen Z stock image inset — The Beatles are still somewhat familiar with Gen Zs. Picture: 1. Richard Mitchell/Shutterstock 2. Jordi Salas

By Jenny Mensah

A new survey has compared the listening habits of Gen Zs with the older generation to see how familiar they are with certain artists.

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A survey has found that a third of Gen Zs don't know about The Beatles.

Roberts surveyed 2,000 respondents made up of Gen Zs (aged 16-23) and Boomers (aged 74+) to investigate how familiar each demographic is with various artists and if their tastes have developed over time.

Though the Beatles weren't universally known amongst the younger generation, the results aren't that bleak. While 1 in 3 Gen Z-ers didn't know of The Fab Four, 68.97% of them did.

In fact, The Beatles were the most recognised artists among the demographic when it came to older music, followed by Elvis Presley (67.24%), Whitney Houston (67.24%) and Queen (66.81%).

Sadly, the least recognised artist by Gen Z was the late Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, who only 36. 64% of them were familiar with.

Gen Z's may not have known that much about older music, but they did far better than their counterparts did when it came to contemporary music.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ed Sheeran was one of the most recognised artists by the older generation with 61.11% knowing who he was.

Next up were Lady Gaga (53.70%), Beyonce (47.22%), Taylor Swift (40.74%), Ariana Grande (37.96%) and Justin Bieber (35.19%) - with only 34.26% of respondents being familiar with man of the moment, Harry Styles.

Right at the bottom of the table was AJ Tracey with only 0.93% of Boomers being familiar with the artist, overall proving that younger generations were far more likely to be aware of older music than older generations were likely to be familiar with new music.

See the full study here.