Ever had that moment when a song comes on and it feels strangely familiar, like it reminds you of another song that came out just a few months ago? If you feel this phenomenon has become more frequent, then you are not imagining it. Science agrees with you. A recent study found that Western music is not only starting to sound more alike but is also becoming less structurally complex than in the past.

The team of researchers from Italy examined more than 20,000 pieces of music, tracing patterns from 17th-century classical compositions through 20th-century jazz and into modern genres all the way up to 2021.

Pieces that were written 400 years ago, particularly in the Classical genre, exhibit higher weighted efficiency. In other words, the music is not built around the same few patterns repeated again and again. Instead, it explores a wider range of note combinations, which makes it feel more varied, less predictable, and richer in structure.