Should you master to -14 LUFS?
Since Spotify and other streaming platforms introduced loudness normalization, many producers recommend mastering tracks to about -14 LUFS. The reasoning is simple: this avoids a loudness penalty, and making a track louder won’t give any advantage because normalization levels it out. But do professional producers actually follow this guideline? We analyzed the Spotify charts to see what the pro's are really doing.
Analyzing the Spotify Dance Charts
First, we analyzed the Spotify Dance Charts, which include many currently popular tracks across various electronic music genres. Artists such as KEINEMUSIK, Anyma, David Guetta, John Summit, and many more were part of the analysis. For each track, we measured the integrated LUFS to see whether these top producers actually master to the often recommended -14 LUFS.
The results are clear. Almost none of these producers stick to -14 LUFS. Across all tracks in the Spotify Dance Charts, the average loudness is -8.41 LUFS. This is well above the recommended level and shows that most producers aim for louder masters despite normalization guidelines.
Examining Popular Tracks
To give a few specific examples, we looked more closely at popular tracks across different genres. The analysis shows that many of the biggest producers and hit makers aim for much louder masters than -14 LUFS. For instance, 'MOVE' by KEINEMUSIK measures -10.20 LUFS. 'Voices in My Head' by Anyma hits -8.00 LUFS, 'Shiver' by John Summit comes in at -7.00 LUFS, 'I Adore You' by HUGEL is -8.50 LUFS, and 'Dreamin' by Dom Dolla registers -8.00 LUFS.
Based on the chart analysis and these examples, most producers seem to aim roughly around -8.00 LUFS for their masters. They clearly do not target -14.00 LUFS, ignoring the popular advice often found online.
What about Pop Music?
So far, we have only analyzed electronic dance tracks. One could argue that these producers do not aim for -14 LUFS because their songs are designed for club play. It might seem that tracks geared toward casual listeners, produced by top-tier engineers, would follow Spotify’s guidelines more closely.
To test this, we examined the current Top 100 songs. This list includes hits from some of the biggest names in music, such as Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Drake, Justin Bieber, and many others. These artists often work with world-class mastering engineers. Do these producers target -14 LUFS?
The answer is no. The average loudness across these songs is -8.62 LUFS. This is well above -14 LUFS and surprisingly close to the levels seen in dance tracks.
What about other Genres?
At this point, we were curious. Neither the top electronic nor pop producers master to -14 LUFS. What about producers in other genres?
To find out, we analyzed the current top songs across the most popular music genres. We found that most genres have an average loudness around -8.50 LUFS. Only a few genres clearly deviate from this range, with Drum and Bass and Hardstyle being the most notable exceptions, as they follow a much higher loudness standard.
Summary
In this study, we investigated the common advice to master tracks at -14.00 LUFS and whether professional producers actually follow it. To find out, we analyzed the loudness of popular songs across multiple genres. The results are clear: professional producers do not target -14.00 LUFS. Instead, they typically aim for around -8.50 LUFS in most genres.
