Music loudness 2026: 557 tracks measured on Echoteka

November 11, 2026 · All posts

The median track mastered on Echoteka measures −14.4 LUFS on input, and 7.7% of tracks are louder than −9 LUFS. After mastering, the median sits at −14.0 LUFS.

This page measures 557 tracks mastered on Echoteka over the last 180 days, up to 11 November 2026. The sample covers all mastering presets together, so it shows the overall picture of what comes in and what comes out, not the loudness of any one genre.

Loudness before and after mastering

On input, 7.7% of tracks are louder than −9 LUFS, 33.2% sit between −14 and −9 LUFS, and 59.1% are quieter than −14 LUFS. Of those, 5.7% are quieter than −20 LUFS.

LRA in this measurement is given for the input only.

What this means for the author

Most tracks start below the streaming reference. Half of the inputs are at −14.4 LUFS or quieter, and 59.1% are quieter than −14 LUFS. Only 7.7% are louder than −9 LUFS, so for the majority the mastering step is what brings the level up to the platform target.

After mastering, the median output is −14.0 LUFS, and 75% of outputs are not louder than −14.0 LUFS. Ninety percent are not louder than −12.1 LUFS, so the loud tail is short. The median true peak is −1.0 dBTP, which leaves headroom for lossy encoding.

Dynamics hold steady: the crest factor stays about the same, from 14.5 to 14.7 dB. The median loudness range is 5.3 LU, and 10% of tracks have an LRA of 2.3 LU or less. A quiet input is not necessarily a flaw, but a platform with loudness normalization raises quiet tracks only within the peak headroom. The guide to reading loudness numbers explains each reading.

How to check your own track

Check your file with the free LUFS checker: it shows integrated loudness, true peak and loudness range. Compare the result with the median above. If your track is louder than −9 LUFS, aim for about −14 LUFS so that a platform does not have to turn it down. To master the track, start a master on Echoteka; it takes about a minute.

Method

• Window. 180 days to 11 November 2026.
• Sample. Tracks mastered on Echoteka in the last 180 days, successful jobs only, aggregates only. No data on individual tracks or people is published.
• Style. The table covers all presets together. No genre breakdown is published, because the sample for each preset is too small to report.
• Measurements. Integrated loudness in LUFS following ITU-R BS.1770; true peak in dBTP; loudness range (LRA) in LU; crest factor in dB.
• Percentiles. p10 means 10% of tracks are quieter than this value, p90 means 10% are louder. The median (p50) splits the sample in half.
• Rounding. To 0.1; shares are percentages of the 557 tracks.

Read next

• How to read loudness numbers
• The loudness war in 2026
• Too loud and flat? A second master
• Audio clipping: what it is and how to fix it