No, this isn’t going to be a rant about how One Direction or Justin Bieber are killing music, a statement which would see hateful stares from at least two people in the office.

Rather it’s something a little more measured, a look at sales of living artists versus dead ones. The scary titbit of info you’ll need to understand just how those numbers stack up? Many predict that in 10 years time dead musicians will generate more revenue than live ones.

Books, movies, the biggest sellers at any given time are generally recent releases. There’s even a catchy rhyme for it – latest is greatest, oldie is mouldy.

Bu that’s just not the case with music, so lets crunch some numbers with the Daily Beast:

In a bizarre development, largely ignored by the music press, old songs are now outselling new ones. Nielsen reports that 123 million catalog albums (defined as more than 18 months old) were sold last year, versus 119 million new releases. The same trend is evident in the purchase of digital tracks: 485 million old songs were sold versus 480 million new ones.

Only a decade ago, new albums outsold old ones by 150 million units. What a change! If this trend continues—and there’s no reason to think it won’t—new music will become a kind of niche category…

Even the highly touted new albums nowadays are often by old artists. I am stunned by how many musicians in their seventies (or older) are enjoying mega-hits in 2016. Paul Simon, age 74, just achieved his best chart position in 29 years with his latest album Stranger to Stranger. A few days ago, Eric Clapton was on top of the Billboard rock chart with I Still Do. Bob Dylan’s Fallen Angels took top place in the Folk/Americana category.

Ah, they are youngsters compared to Tony Bennett, who took away a Grammy for pop vocals at the most recent awards ceremony. Bennett turns 90 on August 3, and look for a big celebration and huge media coverage. I love his music … but ask yourself, how many 90-year-olds are big draws in movies, TV, and other creative fields?