Grade Inflation in Music Ratings? Statistical Analysis of Professional Ratings of Albums on Wikipedia

IF 1.5 4区心理学 0 HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Empirical Studies of the Arts Pub Date : 2026-09-23 DOI:10.1177/02762374261490877

Duane Emerson Lundy, Leon Kira Brentise Hancock, Kally Leanne Grice, Isaiah James Houston

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Abstract

With so many supposed experts on the internet, who can be trusted about perceptions of artistic merit? All professionals’ album ratings on Wikipedia were tabulated every five years over 50 years, yielding a sample of 531 raters giving 16,614 ratings of 4,448 albums in 17 genres. For all critic pairs rating at least 30 albums, ratings were moderately in sync, with 72% of 230 pairs showing significant positive correlations (average r = +.35). In addition, shared aesthetic consensus regarding album quality explained more than twice the variance in ratings compared to individual critic idiosyncrasies. As predicted, the critics’ rating distribution was mound-shaped but negatively skewed (−.62), while individuals varied widely in rating behavior. Inflated ratings were particularly salient (46.5% of ratings at 80/100 or higher). Consistent with Martindale, who argued that quality should decrease in older artistic areas, critics tended to perceive weakening average album quality between 1960 and 2010.

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音乐评分中的分数膨胀？维基百科专辑专业评分的统计分析

互联网上有这么多所谓的专家，在对艺术价值的看法上，谁可以信任？所有专业人士在维基百科上的专辑评分每五年被制成表格，在50年的时间里，531名评分者对17种类型的4448张专辑给出了16614个评分。对于所有对至少30张专辑进行评分的评论家来说，评分是适度同步的，230对中有72%显示出显著的正相关（平均r = + 0.35）。此外，关于专辑质量的共同审美共识解释了两倍以上的评级差异，而不是个别评论家的特质。正如预测的那样，影评人的评分分布呈土丘状，但呈负向倾斜(-。62)，而个体在评价行为上差异很大。夸大的评分尤其突出（46.5%的评分在80/100或更高）。马丁代尔认为，较老的艺术领域的质量应该下降，与他的观点一致，评论家们倾向于认为，1960年至2010年间，专辑的平均质量正在下降。

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来源期刊

Empirical Studies of the Arts Multiple-

CiteScore

2.60

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Empirical Studies of the Arts (ART) aims to be an interdisciplinary forum for theoretical and empirical studies of aesthetics, creativity, and all of the arts. It spans anthropological, psychological, neuroscientific, semiotic, and sociological studies of the creation, perception, and appreciation of literary, musical, visual and other art forms. Whether you are an active researcher or an interested bystander, Empirical Studies of the Arts keeps you up to date on the latest trends in scientific studies of the arts.