skip rate
/skɪp reɪt/
CommonHow often a listener skips a song before it finishes, used as a signal of quality or taste.
In casual use, saying something has a high skip rate is a soft diss. A zero skip rate is a strong compliment.
Real-world examples4 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | zero skip rate on this whole album, every track hits | Every song on the album is good enough to listen through completely. | x, 2024 |
| 02 | i'm on my third skip in a row from this playlist, the algorithm lost the plot | Several consecutive songs missed the mark, suggesting the recommendations are off. | reddit, 2024 |
| 03 | new project dropped and my skip rate is embarrassingly high, only liked 2 songs | Most of the album wasn't engaging enough to finish. | x, 2024 |
| 04 | skip rate tells you more about an album than any review | Actual listening behavior is a more honest measure than written criticism. | tiktok, 2023 |
Use it when
- Describing how often you skip songs on an album or playlist.
- Evaluating whether a release is strong enough to listen through.
- Comparing how engaging different artists or albums are.
Do not use it when
- You mean you dislike the song for a specific reason.
- You mean general listening habits.Use “listening-habits” instead.
Origin and context
Industry metric used by streaming platforms to measure song engagement. Entered casual listener vocabulary as people became more aware of how algorithms weight completion rates.
- First seen
- mid-2010s
- Confidence
- medium
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/skip-rateUpdated: 2026-08-28License: CC BY 4.0