Comment by samdafi
Music, as tracked by Billboard, cross genre, is as loud as ever. Here’s a survey of Billboard music:
https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/mastering-trends?srsltid=Af...
I have an Audio Developer Conference talk about this topic if you care to follow the history of it. I have softened my stance a bit on the criticism of the 90’s (yeah, people were using lookahead limiting over exuberantly because of its newness) but the meat of the talk may be of interest anyway.