Thematic element young listeners contribute (5)
I believe the answer is:
years
'thematic element' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how they can define each other.
'young listeners contribute' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'young' could be 'y' and 'y' is found within the answer.
'listeners' could be 'ears' (body parts which listen) and 'ears' is found in the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for years that I've seen before include "Very long time (colloq.)" , "Ages" , "Units of time" , "Long periods" , "Age" .)