Spotify Wrapped: Unravelled

Written by: Chan Kar Teng (24-I2)

Designed by: Justa Wee (24-E4)

It’s that time of the year again— when November is coming to an end, and everyone is posting screenshots of their Spotify Wrapped all over social media. Those who celebrate Christmas are excited that they can finally listen to their favourite carols without affecting their Spotify Wrapped, and those who have been loyally listening to their favourite artists are pumped to see if their efforts have paid off. There will never be more stories about Spotify than in the month of November, when the long-awaited Spotify Wrapped is released at last.

But what exactly is Spotify Wrapped? How did it come to be, and why is it so anticipated?

An audio streaming platform that was founded in 2006, Spotify has become one of the largest music streaming service providers today, with hundreds of millions of active users per month. Arguably one of its most popular features is Spotify Wrapped, a viral marketing campaign that was launched about ten years after Spotify’s creation. Regardless of whether you are a subscribed member of Spotify, a non-paying user, an artist or a consumer, everyone with a Spotify account has access to the once-in-a-year compilation of their most listened-to musicians, songs and genres, creating an eye-opening amalgamation of their past eleven months of music streaming. Users are even provided with the exact number of songs they listened to that year, alongside the song that resonated with them the most — as well as how many times they have played that specific song, and which particular date they listened to that song the most.

This is what makes Spotify Wrapped so popular. It promises users the opportunity to look back and reflect on their music taste, even giving them the chance to compare their present-day statistics with their Spotify Wrapped from previous years. After all, isn’t it human nature to reminisce about the past and admire how much we have changed? With Spotify Wrapped, we are able to remember the songs we used to listen to, bringing to mind all of the memories we associated with certain tunes. Additionally, we are able to celebrate how our tastes have changed, when musicians we have never even heard of a year ago end up in our most recent top artists.

However, that isn’t the sole appeal of Spotify Wrapped. Of course, there is a competitive aspect when it comes to individuals and their music tastes. Some may make it their goal to listen to more ‘indie’ artists, relishing in the fact that the songs in their Spotify Wrapped aren’t as ‘mainstream’ as that of their peers. On the other hand, there are certain dedicated fans who listen to their favourite artists obsessively in hopes of making it in the top percentile of users who stream their music, going to extreme lengths to see that “top 0.001% fan” in the top artist section of their Spotify Wrapped.

This then brings a certain question to light: does Spotify Wrapped bring more harm than good?

Besides the fact that everyone has turned a blind eye to Spotify tracking its users and storing their data, it seems that the concept of Wrapped has turned into something superficial — a means for people to craft and boast about their music taste rather than a display of users authentically listening to the songs that they enjoy most. This is damaging, and not just because the integrity of Spotify Wrapped is questioned. It’s because it restricts users from listening to the artist they truly wish to indulge in, for fear that they may appear ‘lame’ or ‘controversial’ or, worst of all, ‘just like everybody else’. Without us realising, Spotify Wrapped has transformed our music streaming experience into the likes of a glass cage — we are all subconsciously changing our actions, trying to listen to a certain artist more, trying to stream a particular song less, because we do not want to be judged by the peering eyes of those who view our social media posts. This ruins the legitimacy of Spotify Wrapped, making it out to be more of a performance than a genuine showing. If Spotify Wrapped’s original purpose was to allow users to view their music taste after a year’s worth of streaming, then that purpose is still being fulfilled, only the statistics presented do not reflect who the user is as a person, rather it shows off who the user wants to be perceived as. And how exhausting it must be, having to keep up a charade every single day, listening to music so carefully. Does it not take away from the streaming experience, making it tiresome instead of pleasurable?

Nevertheless, this concept of twisting your music taste to fabricate a more ‘favourable’ Spotify Wrapped does not apply to all users, and may sound foreign to some. Thus, it can be argued that the harm Spotify Wrapped brings is close to negligible, and that the benefits outshine any of its damaging side effects. These benefits include encouraging users to explore a wider variety of genres and artists, motivating people to be more in tune with music and allowing strangers to bond over a shared music taste.

One of the many statistics that Spotify Wrapped reveals is the number of genres each user has listened to in a year, as well as their top five genres. This piques the interest of multiple users’ as they wish to find a correlation between their preferred genres. Furthermore, some may feel spurred to increase the number of genres they listen to in the next year, pushing to expand their taste and give other genres a try. An example of this is my own Spotify Wrapped in 2023, where I listened to over fifty genres in a year. I remember listening to a myriad of new songs that year, some of which belonging to genres I had never heard of before and never would have discovered if not for social media, and being able to mould the new songs and old songs I found and loved into my current music taste. With this in mind, I started the year 2024 with the intention of finding even more genres than I did in the previous year, in hopes of coming across even more new tunes that I may enjoy. Hence, the statistics that Spotify Wrapped provides encourages its users to be open-minded in their music listening habits and to explore new branches of the music industry that they have never considered before.

A screenshot from my Spotify Wrapped in 2023.

Another advantage of Spotify Wrapped is that it informs you of how many minutes you spent listening to music that year. This number can be a motivating factor for users to spend more time on the music streaming app. For some, the number may be lower than they anticipated,serving as a visual reminder that even in the most hectic of times, they should make a conscious effort to slow down and listen to their favourite jams. The main focus is that, though our society is fast-paced and it never feels as if we can catch a break, it is imperative for us to remember to steal back a moment or two from our busy schedules to listen to some tunes and relax our mind and body. To quote Berthold Auerbach, “Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” When we learn to take a step back from our ever-evolving lives and indulge in music every now and then, that is when we can reach a state of true contentment.

Finally, it is a natural reflex for users to screenshot and share their Spotify Wrapped on their social media once the day it is available arrives. Instagram stories are filled with the same colourful Wrapped summary page and “Spotify Wrapped” becomes a trending phrase on platforms like X. This phenomenon presents the opportunity for friends and strangers alike to, in the worst case scenario, judge your music taste, or at best, squeal over how you have similar preferences, sharing the same top artist or song. Thus, Spotify Wrapped allows users to find companions with the same taste, forming friendships built on the strong foundation of having shared interests, connecting users from all over the globe. Spotify Wrapped is thus a large beneficial tool as it is able to unite folks from all walks of life through the universal language that is music.

In conclusion, Spotify Wrapped is a majorly influential marketing campaign that not only brings benefits to the company itself, but to users all over the world, too. It provides users with something to look forward to every year, as well as the motivation to expand their music taste and alter their listening habits. It also functions as a reminder for users to simply… stop and listen, every once in a while. Life is more than the pile of never-ending work before us, or the rat race that we feel as if we have no choice but to take part in. 

Sometimes, life is just about the music.