In early December, this year’s Spotify Wrapped came out. This is one of the most anticipated events for music listeners on streaming platforms. These recaps contain listening data from the course of the past year. Spotify Wrapped tells the listeners their top artists, songs, and albums.
One of people’s favorite aspects of this feature is getting to know the total amount of minutes they spent listening to music in the past year, and the times have gotten up to hundreds of thousands (newsroom.spotify.com). Delphine Gatto, a sophomore student at Ramapo, exclaimed, “I got 35,000 minutes total this year. I’m not surprised, but it’s still a lot.”
Many users sincerely enjoy looking back on their year and reminiscing on the stages of their life through the music they enjoy. In many ways, music is a way that people express themselves, so this gives listeners the ability to reflect. A teacher at Ramapo, Mr. Keating said, “I was satisfied with my results…my top artists were Teddy Specter, Grits, and Morgan Wallen.” Many people also enjoy sharing their recaps, which allows users to stay connected and also find new music that they might be interested in (spotify.com). This year globally Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny took the top listened spot with artists like Billie Eilish and the Weeknd and Drake not far behind.
Another fan favorite feature is the personalized messages listeners get from their top artists. The artist usually thanks them for spending the year listening to their music and states their appreciation. Some fun examples are how Alex Warren had a young actress narrate the beginning of his message, and Noah Kahan pretended to be held hostage in his. Some artists, as well, use their videos as a way to make their listeners laugh or even make announcements (usatoday.com). Users love this recap feature so much that other apps like Snapchat have begun to include their own yearly recaps. Tiktok even added a “Year on Tiktok” feature which showcased a person’s videos over the year into one. In addition, many brands hopped onto this trend featuring their own yearly “wraps” where they feature their accomplishments of the year.
People cannot wait to see what interesting concepts and ideas are brought to next year’s wrapped. As streaming platforms continue to innovate, Spotify Wrapped has certainly set the standard for how data and creativity can combine to celebrate a year in sound.
