It’s that time of year again: Spotify Wrapped has returned, allowing users to reflect on and share their musical journeys from the past year. The eagerly anticipated annual feature launched on Wednesday, generating a surge of social media activity as listeners revealed their top tracks and artists from 2024.
This year, Spotify introduced an innovative feature called “music evolution,” enabling users to explore how their musical tastes have changed throughout the year. Similar to the platform’s “daylist” feature, it offers personalized music profiles that reflect users’ listening phases. Additionally, fans can review their longest listening streaks for their favorite artists, adding a fun layer of engagement.
Many users embraced their unique listening phases, with several sharing entertaining screenshots revealing their “pink pilates princess” phase, a term popular within the LGBTQ+ community that highlights trends in music taste.
Further enhancing the user experience, Spotify rolled out a personal AI-generated podcast designed to summarize individual listening habits. Utilizing Google’s Notebook LM app—an innovative tool that gained notoriety for transforming personal notes into podcast episodes—the feature enables users to receive tailored insights on their music consumption.
While the launch of Wrapped excited many listeners, some expressed disappointment regarding the new features. A number of users voiced a desire for the return of last year’s “sound towns,” which matched users with cities that shared similar music preferences.
In addition to individual user data, the platform compiled a list of the most-streamed global artists, podcasts, and authors of the year. Leading the pack, Taylor Swift was recognized as the top artist after a year filled with massive success from her Eras Tour and her latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” accumulating over 26.6 billion streams.
Following Swift, The Weeknd and Bad Bunny claimed the second and third positions in streams, while Drake, amidst controversy regarding alleged inflated streaming numbers, ranked fourth. Billie Eilish rounded out the top five.
On the global song chart, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” emerged as the most-streamed track worldwide, boasting over 1.6 billion streams. Interestingly, despite its popularity, Drake’s diss track “Not Like Us” did not make the global songs list, although it was the second most-streamed song in the U.S. with over 928 million streams.
The podcast scene also saw considerable recognition, with popular shows like “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy,” and “This Past Weekend with Theo Von” among the top five globally. Notably, each program gained attention through their high-profile political guests, including President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Lastly, Spotify introduced its first global audiobooks list after expanding its offerings to include 15 free hours of listening for Premium subscribers last year. Author Sarah J. Maas topped the chart with “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” while its sequel secured the third spot, showcasing the growing popularity of audiobooks in the streaming landscape.
In summary, Spotify Wrapped not only allows users to celebrate their musical preferences but also highlights the ongoing evolution of music consumption and the increasing integration of technology in our listening experiences. This year’s enhancements promise to make sharing and reflecting on music more engaging, fostering a vibrant community of music lovers.