As the winter months begin to roll around, holiday festivities begin and school semesters` come to a close, there’s one thing that comes to the forefront of one’s mind: Spotify Wrapped. The famed marketing campaign from Spotify has been published on our Spotify accounts every year since its inception in 2016.
Since then it’s become a beacon of music history. In its second year, 2017, Spotify Wrapped had 30 million users accessing it, and more than 120 million users accessed it in 2021, followed by another successful year in 2022 when 156 million users accessed it. Overall, it’s become a popular phenomenon that has its own holiday known as "Spotify Wrapped Day."
After the release of Spotify Wrapped 2023 on Nov. 29, here’s some information to know about Spotify Wrapped:
History and 2023 features
After Spotify originally started what is now known as Spotify Wrapped in 2013 as "Year in Review," the company made big shifts by 2016 when it began making collected data stories. These stories included data collected from the various artists, songs and podcasts a listener would listen to and would then create what they call "listening personality types."
It added new features this year, including "Me in 2023,“ which characterizes the listener as one of 12 characters based on streaming habits. Another new feature is "Sound Town," which matches the listener to a city based on listening and artist affinity. Lastly, "Top 5 Genres" shows you your top five music genres stacked up in a sandwich-inspired design.
To access Spotify Wrapped, users must subscribe to Spotify, open the latest version of the app, tap the home button, select the Wrapped feed and tap "Your Wrapped.” Users can also search "Wrapped" in the search bar, find the Spotify Wrapped button on the homepage or click here.
2023 in Review
A lot happened in 2023, especially within the realm of Spotify. This year, over 574 million people around the world listened to music through Spotify, which helped garner the "Top of 2023." The top artist was Taylor Swift, the top song was "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus, the top album was "Un Verano Sin Ti" by Bad Bunny and the top podcast for the fourth year in a row was "The Joe Rogan Experience."
"Top of 2023" also kept track of some of the year’s listening trends, such as in July following the release of "Barbie." Spotify's "Barbie Official Playlist" increased in global streams by nearly 1,560%. In October, listeners made over 10,000 playlists titled "girl dinner" and streams of Afrobeat have increased year-round by 550%.
The Math Behind it All
Yearly, Spotify collects listener data from what songs and podcasts streamed from Jan. 1 to a few weeks before the release date of that particular year, in this case, from Jan. 1 to Nov. 29. However, for a song or podcast to be considered streamed, the user must listen to it for 30 seconds or more. Your top albums, songs and top artists are aggregated stream counts, except for "private sessions," but those count toward your total minutes listened.
Overall, Spotify Wrapped continues to give listeners around the globe something to look forward to every holiday season. Top albums and top songs represent the listener, and with new features like “Sound Town,” one can truly make a community with others of the same tastes. Share those musical tastes with friends and family and maybe experience some new artists and songs in the process.
