Spotify Wrapped 2023
After realizing how much streaming data it had, Spotify debuted its first year-end summary, “Year in Review” in 2013, with its main focus to promote their music streaming service. Although not as whimsical as today’s, the graphics still matched the brand and managed to draw in viewers. By 2016, Spotify was referring to these data narratives as “Wrapped”. Normally, Spotify Wrapped releases on December 1st every year, however it decided to surprise everyone by releasing on November 29th, at 8 a.m EST. Spotify users can also gain insight into the overall listening trends of its user base by looking back at their listening habits over the course of the year with the help of the Wrapped lists. Five hundred seventy four million users stream Spotify including 226 million subscribers.
Teenagers specifically are excited every year to see what their spotify wrapped will look like. For senior Isabella Batista, her top artists consisted of Mac Miller, Bad Bunny, Lil Peep, Suicide Boys, and Drake. When asked how accurate they think their Spotify Wrapped was, Isabella responded saying she was “shocked to see how high Lil Peep was” and “thought they listened to more music throughout the year.” For many people, their spotify wrapped is normally all over the place, with artists they haven’t listened to in a while. That is one thing many people, including myself, don’t like about this system.
For instance, Junior Samantha Giangarra believes her top artists and top songs were accurate, however she believes that there were “some songs that I listen to a lot more than what made the list.” Spotify Wrapped brings out songs you were once obsessed with, that you probably haven’t listened to since the beginning of the year. This is probably the most controversial piece of Spotify Wrapped, since some people are more inclined to post and talk about it, if they like what their top artists are. Samantha Giangarra had no problem displaying and sharing her top artists with friends and social media since these artists are held close to her heart, “SZA, Frank Ocean, Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, and Drake.”
Spotify Wrapped has also evolved throughout the years, adding and erasing different features. Users were able to test their knowledge about their own listening habits through quizzes. Listening habits also changed drastically since 2020 due to the Covid-19 lockdown, forcing adults and students to stay at home. Students often listened to more music throughout the day since there were no restrictions, such as being in physical classrooms, and for adults being at their physical work place. Samantha Giangarra had a total of 18,043 minutes listened which is equivalent to 12 days nonstop, accumulating 387 artists in 2023. This is different for every person in the world, which is why Spotify Wrapped is so unique.
