Music lovers woke up on the morning of Dec. 4 to obsessively check if Spotify had released this year’s Wrapped yet, just as they’d done every day for the last week. Every year, Spotify collects each user’s data together; including how many minutes they listened to music, what their top song of the year was, and other fun and interesting data. Sometime before New Years Day, Spotify puts the data into a fun and digestible format that allows the fans to recap their year in music.
2024’s Spotify Wrapped was highly anticipated. Impatient fans took to social media to question exactly what it was that Spotify was preparing for their music. Even Spotify’s social media platforms released teasers, promoting something worth waiting for.
Spotify users were already agitated by the time the calendar switched to Dec. 4. Finally, when they checked Spotify that morning (or opened any other social media platform), they discovered their Wrapped was ready. Their agitation was warranted; the Wrapped has never been published this late before. 2023’s Wrapped came on Nov. 29, 2022’s came on Nov. 30, and 2021’s Wrapped came on Dec. 1.
This year is the 10th year of Spotify Wrapped, though it wasn’t called that until 2016. Wrapped has gone through many changes over the year, including being integrated into the app in 2019 and 2022 with, “Audio Auras.” In fact, former intern Jewel Ham took to social media in 2020 to reveal the designs she had created for an intern project to beef up the Wrapped experience for fans (Spotify denies this and claims that the project is a conglomeration of many artists and designers work, however Ham posted receipts).
This year, special features include, “Your Music Evolution,” which identifies how fans’ music listening has changed throughout the year.
In Spotify’s explanation of the last decade of music history, they wrote, “2024 Wrapped exemplifies the culmination of Spotify’s evolved brand identity, reflecting a more expressive and open Spotify at the center of culture.”
In addition to the personal Wrapped (which lists top songs, top artists, top podcasts, number of minutes listened, and your biggest listening day), Spotify releases the year’s stats on artists’ listeners and users in general. It’s no surprise that Taylor Swift is the top artist, globally, with 26.6 billion streams. This year has seen notable success from female artists in music, with the global top 8 albums all being women’s, including Swift’s The Tortured Poets’ Department: The Anthology, Billie Eilish’s HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet. 7 of the top 10 audiobooks were written by women as well.
The geniuses behind Wrapped even created a way for fans to check out the top music in local areas with Spotify’s interactive map.
Last year’s Wrapped was huge. 2023’s Wrapped included, “Me in 2023,” which of these characters characterize your music istreaming habits; “Sound Town,” matching you to a city based “on your listening affinity and artist affinity,” and your Top 5 Genres of music.
Yet, after waiting so long, teased with, “multitudes,” and remembering all of the features brought with last year’s Wrapped, fans and Spotify-users were disappointed… to say the least.
everyone talking about how shit spotify wrapped is and calling it rushed after complaining like a day ago about how they are taking too long
— mandi (@mmgarlicbread) December 4, 2024
One Instagram user even commented, asking Spotify if they used Chat-GPT to create this year’s Wrapped.
One interesting element included in the latest Wrapped was the video clips from your top artists and podcasters, just like last year. Users can be, “personally,” thanked by their favorite artists and may even hear a recap of the artist’s music year. Olivia Rodrigo, who’s top Spotify listening song was Good Luck, Babe! by Chappell Roan, thanked fans for the support and love given to Rodrigo, discussing her experience of touring this year.
Taylor Swift, wearing a gold and blue sparkly body suit in her video, thanked fans for their support on the Eras tour. Roan, explaining that she wanted her own version of the YMCA, then writing her hit single, “HOT TO GO!” thanked her fans for listening, singing, and dancing along to her music.
“She just kind of has her own journey and life now,” Roan said in her video. “So, thank you for listening.”
Perhaps Spotify will heed the world’s complaints and bring it back better next year. But for now, keep listening to your favorite artists: Here’s the Best Hit Songs of 2024.
What's Your Reaction?
