Music has become an increasingly significant part of the life of teens today. According to the New York Times, “Teenagers listen to an average of nearly 2.5 hours of music per day.”
Every December, Spotify listeners look forward to their Spotify Wrapped, a way to reflect back on their year using music. For regular music listeners, this year in review of their music provides them with an opportunity to see specific analytics on their listenings.
Statistics calculated by Spotify for their annual Wrapped include, but are not limited to, the listeners’ total amount of time spent listening to music for the year, number of songs listened to, and top artists, songs, and music genres. It is presented with eye-catching graphics in a carousel of slides with all of the Spotify listeners’ personalized data.
Sophomore Lola Romero, an avid music enthusiast at Shadow Ridge, shares, “I think the thing I look forward to the most about Spotify Wrapped are the statistics that come with it. I love seeing how many minutes I listened for, how I ranked among other listeners, and obviously my top artists and tracks!”
Another feature included in Spotify Wrapped is showing users where they rank among other listeners of the same artist by telling users what percentile of listeners they are for their top artists.
Occasionally, music artists will also record videos that Spotify exclusively shares to listeners who have that artist in their top 5 artists of the year. This creates a special connection between music artists and their fanbase, and gives the artists a chance to express their appreciation to their biggest fans.
“My favorite thing about Spotify Wrapped is getting to see how my music taste has evolved through the year! Sometimes artists that I haven’t listened to for a while make an appearance on my Wrapped, and it is really fun to see stuff like that,” Romero comments.
“Also, even though most of the time I have a good idea of who my top artists are gonna be, I love seeing it actually materialized and put together in a neat list!”
Most of the time it is already apparent to music listeners which artist is their number one, however, the specific data analysis on Spotify Wrapped creates a more in-depth understanding of users’ annual listenings.
Sophomore Mahaila Nickels reflects on her Spotify Wrapped and explains, “I feel like my Spotify wrapped this year wasn’t really that different from last year. Both years I have had SZA as my top artist. My most played songs were all from the beginning of the year too.”
Recently, as a result of the popularity of Spotify Wrapped, other music streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Amazon Music have created their own versions of this concept including similar analytics, but new features as well.
