The Creation and Impact of Spotify Wrapped

By: Sara Regan

How Spotify collects its data to improve user experiences.

Spotify is the world’s most popular audio streaming service with over 345 million users that listen to over sixty million tracks. Spotify is available in ninety-two countries. The streaming service started with only music, but it has more recently included podcasts. In 2015, the company started its “Wrapped” feature, although it was known then as the Year in Music. It listed the most popular songs of the year as well as a user’s top 100 songs. However, over the years, Spotify has made this simple grouping of a user’s top played songs into an interactive and shareable experience. The data reflects the songs that individuals listened to from January 1 to October 31. Spotify also uses data to help personalize the app for consumers.

This data is used to improve user experiences and inform them about more relevant products. It is not only used to create this end-of-year tradition, but also to create and recommend playlists for individuals that reflect the music that they often listen to. According to a Northeastern article, Spotify analyzes the music that you listen to and use it for many purposes. They have recommended podcasts, artists, and albums, and even AI created playlists, such as “Discover Weekly.” Another way is while the user makes a new playlist, Spotify will give recommendations of songs similar to the ones in the playlist to add.

​ Spotify creates these yearly recaps by collecting users’ data over the year to curate a list of the most listened to songs by each user. The playlist is ordered from the most listened to songs to the least. The data collected represents top artists and listening minutes in order to accurately represent every user. Each playlist is unique to the user which makes for a more personalized and engaging experience. It is similar to a time capsule, as it reflects different phases of our year through the music we listened to. Like Facebook’s “Friend Anniversary,” the feature creates a sense of nostalgia for users. At the same time, it allows people to express themselves through the music that they listen to.

​Wrapped started to utilize formats that were brightly colored and interactive more recently. According to Forbes, in 2019 “more than 60 million users engaged with the in-app story experience” in just a few weeks. In 2019, Spotify Wrapped ended the decade with providing users playlists for both 2019 and the entire decade. Spotify also allowed the feature to be shareable to social media sites such as Instagram through its story feature. This share feature is something that millions of Spotify users took advantage of. It was a way to make the platform more of a social feature.  ​