New Spotify Wrapped reveals what music and podcasts are adored worldwide

Photo courtesy of Julien Sabardu, Flickr.

It’s the holiday season, and certainly the most wonderful time of the year. With the chilly weather, rush of finals and last-minute gift shopping, there is no better time to listen to the tunes that got you through this unusual year. 

For many, their go-to music streaming platform is Spotify. Back in 2015, Spotify introduced a new feature referred to as Year in Music, which would soon blossom into what we now know and adore as Spotify Wrapped.

According to Spotify, “Wrapped is our opportunity to reflect on the large role audio played in the lives of our listeners—and how our favorite creators soundtracked the world around us.” Music plays such significant roles in daily life, and through all of the ups and downs within the year, Spotify has been there for us through it all and truly knows us better than anyone else. 

Spotify is like a time capsule: they remember all the small details about us and our listening style. The streaming service calculates precise data on listeners' top artists, top songs, genres they listen to the most and so much more. Additionally, Spotify is home to thousands of podcasts, and they are able to recall your favorite shows or episodes.

Within the past two years, the attention and love for Spotify Wrapped has grown exponentially. Listeners are eager to receive their personal stats and share them on social media for others to see. It has become a part of individual identity as someone’s Wrapped can tell so much about a person. 

Spotify has realized how much Wrapped has impacted pop culture, and they use this to their advantage. They know people love sharing their results on their Instagram or Snapchat stories, so the service has made it easier for them to do so. Watching your Wrapped results unfold before you is done in an Instagram stories-like style, filled with unique and colorful designs. 

Spotify upped their game this year and added additional facts and stats for each listener, such as how many minutes they listened to their top artist, how many artists and genres they listened to, and even a personal audio aura based off of their listening styles. There also was a “two truths and a lie” game, where Spotify made specific statements about the listener. 

Another new feature Spotify has offered is Wrapped Blend. Blend allows listeners to share their top 2021 hits with a friend — and fellow Spotify user — and Spotify will blend the two musical tastes into one curated mix. These interactive components were refreshing and a great way to make Wrappeds much more intimate and memorable. 

Along with personalized Wrappeds, Spotify calculates the overall top stats and it serves as a great judgement for the hottest hits and artists of the year. The global and U.S. charts are particularly important, and those ranked at the top are well-deserved, despite personal musical tastes. 

For the second year in a row, Bad Bunny — Puerto Rican singer and Reggeaton star — claimed the title of most-streamed global artist on Spotify. Following him were Taylor Swift, K-pop band BTS, Drake and Justin Bieber. All of the top five artists were influential to the music community and how the world listened their way throughout 2021.

The top most-streamed song across the globe was up and coming artist Olivia Rodrigo’s “driver’s license.” Additionally, 18-year-old Rodrigo took the top spot for top global album with her femme pop-rock influenced debut album “SOUR.” Her powerful heartbreak anthems and Y2K style has left listeners all over the world to fall in love with her and her nostalgia-influenced music. 

Lastly, the top globally streamed podcast of 2021 was “The Joe Rogan Experience,” a unique podcast starring comedian Joe Rogan. The following top podcasts were “Call Her Daddy,” “Crime Junkie,” “Ted Talks Daily” and “The Daily.” The podcast highlights were incredibly appreciated amongst Spotify users, as podcasts as an entertainment platform have significantly increased over the past few years and continue to grow. 

To wrap up a year of unusual and uncertain circumstances, Spotify was there for us all. Spotify Wrapped gave listeners the opportunity to fall back in love with the artists, songs, genres and podcasts they once loved or listened to on repeat and keep them close to their hearts and ears. Now, listen to your playlists as you reminisce on the past year, and get ready to begin building your Wrapped 2022, as Spotify starts collecting data on Jan. 1.

 

emelvin@ramapo.edu