By: Hadlee Larsen
Since 2015, Spotify has been releasing what they call “Spotify Wrapped” as a marketing campaign that gained massive popularity. This allows their users to view numerous categories of listening data over the past year such as top artists, minutes listened, top genres and more. Even though it’s been nearly a decade, the Wrapped continues to impress.
The goal of Spotify Wrapped is to reflect every individual user in a new and inventive way. Depending on how you interact and listen, Spotify personalizes your experience connecting you with different genres, artists, podcasts and more. It summarizes all of your activity from the past year on the app, from January 1st to about mid November, to display in a bold and vibrant design of what you listened to.
Belle Cragun, a sophomore with 30,566 minutes on spotify in 2024, says, “I think that everyone likes it because teenagers, they all love their music, and it’s kind of fun to see what you listen to over the past year because you’re like, oh what did I listen to in January?”
Along with teenagers’ love for music, one of the ways Spotify has personalized everyones Wrapped is with a nostalgia effect. This is done by creating a time capsule or collection of your history. It refers to the psychological effect that each song can link to different emotions and memories. By using this, it creates a visual experience about your personal journey throughout the year allowing a more unique tour of your year summed up in just a few minutes.
Hadlee Harrel, a senior with around 70,000 minutes in 2024, expresses, “There’s a lot of memories tied to music and so it’s like, oh, summer 2024. When I went on a trip in June to Bear Lake, we were listening to the song, ‘We Are The People’, by Empire Of The Sun so everytime that song comes on I think ‘oh bear lake!’ It’s just nice to be like, oh, I listened to that in January when I was having a hard time or, oh, that reminds me of this friend. It’s a different way of looking back.”
Music is widely popular in today’s world of teenages as most of them listen to music daily. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, teenagers typically spend two and a half hours daily listening to music. Spotify Wrapped gives people the chance to share with their peers and even post on media what their stats for the year were.
Logan Jones, a senior with 50,940 minutes on spotify in 2024, states, “people kind of like to brag about how much they listen to music. There’s a lot of people that kind of feel like they are better because they listen to this much music all the time.”
Spotify had introduced new things into 2024’s Wrapped such as monthly genres or eras which included McBling Western Pop, Pink Pilates Princess Roller Skating Pop, Mall Goth Underground Nu Metal and more. They continue to expand user engagement and promote the app.
Spotify Wrapped quickly became a rising phenomenon in today’s generation, and continues to draw subscribers as we continue to explore new things about ourselves through music. Only one question remains: What are you listening to?
