A Spotify Year in Music

Spotify users have something special to look forward to at the end of every year, abreakdown of their most listened to songs, genres and artists. 

The music streaming service comes out every year with their famous “Spotify Wrapped” where listeners can get a review of their year in music.

2020 has been a stressful year, amid a global pandemic and an election, many people found themselves turning to music a little more this year.

“I listen to music all the time,” said 23-year-old college student, Kenzie Byrat. “I look forward to seeing my Spotify wrapped every year, but this year I knew it would be a bit different.”

Byrat found herself turning to music more than usual in 2020. In times of stress, she leaned towards Japanese jazz versus when she was happy she had 80’s hits on replay.

“I know in the past I was pretty set on pop and rock hits,” said Byrat. “I just needed something new this year. Kind of as a distraction from everything. I actually listened to around 100 thousand minutes of music this year. So yeah, I really love music.”

The average hours users spend listening to Spotify per month is around 25 hours, according to Spotify User Statistics.

“I listen while driving, jogging, doing homework, cleaning…anytime I get a chance really,” said Byrat.

Spotify holds over 286 million active monthly listeners, with 44% of those listeners active daily, according to Statista.

“I got wireless earbuds at the beginning of this year,” said Byrat. “It’s definitely made it easier to listen to music while doing absolutely anything.”

Spotify Wrapped started in 2015 and has seemed to grow in popularity since then. Users often take to social media to share their music review with others.

“The memes are definitely the best part,” said 19-year-old Spotify user, Julian Sanchez. “It’s funny seeing everyone joke around and comment on each other’s music choices. I also love to see people argue that their wrapped playlist is “inaccurate” when it’s pure data.”

Sanchez is a strict heavy metal listener with his top artist of the year being “Night Demon.”

“I like heavy and loud music that drowns out my own thoughts,” said Sanchez. “Sometimes that’s just something we all need.”

The most-streamed artist of 2020 is Spanish rapper, Bad Bunny. With his hit song “DAKITI” coming in with over 320 million streams on Spotify.

“I definitely prefer Spotify over anything else,” said Sanchez. “I pay 10 dollars a month for the premium service to avoid commercials. I like it more than other services or ways of getting music.”

Since 2019, Spotify has become the most popular streaming platform, surpassing Apple Music, according to Statista, a statistic calculating software.

The concept of Spotify Wrapped was developed by a Spotify intern in just three months. Independent artist Jewel Ham gave credit to herself on Twitter for developing the concept.

“I really invented the Spotify wrapped story concept as an intern project in 2019 and they haven’t looked back since,” tweeted Ham.

Spotify has confirmed that Ham did in fact develop the idea of an interactive year in music experience for its users.

The newest version of Spotify wrapped is similar to the story feature on various social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram. Users can click through to see their results or watch it as a full video.

As music festivals at concerts have been canceled throughout 2020, there has been a surge in music being streamed on Spotify, according to Spotify data.

“We’ve all had plans to do things at the beginning of 2020,” said Sanchez. “For me, many of those things included live music. I’ve paid for a couple of online concerts but it’s not really worth it. I’ve found for now I’m better off just streaming music.”

Sanchez had plans of attending Las Rageous, a music festival in Las Vegas, but like many things, due to COVID-19, it didn’t work out.

COVID-19 has ruined many events in 2020, but Spotify has proven to remain a constant for its users.