If you log onto Instagram, your feed is likely to be bombarded with countless stories and posts about something called “Spotify Wrapped.” This is the time of the year when music streaming service Spotify gathers their users’ most played songs and artists from the past year, generating one large personalized playlist.

Hundreds of stories are shared every year, with users showing off their top artists, songs, and genres. According to Spotify, Wrapped is a way to celebrate self-expression through music taste. 

According to Vox, the idea of Spotify Wrapped was introduced to the music streaming app back in 2015 as “Year in Music.” It didn’t go viral on social media as it does now until two years after, when Spotify changed its look to a more eye-catching, engaging style. Now, if you’re not posting your Spotify Wrapped on your Instagram story, you’re missing out.

Since becoming an annual tradition and something that music listeners look forward to, other music apps have been trying to implement the same idea for their users. Apple Music users have Replay 2022; Amazon Music users have “My Year in Review 2022”; YouTube Music users have 2022 Recap; and Jay Z’s streaming app Tidal’s users have 2022 Rewind.

Although Apple Music has the most songs than any other app with more than 100 million, it is only the second most used music streaming app, with Spotify taking first place. 

Two new types of stories were added to Spotify Wrapped 2022. One gives you a description of your listening style which entails 16 different listening personalities according to Spotify. These are based on whether you have a habit of listening to the same artists and songs repeatedly or you like to venture out into new genres of music. The second story was something called ‘Audio Day’, which allows users to see how their music preferences differ from the morning to the evening.

Spotify also has a Podcaster Wrapped that shows podcasters their statistics and streams for their own content. It is able to show the amount of content created and how many fans were listening to and favoriting the podcasts.

Some of the most popular artists of the year were Bad Bunny, Harry Styles, and Joe Rogan. They too were posting their streaming statistics on their personal accounts. 

Indeed, music brings people together, and Spotify Wrapped encourages one’s tastes to be shared with their followers.

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