Spotify Wrapped: When it drops and how to be ready
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
The time is nigh: Soon enough, nearly every Instagram story you see will be of friends' Spotify Wrapped results.
The big picture: So charge your headphones, listen to your favorite artist a few more times, and, as Spotify is encouraging, ensure your app is up to date.
- If you haven't updated the app in a while, the music streaming service warned Wednesday that you could miss out on some features.
- While there's no set release date, the company says Wrapped is "almost here."
Catch up quick: Spotify first branded its year-end analysis of users' listening habits as "Wrapped" in 2016 — but it attained viral status in 2019 when the company optimized it for sharing.
- Since then, the curated content has evolved. In 2023, listeners learned what city their music taste is most aligned with, and in 2021, Spotify users were gifted an "audio aura."
The latest: Part of the fun is the suspense: Spotify has yet to drop Wrapped but has repeatedly teased it's just around the corner.
- On Nov. 30, @spotifynews shared on Instagram that the roundup is coming soon — sending fans into a tizzy in the comment section.
To update your Spotify app, visit the App Store if you have an iPhone or the Google Play Store if you're an Android owner.
- Search for Spotify to see whether you have the latest version or whether you need an update. If you do, hit the "Update" button.
- Then all you have to do is wait.
Follow the music: Last year, Spotify released Wrapped on Nov. 29. The years prior, it came on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, respectively.
- As Newsweek points out, all of those dates were Wednesdays. However, in 2020, for instance, it came out on a Tuesday (Dec. 1).
Zoom out: Other brands have tried to mimic Spotify's end-of-the-year viral craze, Axios' Emily Peck reports.
- Apple Music, for example, has its own Replay experience. Apple Music's Replay compiles users' top songs into one playlist that's updated weekly and also gives fans a year-end highlight reel
- Earlier this year, Spotify also expanded its viral "daylist" feature, a service that curates a "hyper-personalized" playlist of new and familiar songs that changes several times each day based in part on a user's listening habits.
Go deeper: Spotify CEO expects profit growth to continue amid investments in audiobooks
