This year’s Spotify Wrapped came on December 4 and included a specialized summary of each user’s year in music.
Wrapped gives each user a playlist of their top songs of 2024, a comparison of their music evolution, collective minutes listened, number of songs listened to with the top song highlighted, your top 5 songs, artists, and podcast, and finally, a report of listing by month.
Spotify’s Wrapped campaign began in 2016 and has been highly anticipated and talked about since. However, this year, the public’s feedback was unusually negative, as many said their wrapped “ fell short.” Users claimed this for multiple reasons, mainly inaccuracy and new AI involvement.
This was the first year Spotify included generative AI in their Wrapped, which caused much of the detailed data of previous years to be lost. Spotify posted on their newsroom that they enhanced the 2024 Wrapped with three AI resources: a personal AI podcast, an AI DJ, and an AI playlist.
The AI podcast was built with Google and was a narrative podcast with two AI hosts personally explaining each podcast user’s Wrapped. The AI DJ feature provided the same commentary with the usual music Wrapped. Finally the AI Playlist allowed premium users to give spotify prompts for playlists such as artists similar to my top 5, and AI would create that playlist for you. This AI involvement was especially confusing as it wasn’t present in all users’ Wraps; some received the same Wrapped they’re used to.
Still, all kinds of users found irregularities in their reports, claiming it didn’t accurately represent what they listened to.
While some individual users saw irregularities, the national consensus revealed this year’s Top artists, songs, and more. With more than 26.6 billion streams, Taylor Swift was 2024’s Global Top Artist. Her top five fellow competitors include, in order, The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, Drake, and Billie Eilish.
Spotify released the Most Streamed Songs Globally, with the song of the summer leading the charts, “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter. The following top 5 songs included “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone, “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” by Billie Eilish, “Gata Only” by FloyyMenor, and “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims. Interestingly, and possibly showing the claimed irregularities, Taylor Swift only made it once on this list with “Cruel Summer” at number 9.
Finally, the Top Albums Globally were led by The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology by Taylor Swift, her newest album. The remaining top 5 included “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” by Billie Eilish, “Short n’ Sweet” by Sabrina Carpenter, “MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO” by Karol G, and “Eternal Sunshine” by Ariana Grande
Loyola students agreed that they were shocked by the results of their Wrapped. One student commented, “I swear I never listen to Taylor Swift, but somehow she’s my top artist.”
Out of the students, the majority of girls said Taylor Swift was their top artist, while overall, most students answered Zach Bryan. Zach Bryan was a major artist this year as he had a successful tour and won many awards, including three Grammys; this is why it’s so strange he wasn’t mentioned in any of the top 5 global categories.
Overall, this year’s Spotify Wrapped didn’t live up to many users’ hopes, with irregularities and strange AI features, but we were still able to see national results, receive personalized playlists, and more.
