Each year, Spotify Wrapped compiles data about our listening habits and provides snazzy graphics to share on social media and let your friends know that you are in the top 1% of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds fans in the world. Oh wait, that’s me. Your results may vary. But the Wrapped stats are invariably fascinating, a glimpse into people’s often otherwise secret life of listening.
Spotify Wrapped has been a thing since 2016, and it’s a bit of smart marketing on Spofity’s behalf. The audio streamer is one of the largest in the world—and now, every year, its users give it an immense amount of free advertising when we engage with Spotify Wrapped and rush to show off our listening habits on social media. It’s a domino effect: as soon as you see others sharing their Wrapped, you check out your own and join the sharing party. Or maybe you’re the trendsetter who’s first on top of Wrapped and leaving everyone else, well, rapt.
Why is Spotify Wrapped so popular?
These days, it’s difficult to “display” your music collection or spread the word about your unique exquisite listening tastes unprompted. Sure, you might add videos and pictures to Instagram from your constant trips to see Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds in concert, but you can’t force others to engage with that or praise your obvious prowess as a melophile. However, Spotify Wrapped’s graphics and packaging, which seem to get more eye-catching and gimmick-laden each year, provide snapshots into how you spent your music and podcast listening-hours, and your friends and followers can only gaze on with admiration. (Results, again, may vary.)
People who aren’t on Spotify are inevitably made envious of your graphics and listening choices; it’s part conversation starter, part showing off badges of interest and fandom. It’s clear from elevated winter app download numbers that Wrapped drives new signups when others witness its ubiquity. While Wrapped is available to people who use both Spotify free (with ads) and Spotify premium (paid), Spotify premium users receive more features and data in the annual Wrapped report.
When does Spotify Wrapped come out in 2023?
Spotify hasn’t yet let us know the exact day that Wrapped will be ready in 2023. They’re no doubt cooking up a few additional features, since the shape of Wrapped changes each year with new displays and offerings. But in the past, Spotify has released Wrapped into the world in the first week of December. In 2022, Wrapped actually dropped early on November 30th, so it’s possible you may see the results sooner rather than later.
But if I were to place betting odds, I’d look at that first week of December as the chance to tell everyone that very few people on planet Earth have, in fact, experienced as much Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds music as you have. Or maybe that’s just me. Either way, I’m gunning for that top percentage slot again.
(image: Pexels)
