It's the time of year when music lovers eagerly anticipate their musical highlights, and both Spotify and Apple Music have risen to the occasion. On December 4, 2024, these platforms dropped their popular year-end features: Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music Replay - both loaded with insights about users' listening habits over the past year.
This year, the competition between the two platforms is particularly vibrant. Apple Music's Replay is notable for its fresh format and interactive elements, creating excitement among its users. On the other hand, Spotify Wrapped, a cultural phenomenon since its debut, provides listeners with fun and sometimes surprising stats about their musical preferences. The allure of both services lies not only in the personal insights but also the chance to compare with friends, share on social media, and reminisce about the year gone by.
Apple Music Replay introduced several exciting updates for 2024. Users can now explore their music habits through features like longest listening streaks, exclusive rankings showing them as one of the top 500 or 1000 listeners for their favorite acts, and historical milestones indicating their very first plays of tracks or albums. Rather than just being passive recipients of these metrics, audiences can feel invested and celebrated as they relive the year's musical moments.
One highlight from Apple Music is its significant emphasis on female artists. Kendrick Lamar's song "Not Like Us" topped Apple Music’s global songs list for 2024, with the platform proudly stating 39 out of the top 100 tracks were from women artists, marking the highest representation since its inception. Taylor Swift led the charge with seven tracks represented on the list, reinforcing the power and influence of women within the current music scene.
Other noteworthy figures from Apple Music's Replay include Benson Boone, whose "Beautiful Things" was the most tagged song on Shazam, and Creepy Nuts, who dominated the lyrics chart with their hit "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born," signifying the diversity and dynamic nature of music enjoyed this year.
Spotify Wrapped ran parallel to this year's Replay, boasting remarkable insights for its users. With just as much enthusiasm around it, Spotify users found their personalized data on their favorite artists and songs eagerly waiting for them with the opening of the app. Once again, Taylor Swift claimed her title as the most-streamed artist, celebrating her continued dominance on the platform for the second consecutive year.
Spotify Wrapped also returned with beloved features, like creating playlists from users' top tracks which they can share with friends. This year, users were provided with whimsical stats such as how many hours they spent listening to various genres and if they ended up being among the top listeners for certain artists.
For 2024, Spotify’s top streamed songs include familiar names. Beyond Kendrick Lamar's title track, fans were pleased to find "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter and "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" by Shaboozey rounding out the top three hit songs. These trends suggest not only the enduring popularity of established artists but also the emergence of newer voices.
Reflecting on user experiences, Spotify’s Wrapped allows subscribers to calculate their total listening time and share insights on their musical tastes. Users might discover they logged over 1,000 hours were spent immersed in their favorite tunes, or they found out they had listened to one specific song on repeat for days on end. Much to the delight of audiophiles, this is not just about statistics—they also get to indulge their love for music by exploring how their tastes changed over the year.
While Apple Music and Spotify dominate the charts, they are not the only platforms offering similar summaries. Services like YouTube Music and SoundCloud are catching on too. YouTube’s Recap is akin to Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music Replay, giving its users insights on their most-listened tracks, albums, and artists. Meanwhile, SoundCloud continues to maintain its version, the “Playback” feature, which offers users annual playlists summarizing their music consumption.
The efficiency of these platforms extends beyond just entertainment; they also represent significant marketing tools for artists. For example, the new Apple Music Replay for Artists feature allows musicians to analyze their performance, learn more about their listeners’ preferences, and gain insights on where their music resonates the most — whether globally or locally. Artists can see which songs were most discovered via Shazam and which city houses the bulk of their listeners, providing valuable data to inform future marketing strategies and concert tours.
So how do music lovers access Apple Music Replay? iPhone users with iOS 18.1 or later can conveniently navigate through their app and find their personalized Replay list under the ‘Listen Now’ tab. Alternatively, those using older versions will need to log onto replay.music.apple.com. This ease of access reflects the increasing emphasis on user experience and the desire to keep music at our fingertips.
Spotify users will find their Wrapped results front and center upon opening their app, but they’ll need to stay updated to the latest version to enjoy the personalized experience fully. The rollout timing this year saw Wrapped arriving on December 4, slightly later than past years. Spotify’s team has been known for its annual streak of teasing users beforehand, which this year included playful posts hinting at the eventual reveal of Wrapped.
The tech-savvy approach of both Spotify and Apple Music to compile user data adds both excitement and competitive spirits among the listener base. For many, this review unpacks not just numbers but memories—be it the summer road trip soundtracked by one song or the late-night study sessions fueled by another. Users get to reflect on their musical journeys, nurturing personal connections with artists and the emotional weight their music carries.
Moving forward, both Spotify and Apple Music have firmly established Replay and Wrapped as annual events, fostering community and connection among music fans. Undoubtedly, as these platforms grow and evolve, listeners can look forward to even more varied insights, creative approaches for showcasing their listening habits, and even greater engagement with their favorite artists as the music industry continues to innovate and adapt to the world around it.
So, whether you’re reveling in the joy of discovering you are among the top fans of your favorite artist or sharing your listening stats with friends, these annual recaps serve as reminders of how music intertwines with our lives—both through the beats we dance to and the lyrics we carry with us.
