Spotify Wrapped 2023 -

By Noah Slayter

The annual tradition from the music streaming company Spotify has come around again, where Spotify Wrapped shows users statistics on the amount and types of music they listened to throughout the year.

“Wrapped” refers to both wrapping paper, since the stats are given out during the holidays, and related to phrases such as “wrapping up” or “that’s a wrap” since they are also shown near the end of the year.

This year, Spotify is giving their 574 million users information about their “top artists, songs, albums, and podcasts.” To view Wrapped stats, users must have their app updated completely; they can also visit spotify.com/wrapped.

Within Wrapped itself there are some new features. Me in 2023 shows users their “streaming habits” which defines their music taste. The Top 5 Artists category shows the top artists the user has streamed over the year.

The newest feature is the new Sound Town feature which “matches you to a city based on your listening and artist affinity,” according to Spotify.

The Sound Town feature is creating confusion for users because some are thinking that it is where Spotify believes their hometown is. This is especially true since there appears to be common Sound “Towns” for numerous people. Places like Burlington Vermont, Cambridge Massachusetts, and Berkeley California are often chosen towns for listeners.

The location Spotify selects as the user’s Sound Town is a place that “has the most similar taste profile to their own,” or simply speaking, the people in the town chosen have a collective music taste most similar to the Spotify user.

Many users are often embarrassed by their wrapped stats since it exposes the type of music they listen to and feel pressured to publicly reveal their stats, especially since it has become traditional to post your Wrapped stats on social media. Some people take great pains to curate their Spotify Wrapped throughout the year, using sites like Last.fm to track their streams during the year.

Now for the big question on everyone’s mind: who was the top streamed artist of 2023?

No surprise, Taylor Swift is the number one streamed artist this year in the US and the world. Bad Bunny has held the title for the past three years.

Swift’s music was streamed 26.1 billion times. Behind her were artists Bad Bunny, Drake, Peso Pluma, The Weekend, and Morgan Wallen.

Interestingly enough, the number one sports podcast streamed was New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce, which is arguably also another win for Swift since it is her boyfriend’s podcast.

The top streamed song of the year was Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers”. The song was streamed 1.6 billion times throughout the year, gaining popularity through the summer months. Behind Cyrus was SZA’s song “Kill Bill”, Harry Styles song “As It Was”, Jung Kook’s “Seven” and “Ella Baila Sola” by Peso Pluma. The top ten also featured songs written by Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, Shakira, 21 Savage, and The Weekend.

The top album was Un Verano Sin Ti by Bad Bunny, with 4.5 billion streams. Behind him was Midnights by Taylor Swift, SOS by SZA, and Starboy by The Weekend. Other artists whose albums made the top ten list are Morgan Wallen, Taylor Swift again, Metro Boomin, and Harry Styles.

The top podcast streamed was The Joe Rogan Experience by Joe Rogan. Other notable top podcasts are Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain, The Daily, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Serial Killers, The Jordan B. Petersen Podcast, and The Psychology of Your 20s.

To access your own Spotify Wrapped, click this link here or go to https://www.spotify.com/us/wrapped and log into your account.