15 - Entertainment or Popular Culture

Hannah Diffee

Professor Reppert

Reporting and Writing for the Mass Media

Fall 2024


15 - Entertainment or Popular Culture

Spotify Wrapped 2024: A Close Look at the Viral Campaign

For many music lovers, "the most wonderful time of the year" begins with the release of Spotify Wrapped. On December 4, the popular music streaming service unveiled its "2024 Wrapped," which was met with excitement by users eager to view their yearly streaming statistics. However, for many Spotifiers, the experience felt less than merry.

Spotify Wrapped is a yearly marketing campaign that was started by Spotify in 2016. Each December, the company delivers metrics to over 574 million global users, detailing how they used the app over the past 12 months. Each Spotify user receives a personalized compilation of their top songs, artists, genres, and total minutes listened. This data is presented in a social media "story" format complete with music and engaging visuals representative of the user's most-listened-to music. 

A first-hand peek into 2024 Wrapped
My 2024 Wrapped


This year's Wrapped feature was delivered much later than anticipated, as Spotify has made efforts in the past several years to release the year-in-review by the end of November.

Spotify Wrapped Release Dates:
  • 2018: Thursday, December 6
  • 2019: Thursday, December 5
  • 2020: Tuesday, December 1
  • 2021: Wednesday, December 1
  • 2022: Wednesday, November 30
  • 2023: Thursday, November 30
  • 2024: Wednesday, December 4
Many users found the 2024 Wrapped underwhelming and "not worth the wait" due to its limited content and reduced interactivity compared to previous years. While each Wrapped version has been unique, they each presented intriguing statistics, such as the number of genres a user listened to, their mood based on listening patterns throughout the day, and their particular "audio aura." 2024 Wrapped had none of these features, although it offered a personalized AI playlist and a tab featuring the top songs, artists, podcasts, and audiobooks of 2024.



Users speculate that the minimal effort displayed resulted from the company's massive rounds of layoffs last year.

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