Tag: BTS

Spotify’s Interactive Experiences Create the Magic of Wrapped Year-Round

October 18, 2023

Spotify users start chattering on social media about Spotify Wrapped months before the experience is unveiled. The data dive turned cultural phenomenon, in which we unveil global top-listened-to songs, artists, albums, and podcasts, as well as fans’ personal listening trends, is as much of a learning experience for us as it is for our users. It’s an opportunity to see firsthand how much audio impacts our listeners’ lives, and the ways they turn to our platform to dive into this experience even more deeply.

So the Spotify marketing teams make efforts to leverage our unique abilities and insights for original interactive experiences throughout the entire year. From New Years–inspired Playlist In a Bottle to My Top Five artist experiences with Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, ROSALÍA, BTS, and Taylor Swift, these new campaigns delight our users, more deeply connecting them with the artists they love and with fellow fans.

“Wrapped really credentialed us in the marketplace in terms of marrying data with creativity and delivering it to users in an interesting way. And it gave us permission to think outside the box,” says Louisa Ferguson, Head of Global Marketing Experience. “There’s a lot of cultural energy on Spotify, and it’s nice to carve out space for Spotify to be more experimental and to try things that we’re not sure if they’re going to work and we want to find out. Our users help us do that.”

Louisa notes that as the team developed ideas for interactive moments, they realized there were opportunities to illuminate new and different insights on our users’ listening behaviors.

“We want users to more consistently stumble upon these exciting, engaging moments throughout the year,” says Colette McIntyre, an Associate Creative Director at Spotify. “We see the younger generation, in particular, craving more interactivity and more personalization. They want to connect with the artists they love more, they want to connect with their own tastes more, and they want to connect with other fans more. And we wanted to facilitate that more regularly.”

Playlist in a Bottle is a notable example of a moment of surprise and delight when users aren’t expecting it. It also puts listening ownership in users’ hands by enabling them to create a playlist for their future self.

“Playlist in a Bottle is a lovely complement to Wrapped, which is a look back, in that it’s a look forward, a prediction of how your year is going to unfold,” said Louisa. The team was floored by the reception and is eyeing January 2024 as an opportunity to reintroduce the experience.

Our platform reflects the cultural zeitgeist

Though Playlist in a Bottle is one example that focuses on a topical moment, New Years, the team also prides itself on keeping abreast of unique trends and cultural conversations.

Social media is core to this. “We think social first, always,” says Colette. “Social conversation is inherent to these experiences. Part of why these are connecting with people is because they’re built on very real insights of fandom, of genre, of the ways our users or fans react. One of our interactive experiences, GetReadyWithMusic, was inspired by, yes, music’s long-standing relationship with fashion, but also the social phenomenon of ‘Get Ready With Me’ videos on social.”

“We are very, very focused on tapping into existing cultural conversation,” Louisa agrees. “It is really important that we enable these fans, who are already having this debate in various places, to come to the place where they actually listen to the music, engage with the experience, and then share it out to their friends and spark maybe a little bit of disagreement. We’re okay with that. We like that friction.”

Having those moments on our platform isn’t necessarily a given, and that’s where Johannes Vuorensola, Director for Tooling, Integrations, and Labs, comes in. Johannes oversees a back-end product that allows Spotify to create these playful experiences in our Android and iOS mobile apps, keeping listeners where they are to enjoy moments like Supergrouper or Pet Playlists 2.0.

“We want to be able to provide a seamless experience for our users, rather than driving them to another destination on a microsite or web page,” says Johannes. “We know that our users love our app; they want to consume music and other content on our platform. And obviously it’s natural for us to be able to bring these playful elements into their everyday lives, right where they are.”

Johannes notes that it’s also a boon for the team to be able to develop and get feedback on these experiences across Spotify. “It helps us to take the product onto the next level by pushing it even further. This allows us to continue to innovate and build even more engaging products that truly create these playful and meaningful experiences and connections with our users and artists.”

Evolving data as the differentiator

While some interactive experiences are more general, others fall into niche fandoms or favorite genres. All of these are rooted in the habits of the listening communities we see on Spotify.

“You can’t escape the fact that genre is still a useful organizing principle for music, and it’s a way for fans to come together and convene over a passion and attract a bigger community,” says Louisa.

In Find Your Flow, listeners discovered which Latin music style best defined them by answering questions specific to their tastes. Then they received a listening persona based on their styles. “For an experience like Find Your Flow, all the details we used were hyper-specific to the reggaeton community, and all those data and listening insights came from a local level to us,” notes Louisa. “That is a real example of how Spotify’s broad reach is enabling us to dive deeper into a specific market, pull out insights, and share them globally.”

Our My Top 5 franchise focuses on highly visible artist fandoms and also pulls from the way fans naturally debate their fandoms. For the My Top 5 BTS experience, fans were encouraged to not only share their top songs, but to do so using a background that signified their favorite band members. The ease of sharing to social media naturally brought fans together and sparked new interactions.

We added Spotify data as another layer to our recent My Top 5: Taylor Swift’s Eras. After selecting their Top 5 Eras, fans received a share card, similar to past My Top 5 moments. But after self-identifying, “We’d come in with receipts, as only Spotify can,” says Colette. “Well actually, you’re more of a Reputation fan than you thought.”

Colette notes this opportunity as a beautiful melding of what we’ve become known for with Wrapped, now applied to the framework of the My Top 5 franchise.

“When I think of Spotify, I think of discovery, and I think of play,” explains Colette. “And I think these experiences are inherently playful, right? They’re fun. They’re light-hearted. They provide unique, surprising ways for fans to look at their own fandom or look at themselves. They capture the spirit of Spotify and what sets us apart and why our users trust us and love us. At the end of the day, music is personal. But it’s also meant to be shared. I can’t think of better ways to have both.”

British Pop LGBTQIA+ Icon MNEK Helps Rising Artists GLOW

July 11, 2023

Artist-writer-producer MNEK credits Timbaland, Pharrell Williams, Jermaine Dupri, Darkchild, and Jam & Lewis—the masterminds he grew up playing on repeat—as the inspirations behind his personal style. But in the 14 years since he came onto the scene, MNEK has inspired countless artists in his own right, amassing over 4 billion streams on songs he’s written, produced, or appeared in.

The Grammy award–winning and BRIT- and Ivor Novello–nominated artist has collaborated with British pop luminaries Zara Larsson, Stormzy, Gorgon City, Years & Years, and Craig David, as well as international stars Beyoncé, Little Mix, Dua Lipa, Christina Aguilera, BTS, Mabel, Anne Marie, Madonna, Kelly Rowland, Selena Gomez, Jax Jones, and Clean Bandit.

MNEK is also an icon in the U.K. and global LGBTQIA+ communities, having performed at New York World Pride and U.K. Black Pride, and having appeared in roles such as coach and guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. This month, he’s also Spotify’s GLOW spotlight artist and is a part of the year-round campaign. We’ll support MNEK in our flagship GLOW playlist, as well as through billboards and other out-of-home efforts.

MNEK himself knows the importance of visibility and amplification. He set up Proud Sound in 2019, a writing camp dedicated to supporting LGBTQIA+ singer-songwriters, and has since worked hard to bring more inclusivity to the industry as a contributor to the Guardian UK diversity panel and his own “MNEK’s Inter-Section” YouTube panel.

“There’s an affirmation that people feel when things like this exist and center them,” he said. “It shouldn’t just be Pride Month when this is happening. Opportunities like Proud Sound should happen throughout the year. People have flocked to this in such a beautiful way. They didn’t realize they needed it, but now that they’ve found it, they want more—more spaces with queer people where they feel safe, comfortable, and relaxed to make their best art.”

For the Record spoke to MNEK on the last day of his 2023 “Proud Sound songwriting camp presented by MNEK & Warner Chappell Music; powered by GLOW.”

What was the beginning of your journey into music?

I started out as a ’90s kid who was always watching MTV and was very fascinated in how music was made. It inspired me to really want to make music. I’m very blessed to have grown up in the time that I grew up in. It was really the beginning of young producers’ being self-sufficient with bedroom studios. There was a time when studio equipment was so far removed and you really had to be an adult with funds to have access to that kind of stuff.

So, that was my gateway to making music, and I just started getting myself out there by putting stuff on MySpace. And then I got discovered and feel like I really came up within the music industry. The first half of my life was me figuring it out, and then this half has been being in my job and enjoying it, but also growing up and into it.

How would you say your identity has played into the way you work?

I grew up in a house full of boys. So, it was me, my two brothers, my dad, and my mother. And I think I do yearn for female connection in certain aspects. I love writing with women. I love writing music [sung] by women. I love listening to music by women as well. And so it’s kind of always gone hand in hand that way, as far my own approach to femininity.

And I think there’s something to be said about me being a listener. I like listening to people, and I think that I get a lot of things from my feminine side and from my mother and her being a listener and her being an empath. I know that’s absolutely helped as far as what I’m able to bring to a session, or what I’m able to bring to someone’s life when I’m working with them.

As far as my own solo records and my identity, it’s definitely helped me be more real and more honest. Of course, there will always be moments where I’m like, “Should I be saying that? Will someone really want to hear me say that?” But the answer should be yes. If there’s something I’m feeling, I can have conviction that someone else will relate to it. So let it be; let it come out into the world.

Can you tell us more about the songwriting camps you host?

I started a writing camp with Warner Chappell in their studios in 2019. It was a select few writers between two studios. They connected, shared stories, and wrote songs. But the main objective was to empower them, to make them feel valued, and to have them in the room with other queer people.

Even today, people who were part of that come back to me and say, “I’ve never been in rooms where it’s all queer people. And the safety that I feel, and the peace that I can feel being around these people when I’m doing something I love, is just priceless.” And they’re thanking me for doing that. And that’s exactly what I wanted to achieve. The root of it, for me, is building connections, building who could possibly make the bangers of tomorrow. I think that queer people are the center of so much creativity and art, and this is no different.

What has this week’s camp been like?

It’s been beautiful. I have been hovering across the rooms and kind of giving advice or pointers as opposed to necessarily setting up shop and writing a song. It’s been great to have Black and queer writers and producers, trans producers, lesbians, bi, everyone has been here sharing their stories, having jokes, and having really good food. We’ve been here at Three Six Zero Studios and they’ve been so accommodating. It’s been so great to use this space for the past couple of days. It’s been really cool to see the music that’s been coming out. It has been really fun and great to hear how different people’s vibes can intertwine and influence each other.

How does music empower queer communities and creators?

Music absolutely saved my life, in so many ways. It gave me a place to be able to express myself and to be able to communicate what I wanted to share with the world, my gift to the world. For a lot of queer people, the arts in general have always been a vehicle for us to evoke everything we keep in the little closet.

As far as music goes, it follows us everywhere. Music has been the soundtrack to mine and my friends’ lives, whether that be through spending time at home or going to the club. Music just shapes so many areas of our lives and so many moments. I know that with all the people who have been here, I can hear how it has changed their lives as well.

My best self right now is making the music I love and bringing in other people to make music that they love, whether it be through starting my label and developing people or even this camp. And that’s my life’s work; that’s the best thing I want to be able to do.

Stream MNEK and other LGBTQIA+ artists on our flagship GLOW playlist.

The Stars of ‘Joy Ride’ Reveal Their Top Songs for a Road Trip Adventure

July 6, 2023

Arriving in theaters this week, Joy Ride is the tale of four unlikely friends who embark on a hilarious and unapologetically explicit adventure through Asia.

When the high-achieving Audrey (Ashley Park) travels to China for a business trip with her irreverent best friend, Lolo (Sherry Cola), they are joined by Audrey’s college pal turned Chinese soap star, Kat (Stephanie Hsu), and Lolo’s K-Pop-loving cousin, Deadeye (Sabrina Wu). From there things go sideways, but over the course of the film, the no-holds-barred mayhem turns into a journey of bonding, friendship, and debauchery.

Offering a glimpse into the Asian American experience—particularly for young women—Joy Ride reveals the universal truth of what it means to know and love who you are.

Music also plays a prominent role in the film. K-Pop’s massive cultural impact is felt throughout it, but especially when the quartet creates their own K-Pop group, Brownie Tuesday, complete with a cover of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP.”

To celebrate the release of the film, the four stars put their heads together to create the Joy Ride Official Playlist, collecting their personal favorite songs that capture the collective spirit of the characters they portrayed.

With new and classic hits from BTS, BLACKPINK, Spice Girls, Drake, Lizzo, Vanessa Carlton, Kelly Clarkson, Victoria Monet, and New Edition, as well as official soundtrack cuts from The Linda Lindas, Queen WA$ABII, and VaVa, it’s a collection that evokes both nostalgia and a desire to sing along.

For the Record caught up with the foursome to talk about their picks, what it was like to perform “WAP,” and the influence of K-Pop culture on the movie.

**What inspired the mood for the Joy Ride Official Playlist? Were there any songs that you were especially excited to include?**

Stephanie: I think that if we were on a road trip, we’d just want that nostalgia. There are certain albums and songs that spoke to you at an exact time and place of your life. I threw in one that’s very tweeny, which is not my typical forte of music, but it’s Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles.”

Ashley: The four of us would be in a car looking out the window as if we were Vanessa Carlton herself . . . and then nobody would be driving.

Sherry: “Say You’ll Be There” by the Spice Girls is a big one for me. It’s about friendship, you know, and having each other’s backs and having a good time while we’re doing it.

Stephanie: Sabrina, do you know the Spice Girls?

Sabrina: Yeah I know the Spice Girls. To be clear, you’re gonna be surprised that some of those songs that I threw on the playlist are pretty old. I was thinking about the big breakup at the end and so I threw in “After the Love Has Gone” by Earth, Wind & Fire.

Ashley: I added some BLACKPINK because we want that K-Pop type of beat behind us, but also included Kelly Clarkson because I think we all love to emote as well. We’re dramatic.

Photo Credit: Ed Araquel

Stephanie: I also feel like a song I threw in that really represents our movie and our dynamics is the Saweetie song “Best Friend (feat. Doja Cat).”

Ashley: Yeah! They used that for the moment when we first walk in the airport as Brownie Tuesday so that we could feel like the best versions of ourselves. I always associate that with the movie.

Sabrina: I also felt like there needed to be a hot song that references travel. So I had “Coastin’” by Victoria Monet. And I’m gonna butcher the lines, but there’s a moment that’s like, “Feel like a Thursday how I’m throwin’ it back. Baby we can go North, South, East, West Coast.” And I thought that was pretty hot.

You cover Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion for the big Brownie Tuesday airport scene. How did that go down?

Ashley: I think that’s special in the film because it was the first time us four got together and really collaborated creatively. We worked on that during the very first table read, and we discovered that Sabrina is an amazing beatboxer.

And we’re really happy that Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B gave their blessing to have the song in the film. That was the best form of allyship we could ask for. We’ve all blared the song to ourselves, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, this really pushes buttons and breaks barriers that shouldn’t have even been there.” I don’t even think I realized until we were recording it, but the way that the lyrics were rewritten by our writers was so specific to us and they still worked so well. I felt very liberated listening to it.

Sabrina: Cardi and Meg really did a lot for women’s sexuality and we are lucky to live in a world with them. We are not deserving of that song and their power.

Sherry: Truly, truly, truly. Yeah. I can’t wait for Cardi B and Meg to watch the film.

That scene also includes a fully choreographed K-Pop routine. What was the whole experience like?

Stephanie: Well I’ll just say that making a movie is like co-birthing a baby and also the most profound form of trauma bonding. We would film Monday through Friday and rehearse on Saturdays. And we were rewriting lyrics as we were going so it was kind of a frenzy and chaos—we really wanted to get it right. But it was really fun. We really wanted to honor the original songs and honor Deadeye’s vision of friendship and badassness.

Photo Credit: Ed Araquel

Sherry: Yeah. We really went all out. And shout out to Joe Tuliao, our incredible choreographer, and also the backup dancers. I mean, that was the squad.

Were there any K-Pop songs or artists you listened to during the shoot to prepare for the Brownie Tuesday scene?

Sabrina: I think we listened to a lot of BLACKPINK, if I remember.

Stephanie: Yeah. We watched the BLACKPINK documentary together.

Ashley: I wish the BLACKPINK song “Pink Venom” was out when we did the film, because I feel like the vibe of it is absolutely exactly what we needed for the scene.

Sherry: The whole scene was definitely an homage to BLACKPINK and just the fact that K-Pop is this global sensation that’s taking over.

Sabrina, did you discover any particular pockets of K-Pop fandom to help inform Deadeye?

Sabrina: Yeah, I definitely took a look at things like fancams when we were filming, because K-Pop was definitely in the cultural spotlight at the time—it was all over the internet. People were talking about K-Pop fans a lot because they disrupted a political rally in Oklahoma by buying all of the tickets.

I was very aware of just how powerful of a global community it was, so that informed my character. And when I was growing up, I lived very much on the internet. I was obsessed with Asian YouTube and Asian hip-hop. And so I sort of brought that personal experience of being deeply involved in and drawn to Asian culture. So that’s sort of how Deadeye was born.

Ashley: Also what I love about the movie is we get to see the K-Pop community and really understand why Deadeye and the K-Pop army really love and cherishes this music and these groups. I’m so happy in the way that we present them as heroes and show how they show up for people they’ve never met in real life.

Discover all the ups, downs, and mayhem of this fearsome foursome in Joy Ride, playing in theaters now.

Share Your Top 5 BTS Songs in Our Latest In-App Experience

June 12, 2023

Over the last decade, BTS has become a global cultural phenomenon, putting K-Pop on the map worldwide. The group has fueled—and is fueled by—one of the most enthusiastic fan bases in the world. Each listener has their own special relationship with the band’s music. So to celebrate the group’s 10th anniversary, Spotify and BTS curated a special love letter experience: My Top 5: BTS Songs.

This interactive experience lets listeners curate their personal favorite songs from a selection of BTS’s discography, then share their picks with friends on social media. BTS worked with Spotify to curate a special selection that celebrates much of their collective discography from the past decade.*

“Each step of our journey together has been unique and has sounded different along the way,” the band shared. “We hope many people enjoy this new experience with Spotify’s My Top 5: BTS Songs and share their favorites with us.”

Here’s how to enjoy My Top 5: BTS:

Make sure you’re in one of the 48 markets where the experience is live** and ensure your iPhone is up-to-date with version 8.8.40.x.
Visit https://spotify.com/top5 on your device.
The experience will present a curated selection of BTS’s songs. Select your five favorites. Then drag and reorder them in the visual display to create your top list.
You’ll receive your picks in a visual sharecard. Then, choose a sharecard backdrop with the option to highlight your BTS group bias—aka your favorite group member.
Finally, share your personalized digital card with your selections and compare with your friends on social media using #spotifymytop5.

My Top 5: BTS Songs marks the next iteration of this interactive experience on Spotify that follows My Top 5 moments with other iconic artists, including The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, and ROSALÍA. Visit https://spotify.com/top5 to get started.

*The available songs to select from do not include the full BTS catalog or songs by other artists where BTS is featured

**The My Top 5: BTS Songs experience will be available in 48 markets: U.S., Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Poland, Turkey, U.K., Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Iraq, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Lebanon, Kuwait, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Botswana, Brazil, Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay; and 15 languages: English, English-GB, French-CA, French, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Arabic, Spanish-LATAM, Korean, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, German, and Bahasa Indonesia.

How Spotify Blend Creates a Connection Between Fans, Friends, and Artists

May 24, 2023

Whether you’re an artist, a listener, or a bit of both, there’s one thing that has been true since time immemorial: Music should be shared. If you’re grabbing the AUX on a car trip with friends or making a playlist for that special someone, there’s just a certain connection that comes with sharing in the genres and songs that have personal meaning to you.

That’s why in 2021, Spotify took that connection to the next level with Blend, our shared new social listening experience that combines the different tastes of friends and family, as well as fans and artists, into one. With Blend, you can create a personalized playlist that balances what you and your friends like to listen to, merging those music tastes to create something everyone can enjoy.

“Sharing music is a really vulnerable thing—but it also brings you closer together,” says Gianna Pisano, a product marketing manager at Spotify. “Those moments when you realize you and your friends have been listening to Stick Season by Noah Kahan on repeat, or have played boygenius’s new record for five days straight—Blend surfaces all of those insights, puts them together, and does all the work to make a playlist for you and your crew, updated daily. All you have to do is listen and explore.”

Connection in Collaboration

The creation of Blend came about via personalized features that were already in use on a smaller scale.

“Our personalization team was already working on a similar feature that we were excited about,” says Ian VanNest, a senior product designer. “Initially we had used it to connect mixes for listeners on Duo or Family accounts and that ended up being an instant hit. Eventually we decided that extending that functionality to everyone was the way to go.”

At launch, Blend allowed two users at a time to combine musical tastes. But the personalization team realized that more people would make for a merrier experience. So in March 2022, we expanded the number of people who can combine to 10, creating an even more powerful, collaborative tool that allowed even more people to feel connected to one another through their shared love for music.

“Increasing the amount of listeners to make use of Blend was a natural next step,” says Maia Ezratty, an engineer who works on personalization at Spotify. “We don’t only connect over music with one person at a time. We listen to music with our families, go to concerts with our friends, and stream music at the office. I love creating a Blend with a group of friends when we’re together—right away, we have something that represents all of our music tastes that we can play while we hang out. And it’s a conversation starter!”

Beyond that, Blend has offered groups of listeners an opportunity to enjoy the music they have in common and celebrate the differences in musical taste on a granular level.

“Blend has a lot of perks to it, but by far the two best parts of creating a Blend with your friends are finding the artists you have in common and discovering artists that you didn’t know about,” says Ward Ronan, Spotify senior data scientist. “Music has always been a powerful way to bring people together, and Blend not only acknowledges that relationship, but actively helps it grow.

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Getting Closer to the Artists We Love

After fans responded enthusiastically to being able to Blend with groups, the personalization team started to think about how to evolve the playlist further. And in an age where it’s easier than ever for fans to connect with celebrities on a more personal level, the team found inspiration for their next innovation. The result was Blend’s new ability to let fans create a deeper bond with artists by combining their tastes.

“We wanted to harness the power of Blend to create a bit of that same sense of connection between celebrities and fans,” explains Maia. “Music taste is so personal, and Blending with our favorite celebrities makes us feel like we’re getting to know them better by giving us a little window into theirs.”

In a few quick steps, fans can now Blend with artists like BTS to discover the songs that get the K-pop group dancing when they’re not onstage, find out which tracks they have in common with Megan Thee Stallion, and—most recently—see how much their overall taste aligns with that of Miley Cyrus. Find a full list of all available Blends here.

Blend has been incredibly popular with fans since it debuted in 2021. Recently, it’s grown significantly in popularity, and since June 2022, the number of Blends with artists has more than doubled. Of the artists fans can Blend with currently, BTS, Post Malone, BLACKPINK, Lizzo, and Stray Kids are the most popular as of May 2023.

Music has always been one of the most powerful ways for artists to share their lives and experiences, and for listeners to connect with one another and feel understood. And through Blend, fans have a magical way to connect with friends, loved ones, and even total strangers, in a shared moment of enjoyment.

Want to compare your favorite anthems with Miley Cyrus’s? Click below and let Blend do the rest.

https://spotify.link/MileyBlend

It’s Here: The Top Songs, Artists, Podcasts, and Listening Trends of 2022

November 30, 2022

Gif of the Wrapped lockup on a purple background

There’s no single way to define what a year 2022 has been. Coming back after a few years of uncertainty has led each of us to create a “new normal” in our relationships to culture—and to each other. This year, Spotify listeners especially took the chance to redefine how they find joy. And now, it’s time to unveil what the world collectively delighted in and obsessed over with Spotify’s 2022 Wrapped.

From the music that makes us dance to the podcasts that keep us riveted, this is the audio that bubbled to the top of Spotify listeners’ playlists.

The top global artists of 2022

It’s a three-peat for global recording artist Bad Bunny. The singer-songwriter is the year’s most-streamed artist in the world on Spotify—a spot he’s held since 2020. No other artist has ever accomplished the feat before, so to celebrate, we’ve turned the heart button on Spotify into the singer’s custom red-heart icon.

Taylor Swift held true to her invitation to meet her at midnight, and it propelled her to become the second-most-streamed artist of the year globally—and the top artist in Australia, the U.K., Ireland, Malaysia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Qatar, Slovenia, and Singapore. Rounding out the top five artists are the two very familiar Toronto powerhouses Drake and The Weeknd, along with K-Pop band BTS.

Plenty of artists had their worlds rocked this year by the power of social media. The most “viral” artists were those who had their music most frequently shared to social platforms from Spotify. Taylor Swift’s Midnights release certainly got the world talking, and she claims the top spot as the most viral artist globally. The second-place position goes to The Weeknd, followed by Bad Bunny. Rounding out spots four and five are BTS and Lana Del Rey.

The top global songs of 2022

Song of the summer 2022 creator Harry Styles takes the coveted honor of having the most-streamed song around the globe with his hit “As It Was.” British indie rock band Glass Animals’ track “Heat Waves” is the second-most-streamed song of 2022, and fans just can’t get enough. Australian artist The Kid LAROI’s collab with Justin Bieber on “STAY” is the third-most-streamed song of the year. Bad Bunny’s “Me Porto Bonito” feat. Chencho Corleon and “Tití Me Preguntó” take spots four and five, respectively.

The top global albums of 2022

So what collective body of work, in album form, was streamed most in 2022? From Spanish to English, pop to hip-hop, listeners around the world showed a variety of tastes. Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti takes the top spot for most-streamed album globally for 2022. Harry Styles‘ Harry’s House comes in at number two. Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album, SOUR, takes the third spot for most-streamed album. British pop superstar Ed Sheeran’s album = continues to be a fan favorite at number four. And finally, American rapper and singer Doja Cat’s album Planet Her (Deluxe) grabs the fifth spot.

The top global podcasts of 2022

This year, Spotify’s podcast offerings expanded into new markets, providing more listeners around the world with new shows to binge. With more than four million podcasts, the platform offers something for every type of podcast listener. But what shows especially made their mark in 2022? Globally, the most popular podcast for the third year running is The Joe Rogan Experience. Call Her Daddy, from host Alex Cooper, takes the spot for second-most popular podcast. Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain, a soon-to-be-Spotify Exclusive touching on a variety of topics from the popular American creator, takes the third spot, while Caso 63, a Spotify Original podcast that’s debuted in Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Hindi, and English takes the fourth spot with all its language iteration feeds combined. Crime Junkie, a true-crime podcast from Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat, rounds out the list as the fifth-most popular podcast.

The global trends that shaped our year

These most-streamed artists, songs, albums, and podcasts weren’t the only guideposts that shaped our year. There were also audio trends on Spotify that brought people together through laughter, amusement, and enjoyment.

Nostalgia remains a staple in our listeners’ queues.

This year, Spotify fans were all about the aesthetic.

After two years of pandemic postponement, 2022 was the year for many to finally say, “I do.”

Little Miss, the British children’s book character, made a resurgence in 2022 with fill-in-the-blank-style memes. May we suggest “Little Miss can’t stop posting her Wrapped results”?

But a new topic that surprised everyone was corn, thanks to corn kid.

And, of course, our listeners really know their shows and movies.

And their memes.

Have you checked out your own Wrapped yet? Do these artists, songs, albums, podcasts, and trends make an appearance in your end-of-year experience? Find out more about what we have in store specifically for you here.

As we bid farewell to 2022, you can find the full lists of the top songs, artists, albums, and podcasts below.

Most-Streamed Artists Globally

Bad Bunny
Taylor Swift
Drake
The Weeknd
BTS

Most-Streamed Artists in the U.S.

Drake
Taylor Swift
Bad Bunny
Kanye West
The Weeknd

Most-Streamed Albums Globally

Un Verano Sin Ti by Bad Bunny
Harry’s House by Harry Styles
SOUR by Olivia Rodrigo
= by Ed Sheeran
Planet Her by Doja Cat

Most-Streamed Albums in the U.S.

Un Verano Sin Ti by Bad Bunny
Harry’s House by Harry Styles
Dangerous: The Double Album by Morgan Wallen
Midnights by Taylor Swift
SOUR by Olivia Rodrigo

Most-Streamed Songs Globally

“As It Was” by Harry Styles
“Heat Waves” by Glass Animals
“STAY (with Justin Bieber)” by The Kid LAROI
“Me Porto Bonito” by Bad Bunny feat. Chencho Corleon
“Tití Me Preguntó” by Bad Bunny

Most-Streamed Songs in the U.S.

“As It Was” by Harry Styles
“Heat Waves” by Glass Animals
“Bad Habit” by Steve Lacy
“Me Porto Bonito” by Bad Bunny feat. Chencho Corleon
“First Class” by Jack Harlow

Most Popular Podcasts Globally

The Joe Rogan Experience
Call Her Daddy
Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain
Case 63 (All Languages)
Crime Junkie

Most Popular Podcasts in the U.S.

The Joe Rogan Experience
Call Her Daddy
Crime Junkie
The Daily
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Blend With Lizzo, Post Malone, and The Chainsmokers—And Buy Their Merch

July 20, 2022

Lizzo, Post Malone, and the Chainsmokers on a green background

Listen to this story read aloud in 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

Music fandom is about more than just listening to music and going to shows: It’s connecting with an artist, their songs, and their fellow followers. And what better way to signal your love, and maybe strike up a conversation with another fan, than by repping your favorites with a t-shirt or other merch?

At Spotify, we’re always looking for new ways to grow the bond between artists and fans. Our latest feature, Blend, combines the best of our personalization capabilities and collaborative playlist functionality to help you create a playlist that syncs your music taste with that of your friend’s or artists’ like BTS, Charli XCX, Kacey Musgraves, and Megan Thee Stallion.

Now we’re expanding the popular feature to even more artists including Lizzo, The Chainsmokers, and Post Malone. And we’re also adding a new element: the opportunity to shop artist merch from the Blend experience so you can literally wear your love on your sleeve.

Here’s how you can Blend with one of these artists and then purchase their merch:

Click on an artist’s name in this story to be directed to Blend. Or, check out the artist’s link from their social channels. You can now choose from Lizzo, The Chainsmokers, and Post Malone.
Let Spotify make a playlist tailored to your shared tastes.
Check out your social sharecard. It contains your Taste Match score, which shows the percentage of music taste you two have in common. Then, share it directly to Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, or Twitter.
After you get your Taste Match score, you’ll have the opportunity to purchase the artist’s featured merch via our integration with Shopify. All the pieces of merch have been selected by the artists themselves and include items such as t-shirts, vinyl albums, and more.

It’s our mission to build new opportunities for creators to live off their work, and our larger partnership with Shopify makes it easier than ever for artists to sell their merch on Spotify. By putting merch alongside the music experience, we’re increasing purchase opportunities and generating incremental sales for creators.

Blend with Lizzo, The Chainsmokers, and Post Malone by clicking on their names. And find a full list of all available artist Blends here.

‘K-Pop ON! Track’ Is Spotify’s Newest Site Dedicated to All Things K-Pop

June 20, 2022

K-Pop has long dominated the charts on Spotify, thanks in part to its passionate fans and their streams of our K-Pop ON! (온) playlist. The genre has no plans of slowing down, and neither do its listeners. That’s why Spotify launched K-Pop ON! Track, a website dedicated to all things K-Pop that brings casual listeners and veteran superfans alike closer to the artists and music they love. With news, exclusive artist interviews, industry updates, trends, and more on the site, there’s no shortage of ways fans can keep their fingers on the pulse of this global phenomenon.

Explore while you stream

Got BLACKPINK or Billlie blasting in the background? K-Pop ON! Track complements your streaming experience with handy tools and how-tos, including a glossary dedicated to K-Pop terminology, a step-by-step guide on creating a Spotify Blend playlist with BTS, and a series dedicated to the artists and groups we love, called We Stan. Created for K-Pop fans by the people who love K-Pop most at Spotify, the site has three main sections where you can discover all the in-depth content:

Recent News: As ON! Track’s home base, this is where our most recently published stories will greet visitors when they first open the website. This includes artist content, genre stories, trends, data, milestones, and interviews with both artists and industry players.
K-Pop ON!: This section is dedicated to our flagship playlist, K-Pop ON! (온), where you can find updates about what’s new, like artist takeovers and spotlights on the hottest new talents.
Spotlight ON!: Here we take a closer look at the musicians and playlists that are making waves on Spotify, from featured artists to classic K-Pop tracks and new releases of the month.

📢 Welcome to our home base for all things K-Pop 🥳 #KPopONTrack is now live!

Head to https://t.co/A4r4yDKwzk for the latest trends, and get closer to the artists and the music you love. 🎶

Psst: Stay tuned for an exclusive interview you don't wanna miss. 👀💜#SpotifyKPop pic.twitter.com/OZBW4y1wUo

— Spotify ❤️ K-Pop (@SpotifyKpop) June 21, 2022

Making records, breaking records

K-Pop fans have long been streaming in droves, helping break records for artists and bringing much-deserved exposure to the genre. Each month, K-Pop receives over 8 billion monthly streams on Spotify, and our newly renamed K-Pop ON! (온) playlist has racked up over 3.9 million followers.*

The greatest number of K-Pop ON! listeners are streaming from the U.S., Indonesia, and the Philippines—evidence of the genre’s worldwide appeal. And as the popularity of K-Pop continues to grow, we want K-Pop ON! Track to be a destination that fans from all corners of the globe can visit to stay in the know.

March to the beat of K-Pop by visiting Spotify’s newest site, K-Pop ON! Track.

https://kpopontrack.byspotify.com/

*As of May 2022

Celebrate BTS’s Upcoming Album Release With Our Exclusive Countdown Destination, #SpotifyPurpleU

June 2, 2022

Spotify’s been counting the days until K-Pop band BTS releases their new music, and now we’re inviting fans all over the world to join the fun. In anticipation of the group’s newest anthology album, Proof, coming out June 10, Spotify launched #SpotifyPurpleU, an immersive microsite experience, to build excitement among new and longtime listeners.

BTS fans have long proven their love for band members Jungkook, V, Jimin, Suga, Jin, RM, and J-Hope. The group has racked up over 25.8 billion streams on Spotify in addition to 35 million monthly listeners and 50 million followers worldwide.* The BTS ARMY has also helped the band break records: BTS was the first artist from Asia and the first K-Pop artist to join the Spotify Billions Club with their song “Dynamite,” Spotify’s This Is BTS playlist has 6.5 million followers—more than any other This Is playlist on the platform, and BTS was the third-most-streamed artist of 2021, according to Spotify Wrapped.

For years, BTS has transcended regional boundaries, languages, and cultures to touch the hearts of people everywhere. In celebration of the band’s decade-long history and their fans’ unyielding dedication, #SpotifyPurpleU features exclusive band content, messages from the members, and a countdown to the highly anticipated album release. The site also gives fans the chance to create personalized #MyBTSProof share cards based on their favorite songs, which they can then post to social media to celebrate with ARMY members around the world. The site will be available in eight languages: Korean, Thai, Bahasa, Japanese, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and, on June 10, Arabic.

In addition to the microsite, Spotify is featuring exclusive video clips on our This Is BTS playlist . On social media, Spotify’s social accounts have turned purple in celebration of BTS’s milestone, and BTS and Spotify will release a short film that looks back at all of the band’s eras, starting from their inception in 2013.

Starting June 3, the BTS ARMY can also spot #SpotifyPurpleU billboards around the world, including in South Korea, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Help celebrate BTS’s comeback by heading to #SpotifyPurpleU. And head back to Spotify June 10 to listen to Proof.

*As of May 25, 2022

K-Pop Fans Can Now Blend With Some of Their Favorite Groups on Spotify

May 20, 2022

K-Pop fans, Spotify has a listening experience that will let you connect with your favorite bands in a new way. Through Spotify’s Blend feature, you can sing and dance along to an all-new set of playlists that merge your personal music taste with that of some of the biggest names in K-Pop.

Blend was introduced last year as a new way for two Spotify users to combine their musical preferences into one shared playlist made just for them. Earlier this year, we announced updates that included the chance to Blend with some of your favorite artists.

Now Spotify is expanding the collection of Blend artists to include K-Pop superstars BTS, Stray Kids, ENHYPEN, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, NMIXX, and AB6IX. When you Blend with these artists, you’ll get a curated playlist that combines your favorite tracks with theirs. You’ll also receive a share card showing your taste-match scores and the songs that bring you two together. The cards can be shared directly to Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, or Twitter so you can show off your matches with other members of the ARMY, Stay, ENGENE, MOA, NSWER, and ABNEW fan bases.

Ready to see what these bands have been listening to lately? Grab your headphones and Blend by following the link for your favorite K-Pop artist below.

Blend with BTS

Blend with NMIXX

Blend with Stray Kids

Blend with TOMORROW X TOGETHER

Blend with ENHYPEN

Blend with AB6IX

Update as of October 19, 2022: BLINKs rejoice: You can now also Blend with BLACKPINK on Spotify. Find a full list of all available Blends here.

Spotify Celebrates K-Pop With a Relaunch of Its Flagship Playlist, Now Called ‘K-Pop ON! (온)’

March 2, 2022

It’s been one year since Spotify debuted in South Korea and almost eight years since the launch of our flagship playlist, K-Pop Daebak. Since its unveiling in 2014, the playlist has racked up billions of streams for Korean artists and has expanded their reach around the world. As K-Pop continues to dominate the charts, Spotify is building on this momentum with a complete relaunch of its K-Pop Daebak playlist, now called K-Pop ON! (온).

K-Pop is more than a music genre—it’s a cultural hub for fandoms, superstars, fashion moments, and more. With K-Pop ON! (온), Spotify is creating a destination that gives fans and artists even stronger ways to connect with each other. That’s the reason for the new playlist name and the addition of the Korean word “온,” which means “100” or “whole.” When combined with the English word “on,” the playlist’s name embodies the idea that K-Pop is always on 100 for the whole world. And that couldn’t be more true; every day, K-Pop brings new songs, styles, and trends to the world. With K-Pop On! (온), fans aren’t just tuning in to a playlist, they’re immersing themselves in a worldwide phenomenon.

Since 2018, K-Pop streams on Spotify have increased by 107% in the United States and 230% globally, resulting in almost 8 billion streams per month around the world. The love of the genre is truly global, with the U.S., Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Malaysia, Canada, Singapore, and the U.K. rounding out the list of the top countries that stream K-Pop. The music has taken over the Spotify platform. In fact, in the last 90 days, there have been over 4.7 million searches for the term “K-Pop” on Spotify.

These searches include a wide array of artists and songs, ranging from big hits by top stars to deep cuts from emerging artists. Since the playlist’s original launch in 2014, BLACKPINK and BTS have been the most-streamed artists, while the most-streamed songs have been “DDU-DU DDU-DU” by BLACKPINK, “FANCY” by TWICE, “DALLA DALLA” by ITZY, “Kill This Love” by BLACKPINK, and “SOLO” by JENNIE (from BLACKPINK).

Spotify couldn’t launch K-Pop ON! (온) without help from a few fan-favorite artists, so it’s rolling out star-studded billboards around the world to celebrate. Fans will find larger-than-life images of NMIXX in LA; BTS, aespa, and NMIXX in NYC; ATEEZ, Red Velvet, NCT DREAM, and more in South Korea; aespa, SEVENTEEN, BLACKPINK, and more in Indonesia; BTS, NMIXX, and IVE in Japan; and BTS, TWICE, and ENHYPEN in Toronto—with more exciting content to come, across the platform and on Spotify’s own channels.

Want to join the millions of fans around the world singing and dancing along to K-Pop? Stream our newly minted K-Pop On! (온) playlist here.

What the World Streamed Most in 2021

December 1, 2021

If 2020 was the year that flipped the world on its head, 2021 was the year that we got used to seeing things upside down. With “normal” thrown out the window, people around the world started to embrace the unknown—and in doing so, championed all of the things that make each of us unique.

Spotify’s 2021 Wrapped celebrates this idea—the millions of weird and wonderful ways to listen and live in a world that continues to keep us on our toes. Today, we unveil the top artists, albums, songs, podcasts, and more that defined how more than 381 million people around the world listened and discovered audio during a year that turned “unprecedented” into, well, precedented.

As usual, Wrapped helps us reflect on the large role audio played in the lives of our listeners—and how our favorite creators soundtracked the world around us.

The top artists, songs, and albums globally

For the second year in a row, Puerto Rican Reggaeton star Bad Bunny takes the title of most-streamed artist in the world on Spotify. And what’s more: He’s received over 9.1 billion streams without releasing a new album this year. He is swiftly followed by singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, whose Red (Taylor’s Version) gave old and new fans alike a reason to relive the artist’s early groundbreaking work. Rounding up 2021’s top three is BTS. The globally beloved k-pop group had a standout year thanks to their single “Butter.” Canadian hip-hop artists Drake—who released Certified Lover Boy in September—and Justin Bieber—whose 2021 album Justice featured collaborations with artists from across the globe—take spots four and five, respectively.

Another year at the top for #BadBunny! Congratulations to 2021’s most-streamed artist 🥂 #SpotifyWrapped pic.twitter.com/mCl8fFxoXM

— Spotify (@Spotify) December 1, 2021

The top song of 2021 globally is Olivia Rodrigo’s runaway “drivers license,” which garnered over 1.1 billion streams. Lil Nas X’s viral “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” dances its way to second place and heralded the artist’s first studio album. The Kid LAROI enters the ranks for the first time, with his Justin Bieber collaboration “STAY” taking third. The fourth spot sees Olivia Rodrigo once again, this time with “good 4 u,” which also earned the title of 2021 Spotify Song of the Summer. The fifth most streamed song to rise in the ranks is Dua Lipa’s “Levitating (feat. DaBaby).”

When it comes to top albums of 2021 globally, Olivia Rodrigo once again claims the crown—her debut album SOUR clearly held a bit of sweetness. Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia ranks second, with Justin Bieber’s Justice, Ed Sheeran’s =, and Doja Cat’s Planet Her coming in third, fourth, and fifth.

The top podcasts globally

Coming out of its first full year as a Spotify exclusive, The Joe Rogan Experience remains the number-one podcast on Spotify globally. It is followed by the fearless Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy, which also became exclusive to Spotify in 2021. True crime and news continue to be popular genres within the medium, with Crime Junkie, TED Talks Daily, and The Daily rounding out the list.

Notable trends of 2021

When we looked at trends on Spotify in 2021, the top songs, artists, albums, and podcasts weren’t the only things we found. We learned about the moments that united listeners—and the ones that were notable for their uniqueness.

Nostalgia played a role in people’s listening in 2021 as fans rediscovered old favorites—and new generations adopted them as well. Let’s face it: There are certain songs and albums that just sound like home (in a good way).

Stream On 2023

Time to Play Fair

Spotify Loud & Clear

Spotify x FC Barcelona