Tag: playlists

How Who We Be, Altar, and Our Generation Are Propelling UK and Irish Artists to the Top

February 8, 2021

Spotify’s editorial playlists are full of musical collections that fans won’t find anywhere else. Some of these playlists follow moods, while others contain songs curated for a specific genre—many of these playlists highlight emerging artists and help them connect their music with new audiences.

In the UK and Ireland, three flagship playlists are particularly influential. Listeners can find the UK’s biggest rap, grime, R&B, Afrobeat, and dancehall hits on Who We Be. Altar is the destination for the best electronic dance music. And for those looking to experience new and emerging genreless sounds, the Our Generation playlist contains some of the most exciting emerging acts on the UK and Irish scenes.

In 2020, many fans discovered new artists through these lists, and the proof is in the numbers. Read on to learn about some of the standout artists who saw success on these playlists last year. 

Who We Be

The Who We Be playlist has grown significantly since its launch in 2016, and it now has over half a million fiercely loyal and engaged followers. One of the playlist’s biggest breakthroughs in 2020 was Central Cee. The West London rapper commanded more than 200,000 streams from the Who We Be playlist alone, and he saw almost instant success with his single “Day In The Life.” Since he joined the Who We Be Community, the artist’s followers on Spotify have grown by almost 359%.

S1mba is another rapper who made waves last year with his debut single, “Rover (feat. DTG),” which peaked at number two in the UK Top 40 in April. The Zimbabwean-born Londoner is the 15th-most-streamed artist overall on the playlist, and since “Rover” was released, he has seen a 16,435% rise in listens.

After being featured on Who We Be, Tiana Blake’s “Cut Ties” became the best-performing traditional R&B track from a British artist on the playlist. The track went on to make waves in other global Spotify playlists, such as Chilled R&B, and saw a 159% rise in streams.

Altar

Dance and Electronic music isn’t going anywhere. If you need proof, look no further than the Altar playlist, which saw a 193% increase in listens in 2020. One of the biggest artist breakthroughs of 2020 was award-winning producer Fred Gibson, who released tracks under his alias, Fred again... The artist’s unique sound blends raw vocal samples with club-ready euphoria and has been a hit with the Altar audience; they’ve made him one of the top 20 most-streamed artists on the playlist last year.

TSHA was the third-most-streamed UK female on the playlist in 2020. She saw an increase in year-on-year streams of 134%. TSHA’s single “Change” with Gabrielle Aplin, which was recorded at a Spotify Song Writing Camp in 2019, became one of the top-100-streamed tracks from Altar in 2020. 

In May, one of Europe’s most exciting DJs and producers, India Jordan, launched their genre-defining EP For You. Two of the tracks, “For You” and “I’m Waiting,” were featured on the Altar playlist, and over the course of the year, their streams increased by 388%. India was also one of Spotify’s RADAR first listen artists in 2020.

Our Generation

Genreless playlists are growing in popularity around the world, and the case is no different for Our Generation. The playlist, which surfaces the new wave of artists emerging across the UK and Irish musical landscape, saw an 18% increase in streams in 2020. With playlist takeovers from some of the most exciting breakthrough artists on the scene, including beabadoobee, Thomas Headon, and Biig Piig, the home of genre-defying artists has driven huge discovery for fans this year.

Our Generation played an influential role in elevating many artists, including rising star Holly Humberstone, who has grown her audience to over 2 million monthly listeners since her first release, “Deep End,” was added to the playlist in early 2020. 

Other acts that saw great first-time success include Tayo Sound, who was busking on the streets of Reading less than a year before making it onto the cover of the Our Generation playlist in May 2020. His hits “Cold Feet” and “Heartbreaker” were two of the most-streamed tracks on the playlist in 2020, and overall his streams soared by more than 1,000% in the last six months. 

Kamal, an 18-year-old London alternative R&B star, secured the second-most-streamed track on Our Generation with “homebody” after he was featured on his first Spotify playlist cover art in early 2020. Since then, the artist has seen an 84% growth in listens.

With a new year comes more new music. Follow these playlists to discover the latest finds when it comes to emerging artists and hit tracks.

How to Share Your Favorite Songs with Your Child Through Shared Playlists on the Spotify Kids App

January 11, 2021

Since we first unveiled the Spotfy Kids app in October 2019 for Spotify Premium Family subscribers, young listeners have been able to explore a playground of sound and begin a lifelong love of music through a standalone app designed just for them. We’ve also been listening to parents during this time and have been committed to providing increased customization within the app. We started by giving parents the ability to block individual songs or audio stories in the app as well as giving them access to their kids’ “Listening History.” Now, we’re making it possible for parents to share the music they love—from the songs they grew up playing to the family’s dance party playlist—and further curate their child’s audio experience with Shared Playlists on Spotify Kids.

Being able to share your love of music with your children may feel as essential as teaching them to ride a bike. Shared Playlists—a highly-requested and pin-protected parental settings feature—lets parents share music playlists they’ve created in their Spotify account directly with their child in Spotify Kids, allowing them to further curate their child’s listening experience.  

We know that parents often have their own views on which content is and is not appropriate for their kids. The Shared Playlists feature gives parents more control, supplementing the growing library of more than 300,000 kid-friendly tracks and 1,300 playlists on Spotify Kids—all handpicked by our experienced team of editors.

Here’s how to share playlists with your little one using the Spotify Kids app:

  1. Create a playlist of your family’s favorite tunes on the Spotify app (or choose one you made in the past). Make sure to review the lyrics, album cover artwork, and any possible explicit tracks (which will be marked with an ‘E’).
  2. If there are individual songs within the playlist you don’t want to share with your kid, remove them from your playlist in the Spotify app. 
  3. Next, head to the parental settings section of the Spotify Kids app and enter your four-digit pin. 
  4. Tap the “Shared Playlists” section in your kids’ profile. Then, you’ll be able to see your Spotify playlists and select the ones you want to share with each child.
  5. The first time you do this, a pop-up screen will appear to confirm that you want to share the playlist. After, the child can access the playlist on their homepage from a new “Shared with You” section.

Note that if you update the playlist in the Spotify app, the playlist in Spotify Kids will be automatically updated too. Plus, you can revisit the PIN-protected parental settings on Spotify Kids at any time to remove a playlist, access your child’s listening history, and block or unblock tracks.

 

Not sure where to begin? Check out some of the top-shared songs in family playlists on Spotify: 

Ready to jump into Spotify Kids? Sign up for Spotify Premium Family and then download the app here.

Spotify Amplifies Year-round Celebration of Black History with ‘Phenomenal Black Music’ Campaign

February 19, 2020

Black History is American History. Black History is World History. Black History is Now.

In 2018, Spotify launched Black History Is Now to recognize and celebrate Black creators and culture all year long—not just in February. Over the past two years, the program has seen collaborations with artists Janelle Monáe and Pharrell Williams, as well as distinguished designers Joy Miessi and Brandan “BMike” Odums. In 2020, we’re elevating and evolving Spotify’s mission to focus on the cultural impact that people of color have always played—all through the lens of music.

This year, Black History Is Now presents Phenomenal Black Music—a celebration of the songs and women that have shaped the way music is made, experienced, and replicated across the world. Spotify is inspiring people to discover and celebrate Black music and artists who have defined and continue to define global culture.

Through a series of activations and experiences, we’re looking at Phenomenal Black Music through two lenses: songs that define culture and Black women who have shaped music. As much as there is to applaud regarding the strides Black female artists have made in a traditionally male-dominated industry, there’s still plenty of room for progress.

Here’s how you can celebrate with us this month and all year long:

1. Listen to Spotify’s Black History Is Now hub with curated Phenomenal Black Music playlists. Check out Black History Salute, Black Girl Magic, Black Love Mixtape, and more. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX4ezQVslkJiT?si=qhb2GZNXRaCL16XoScpG7g

2. Wear merch that brings the feelings of Phenomenal Black Music to life from prominent designers Joe Freshgoods—the fashion designer known for his “Don’t Be Mad” clothing line (whose biggest fans include Malia Obama, Chance the Rapper, and SZA)—and Jamilla Okubo, a mixed-media artist whose work has consistent themes that explore the intricacy of belonging to an American, Kenyan, and Trinidadian identity.

Credit: Mark Clennon

3. At the end of February, the Phenomenal Black Music campaign will culminate in a two-day immersive exhibit-style pop-up in New York City celebrating 32 exceptional songs and women. These artists span genres and generations, from Bob Marley and Mary J. Blige to Lil Nas X and Lizzo. The exhibit will feature a look into the music and musicians, with stories curated by music journalist Jewel Wicker, interactive elements curated by Spotify, surprise merch drops, and performances and panels throughout the weekend. As part of the experience, Spotify partnered with Levi’s® to bring product customization to the two-day event. Guests will have a chance to personalize a Levi’s® Trucker jacket, and all visitors will have access to exclusive patches from Joe Freshgoods and Jamilla Okubo. You can find more details here.

Explore the Black History Is Now hub here, and follow the celebration on @Spotify and @SpotifyNews.

These are Spotify’s Top Workout & Wellness Trends – Plus 2020 Predictions to Help Kick-Start Your Resolutions

December 31, 2019

As we enter the New Year—or better yet, new decade—there are endless ways to get on that fitness, wellness, or self-care resolution. Since there are plenty of songs, podcasts, and playlists dedicated to helping people achieve their wellness goals on Spotify, we took a look at how listeners have been using music and podcasts to stay on track. Plus, we made some predictions for what trends the new year will bring.

So, with more than 54 million workout-themed playlists on Spotify, what songs do listeners sweat to the most? Eminem’s “‘Till I Collapse” is the most-streamed track on workout lists at the moment. Ed Sheeran’s “I Don’t Care” with Justin Bieber is second highest, followed by Tones and I’s “Dance Monkey,” “If I Can’t Have You” by Shawn Mendes, and “Beautiful People” by Ed Sheeran and Khalid.

It turns out that our listeners have a particular workout preference—running. Spotify listeners around the world have created more running playlists than any other workout type. Yoga follows in popularity, so you can be sure listeners are staying flexible as well.

We found that people want to learn about wellness from podcasts, too. Listening in the fitness and wellness podcast genre increased 145% in the past year. Plus, listeners are falling asleep—and in love—with sleep podcasts. The most popular podcast in the health and fitness category is Sleepy, where host Otis Gray reads classic stories to help listeners doze off. Is this what sweet dreams are made of?

As for 2020 predictions, we have reason to believe there’s going to be more meditating than ever before. We saw a 113% increase in streams of meditation playlists in the past year, higher than any other workout or wellness type.

Plus, we feel self-love will continue to reign supreme, with pump-up empowerment anthems like Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next,” Lizzo’s “Good as Hell,” and Hailee Steinfeld’s “Love Myself,” popular on self-care playlists. These powerful women are here to say You’ve got this.

Keep up the motivation with even more workout and wellness trends:


Download the infographic here.

Get inspired by our Wellness hub or get your heart racing with Spotify’s most-followed workout playlist, Beast Mode.

How to Make Your Own Podcast Playlists

September 30, 2019

There are more than 3 billion user-generated playlists on Spotify. That means hours upon hours of carefully curated lists of tracks listeners can’t get enough of. Until recently, playlists were exclusive to music. But now, in the true spirit of Audio First, Spotify users can combine music and podcasts on the same playlists.

With this recently released, frequently requested functionality, users can build playlists of podcasts, or add podcasts to existing playlists for a mixed-media experience. Users can also set up a playlist of multiple podcasts in a row—perfect for a long drive or maybe a run—or integrate their favorite songs with news, comedy, or sports podcasts. (Here’s an idea: set up a selection of sunny, feel-good songs for before, after, and in between a bunch of great true crime podcast episodes—you know, to balance yourself out.)

 

With these new opportunities for creativity, the options are endless. And the best part—it’s as easy as making a playlist full of music. 

 To add a podcast to a playlist on mobile:

  1. Simply navigate to a podcast episode you love.
  2. Tap the three dots to the right of the track or episode.
  3. Tap “Add to playlist.”
  4. Select a playlist you’ve already created you like to add it to.
  5. Or, tap to create a new playlist from scratch.
  6. Play around with interspersing podcast episodes with music tracks to curate hand-picked listening sessions. 
  7. Share with your friends or make your playlists public—others are sure to love them too! 

Then, once you’re ready to play hours of queued-up content, head back to “Your Library” to see all your playlists in one place under the “Playlists” tab in Music. Sound familiar? If you’ve ever made a playlist for your favorite songs, you’re already a pro.

**Pro tip: If you’re using Spotify on your computer desktop, you can stream the playlists you’ve made on mobile that include podcasts. You just can’t make a playlist with a podcast in it from your desktop—yet.

How to Find the Perfect Playlist for Your Coffee Break Vibe

March 20, 2019

When you need that pick-me-up, there are two sources you can reliably turn to: music and coffee. No matter if you’re a morning joe drinker or look forward to an afternoon fika (or both, we don’t judge), there’s nothing like having a warm mug in your hands and music in your ears. Fittingly, there are as many popular Spotify “coffee” playlists as there are drink options at your favorite coffee shop.

Spotify created a few of our own, including Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, Soul Coffee, and Arabic Coffee, but there are more than two million fan-made “coffee,” “latte,” “caffeine,” “espresso,” “café,” and “kaffe” playlists to choose from.

Looking for your perfect coffee soundtrack? We’re serving up a slimmed-down menu of beans and beats pairings, so you don’t have to scroll through all the options before your first cup. See which one fits your mood.

Pair with an americano: Your Favorite Coffeehouse

This first playlist includes the mellow, rainy-day classics you’d likely want to hear in any coffee shop—including songs from Joy Williams, Hozier, Lumineers, Passenger, and Julie Byrne, to name a few. Whether you like a light, medium, or dark roast, there’s a little bit of warm goodness for everyone here.

Pair with a latte: Country Coffeehouse

On the sweeter side, this playlist has the perfectly proportioned mix of folk and country staples, new and older. Add some flavor to your morning with Chris Stapleton, Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, or Iron & Wine, and maybe ask the barista for a guitar design in the foam on top.

Pair with an espresso: Coffee + Chill

Australians and New Zealanders make up the top listeners of this soft-yet-striking pick-me-up of a playlist. It has plenty of Aussie stars to go with the country’s robust coffee culture, including Cloves, Didirri, Jack the Fox, and Tash Sultana.

Pair with a café con leche: Café Con Leche

Sure, this one might be a little obvious, but why mess with a good thing? If you’ve never had the Spanish take on a latte (espresso, scalded milk, and maybe some sugar), this playlist filled with Spanish-language songs and streamed most often in Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru might do the trick. (But actually try a café con leche, too.)

Pair with a red eye: Coffee Club

This playlist is full of chill house music for when you need an extra kick, particularly at 2:00 p.m.—the time it’s played the most across all time zones. Like the repeated jolts from several espressos combined with coffee, these loud songs also rank the highest of these playlists on our danceability matrix.

Pair with a decaf: Coffee & Piano

Soft (the quietest of them all), subtle, no words needed: Our acoustic Coffee & Piano playlist is one to sink into your chair and relax with, and maybe even close your eyes. Take a sip and enjoy the music of composers from around the world. It’s the flavorful yet mellow way to end any day.

Pair with a cuppa: Morning Tea

… and if you’re not a coffee person, that’s ok too.

Find the Perfect Gaming Music on Spotify

August 24, 2018

When you’re gaming, you’re in the zone—and you need the music to match. Sometimes the game’s soundtrack is on point (we’re looking at you, Dan Romer and “Far Cry 5”), and other times you wish it could be anything else. That’s why we partner with some of the biggest streaming gaming companies like Twitch and Blizzard, and why we’ve made Spotify available on some of your favorite consoles, including Xbox One. This year, we’re also deepening our partnership with Xbox and fans by returning to Gamescom with an even bigger presence.

Read on to learn about our partnership, playlists, and even the beats per minute behind gaming streaming.

All Fun and Games at Gamescom

Gamescom is Europe’s largest annual gaming convention, and it’s being held in Cologne, Germany, this week (August 22-25). The four-day event showcases demos of the latest top games, innovative accessories, and most current gaming software. The biggest names in gaming brands (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo), developers (Ubisoft, Activision), publishers, influencers, distributors, and media are in attendance.

PWN the Gaming Playlists

Gamescom is the ideal platform to launch Xbox’s Spotify profile and first playlists, featuring the biggest gaming titles of the year. Check ‘em out:

Metro Exodus: Climb aboard and take a stand with these futuristic tracks.