Spotify wrapped up 2020 with yet another release of their famous year in review. Spotify Wrapped is the much-awaited feature that users annually look forward to from the streaming app and service. Notably, Spotify went over and beyond this year—offering exciting new features that met and even exceeded people’s expectations.
Without a doubt, music has been an important part of our daily lives. Nothing makes running errands more fun than bopping your head with the catchy beats of Justin Bieber songs. Having a blast from the past is also easy to achieve by playing your old but gold tunes from legendary singers. As much as listening to music delights us, looking back on our yearly streaming history can either come off dreadful or enjoyable. Still, one can’t deny that Spotify Wrapped never fails to capture our interest and of course, entertain us to our hearts’ delight.
What is Spotify?
Roots and Competition
Spotify is a streaming service that lets you listen to music and podcasts online. Millions of digital songs and podcast content comprise its vast library. Spotify started as a humble start-up business in Sweden that was founded by Martin Lorentzon and Daniel Ek. They established and developed Spotify in 2006 to surmount the continuous and problematic rise of music piracy. Eventually, the music industry and popular artists recognized the helpful solution that Spotify offers. Today, this in-demand company caters to people’s music demands all while providing compensation to the industry, as well.
Since 2008, Spotify claimed and consistently kept its spot as the leading music streaming service and application—overtaking its competitors such as Apple Music, Tidal, and Pandora Music. What sets Spotify apart from other music streaming providers is its convenience and free access. While it boasts a wide range of music and a vast podcast catalog to choose from, the basic features of the Spotify app and service are also free to use. A basic Spotify account lets you search and browse through its huge music collection. Moreover, it lets you create your own playlists and radio stations and even follow other Spotify users.
Features
Even without paying, Spotify curates custom-made collections such as Daily Mix, Release Radar, and Discover Weekly playlists based on your listening activity. Most of all, you can access your Spotify account across multiple devices. These include your mobile phone, computer, and tablet. Spotify Connect also conveniently lets you link your music to your car, speakers, and television—making music and podcast-listening a hassle-free and more enjoyable activity.
While you can access all these features for free, upgrading to Spotify Premium also lets you access other perks. With this upgrade, users can listen without ad interruptions and gain full control over higher quality music and various playback features. Moreover, Premium Spotify users can also download music on any device and listen offline.
Spotify Wrapped 2020
What is Spotify Wrapped?
Spotify offers a lot of features that bring delight and offer convenience to users. These include personalized Daily Mixes and Spotify Rewind collections among many others. Notably, one of the most popular and much-awaited Spotify curations is none other than Spotify Wrapped. This exciting feature presents and defines Spotify users’ app insights based on their listening habits and music activity for the year. Spotify Wrapped helps Spotify users determine their most streamed songs, top genres, favorite artists, and even leading podcasts.
When Does Spotify Wrapped Come Out?
Similar to last year’s Spotify Wrapped 2019 release date, the 2020 review was also released in early December this year. It is worth noting that this annual wrap-up presented promising features that brought excitement and interest to people. Indeed, many Spotify users all over the world were thrilled with sharing their Spotify Wrapped results. Aside from the personalized and informative fun aspects that Spotify Wrapped offers, this feature also helped people acquire an overview of listening history from various parts of the world—contributing to the music industry’s trending artists and songs, as well.
A Comprehensive Guide to Spotify Wrapped 2020
How to Use Spotify Wrapped on Mobile or Desktop
You don’t need to be a Spotify user to find a way on how to get Spotify Wrapped results. Spotify web offers a Spotify Wrapped link where you can conveniently access lists of the top songs, artists, albums, and podcasts this year.
Here are the steps on how to view Spotify Wrapped through your mobile or desktop browser:
Upon visiting the site, you will immediately view a slide show that greatly resembles an MS Powerpoint presentation. Then, you will be prompted to log in using your Spotify account. For non-users, simply clicking “Start” will provide an overview of Spotify Wrapped results for this year.
Upon clicking the “Start” option, you will see the overall streaming results of Spotify users in 2020 which include:
- Most Streamed Artist of 2020: Bad Bunny
- Most Played Song of 2020: “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd
- Top Three Podcasts of 2020: The Joe Rogan Experience, TED Talks Daily, and The Daily
- Top Playlists for Self-Care in 2020: Confidence Boost, Songs to Sing in the Shower, Your Favorite Coffeehouse, and Just Smile
- Top Throwback Decade: The 1980s
After going through the whole presentation, a prompt will appear that aims to encourage you to view your listening history by simply logging in using your Spotify account. To open Spotify and view your year in review, you will also be redirected to a site where you can download the app on your device. Non-users are also encouraged to sign up to make sure that they don’t miss out on next year’s Spotify update on the annual year in review feature.
How to Use Spotify Wrapped in Spotify App
The primary and most convenient way on how to see Spotify Wrapped is by heading to the Spotify app. Upon logging in, you can start scrolling until you see the “2020 Wrapped” headline which collates relevant playlists and your personalized year in review as well. If you can’t find the headline, you can simply type in “2020 Wrapped” on the search bar and the feature should appear. Spotify Wrapped will then bring you on a journey that will help you reminisce your listening habits and streaming history this year.
Spotify Wrapped 2020: Features and Content
Aside from personalized playlists, Spotify also made an in-app Stories feature for this year’s Spotify Wrapped. Self-care and growth are the leading themes of this 2020 feature, which makes it relevant due to the tough times and sudden changes that people experienced this year. Moreover, Spotify’s casual tone and witty character were still very much relevant in Spotify Wrapped 2020 as well.
Some of the content and features of Spotify Wrapped 2020 include:
New Artists
Spotify Wrapped starts with presenting the number of the new artists that you discovered this year. The feature stays in line with its theme, relating this section with personal development and growth.
New and Top Genres
The total number of the genres you listened to and discovered this year will also appear. Then, your top five genres will be ranked.
Top Song of the Year
Staying true to the theme, Spotify Wrapped will introduce your top song for 2020 by stating that this track helped you surpass and overcome everything this year. Then, your most-streamed song will be revealed.
Story of 2020 with Top Song
Spotify presented users’ most-streamed songs by including a journey-like feature that allows them to find out the timeline of the track’s streaming development and number of plays. Spotify Wrapped presents the specific date of when you first streamed your top song and the day of your 50th stream for that particular track. You will also discover the day that made your top song accumulate the most streams from you. Lastly, Spotify will present the total number of streams you made with your top track.
Top Songs
Then, your top five songs will be ranked. Spotify Wrapped presented this section in an organized and easy-to-see format as it includes the artists’ name and their corresponding albums for each track, as well.
Your Top Songs 2020 Playlist
Referencing 2020 as a tough year, Spotify Wrapped introduced their annual playlist on the top songs for the year as a backup and a way to be positive. Your Top Songs 2020 is a personalized playlist of the top 100 songs according to your listening habits and activity this year. Spotify will also give you an optional prompt to add the playlist to your personal library.
Top Decade
An interactive approach employed through quizzes also made Spotify users test their knowledge based on their music activity by guessing their top decade. This new and fun feature lets users ponder and answer by simply clicking their best choice.
Top Artist
Applying the fresh quiz-type feature, Spotify will then ask you to guess your top artist for the year. Upon clicking your answer, your most-streamed artist will then be revealed and even introduced as someone who stayed by your side this 2020. Moreover, you will also discover your top song from the artist and the total minutes you listened to their music.
Total Number of Artists Streamed and Top Five Artists
Next, the total number of artists you listened to this year will appear. Spotify will also rank the top five artists you streamed the most in 2020.
Top Podcasts
A new feature from Spotify Wrapped 2020 is the inclusion of results in terms of podcast listening activities as well. This year, you can discover your top podcast genres and your three most-streamed podcasts, too.
Badges
Spotify Wrapped distributed exclusive badges to Premium users according to their music activity and listening habits this year. Spotify gave the Tastemaker badge to users who garnered new followers this year on their playlists. On the other hand, a Pioneer badge was handed to users who listened to tracks before these songs reached 50,000 streams. Lastly, Spotify users who were able to curate and enhance their playlists by adding more songs earned the Song Hoarder badge for 2020.
Share Your Spotify Wrapped Story
After looking back on your listening history this year, Spotify will then prompt you to share your story with your friends and family online. You may opt for sharing each Spotify Wrapped section separately or post Spotify’s organized overview of your year in review, as well.
Your 2020 Wrapped Spotify Playlists
Aside from Your Top Songs 2020, Spotify also offers a Missed Hits playlist which compiled tracks that did well this year and also align to your music preferences. Under the 2020 Wrapped genre, Spotify Wrapped also curated various playlists that reflect the overall listening history of Spotify users this year. The best of 2020 was collated in specific playlists of top artists, top songs, top podcasts, and other remarkable aspects that the Spotify community loved the most this year.
Top Spotify Artists and Songs
After the release of the Spotify decade wrapped for 2020, many people took to social media to share their Spotify stats. Maybe you can relate to seeing a friend sharing their top Spotify artist as they express their love for said musician or band. Moreover, you may have also witnessed how people flaunted their exquisite Spotify music taste by sharing the genres and songs they listened to throughout 2020.
While many people felt thrilled over their Spotify Wrapped results, some felt confused and even ashamed with their stats. For one, maybe you’re one of the people who are still stuck in summer 2016 while still having Drake’s ”One Dance” on repeat. If not, maybe your inner show tunes enthusiast was exposed on your Spotify Wrapped playlist as Andrew Lloyd Webber tracks made it into your top songs. It is also highly likely that some embarrassing tracks made it to the list of your top songs right now. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with listening to explicit songs, right? Good luck explaining Ariana Grande’s “34+35” to your mom, if she does see you raving over that track, though.
Whatever you felt over your Spotify wrapped year-end review, one thing is for certain—this feature got us all curious about other people’s results as well. Whether you wish to compare your Spotify wrapped artists with those of others or simply want to discover new songs, this list will surely capture your interest:
“exile” by Taylor Swift feat. Bon Iver
It came as no surprise when stats for Spotify revealed that Taylor Swift is one of the most streamed artists for 2020. Her quarantine album, Folklore, is a masterpiece that evokes a Cottagecore vibe and most especially, is a gem that people have come to love this year. Indeed, the album featured tracks that exhibited Swift’s talents as a lyricist and as a musician.
Many fans could relate to having “exile” as their most streamed song on playlist curations. The track conveys the melancholic, heartbreaking feeling of seeing an ex-lover after breaking up. As it features indie folk band Bon Iver, “exile” became even more dramatic and pleasant to the ears. The conflict between two opposing perspectives was exhibited not just in the vocalists’ distinct voices, but also the well-made verses. Indeed, even those who are not heartbroken can appreciate “exile” through its dramatic and equally artistic aspects. If you wish to experience this heartfelt tune in a live version, you can check out Taylor Swift’s intimate performance and exclusive movie, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, on Disney Plus.
“Wow.” by Post Malone
According to the Spotify year in review for 2020, Post Malone is one of the most-streamed Spotify artists this year. Indeed, the artist rightfully earned his title as the new king of hip-hop music as he made waves with his interesting and relatable tracks. His 2019 album, Hollywood’s Bleeding, featured Malone’s iconic sound and melancholic music. From this album, “Wow.” is one of the leading tracks that also became the top songs in most Spotify Wrapped results.
“Wow.” conveyed Malone’s feelings as he flaunted his great wealth and luxurious life. He expressed his feelings towards the doubtful remarks and criticism of people towards his music and abilities as an artist. Indeed, the notable track captured the attention of both his haters and above all, his fans.
“Rain on Me by” Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande
A pop song with catchy, upbeat tunes might sound good but having divas like Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande sing it could instantly transform the song into a sensational track. Fans of the highly-acclaimed artists were beyond thrilled with the release of their first collaboration, “Rain on Me.” Notably, this is one of the top songs featured in Gaga’s 2020 album, Chromatica.
Although “Rain on Me” might initially come off as a typical pop song with lively tunes, the track’s lyrics are rather subdued and substantial. It aims to relay messages of hope and comfort despite the challenges that life throws your way. Aside from being relatable, the track also features Gaga and Grande’s powerful vocals that could easily impress anyone.
“All The Good Girls Go to Hell” by Billie Eilish
Without a doubt, Billie Eilish is one of the artists who you can listen on repeat—and for good reason. Her songs feature unique beats that could easily get you hooked for days on end. Moreover, her songs offer meaningful lessons that people of all ages could relate to. Her soulful, moving tracks didn’t fail to tug at the heartstrings of her fans this year.
“All The Good Girls Go to Hell” is one of the particular examples of Eilish’s catchy yet relatable songs. While the track’s beats are fire, it also features her unique yet significant outlook on climate change. She referenced various catastrophes and natural disasters that could be linked to people’s carelessness. Without a doubt, having a catchy yet progressive track is one for the books (and the Spotify wrapped results) this year.
“Ice Cream” by BLACKPINK and Selena Gomez
2020 is undoubtedly a period that released much-awaited collaborations from widely-recognized artists. Indeed, the year marks the first song that features the K-pop girl group, BLACKPINK, and American singer, Selena Gomez, together. Fans’ reactions were nothing short of excitement as the artist and group released their dance-pop song, ”Ice Cream,” last August 2020.
BLACKPINK and Selena Gomez exhibited so much cuteness in the “Ice Cream” music video. Additionally, the track also offers catchy, appealing beats that could capture your attention right away. Indeed, it is no surprise that many people couldn’t resist playing the song over and over again.
“Dynamite” by BTS
The South Korean boy band, BTS, dominated world charts and of course, Spotify playlists too. Their 2020 hit song, “Dynamite,” also took over the world by storm as it became an instant hit that helped them earn high recognition and multiple awards this year. “Dynamite” is a disco-pop track that has all-English lyrics—a first time for BTS ever since their debut seven years ago.
More than being a lively, vigorous song, it also aims to bring a sense of comfort and happiness to people. Indeed, the track helped many people feel more hopeful and positive despite the tough times and difficulties that life throws their way. “Dynamite” garnered many awards but most of all, it won over the hearts of many people all over the world.
“Star” by LOONA
Korean pop music significantly earned acclaim from the music industry and support from various fans this 2020. With that said, LOONA is one of the leading South Korean girl groups that many people have come to love. Their track, “Star,” is an upbeat song that lots of fans enjoyed grooving to this year. More than its catchy retro sound, “Star” also offers a meaningful message as it aims to deliver the group’s utmost care and gratefulness for their fans who they call Orbits. Indeed, this track inspired a lot of Spotify listeners who simply can’t keep from playing the song on repeat.
“Get Your Wish” by Porter Robinson
Leave it to Porter Robinson if you’re looking to get your wish (pun intended) of experiencing remarkable dance and electronic music. The American DJ and musician hails from North Carolina and has come a long way now. Indeed, he made multiple hits that earned a spot on Billboard charts and made their way into people’s music favorites.
This 2020, “Get Your Wish” became a favorite among many Spotify users. Robinson initially shared that the track aims to convey his feelings after facing difficulties and failures throughout his music career. Still, one can interpret “Get Your Wish” in many ways. However, one theme consistently rings true—moving forward will always push you in the right direction and path.
“Adore You” by Harry Styles
No matter what year we’re in, it is undoubtedly true that love songs have a place in our hearts. While a romantic tune can already pull at our heartstrings, having Harry Styles’ sweet voice can make it all the more delightful. Indeed, this is probably why “Adore You” became one of the top Spotify music choices this 2020. This track conveys strong feelings of admiration and love for someone special. “Adore You” truly had many people relate to the measures that a star-crossed person could take in the name of love.
“The Devil’s in the Details” by Mac Ayres (feat. Castelluzzo)
Mac Ayres’ 2017 album, Drive Slow, is home to various tracks that people can jam to while cruising around and taking a break from all that’s going on. It is no wonder that Ayres’ ”The Devil’s in the Details” captured many people’s attention this year. This smooth and breezy song is easy to listen to—whether you’re studying, working, or even trying to fall asleep. Its sentimental and quite melancholic lyrics could also be relatable to many. Indeed, the list of why this track made it to some Spotify users’ playlists of top songs just goes on.
“Your Love” by FURNS
This breezy, electronic track offers a unique yet fresh spin with Monika Faludi’s soulful vocals. Together with Mathias Dahl Andreasen, Faludi comprises their music duo which they refer to as the FURNS. They are among the underrated yet remarkable artists that provide non-mainstream and enjoyable music.
Their track, “Your Love,” may have been released in 2016 but it remains to be a favorite among fans. Indeed, it is a great song to slow dance to with a special loved one. Moreover, it is also a great way to express one’s admiration for a significant other. Although this track is quite bittersweet, many people can still relate to it because love, itself, can be poignant as well.
“You’re Going to Lose That Girl” by The Beatles
Music knows no boundaries. Time and time again, people always turn to classic hits for a nostalgic yet enjoyable listening experience. Among the timeless songs that people listened to this year was “You’re Going to Lose That Girl” by the widely-celebrated band, The Beatles. This track features the iconic voices and remarkable musical talents of the legendary band members.
At first impression, this song may be quite upbeat and lively. However, it also highlighted the notion of competing over a mutual person of interest and losing a special someone. Whether or not one can relate to this song, people cannot deny that it is truly catchy and timeless—making it a well-loved Spotify track this 2020.
Final Thoughts
Even if we sometimes fail to acknowledge the significance of music, it still undeniably evokes a strong presence at various milestones in our lives. Whereas wedding songs make a couple’s special day even more romantic, Christmas songs transform any celebration into an even more festive one. It’s quite evident just how much music can uplift spirits.
Moreover, music plays an important role even in our mundane daily activities. Our favorite artists serve as a vessel of inspiration and comfort through their relatable and heartfelt songs. The onslaught of podcasts also offers a sense of companionship and helps us learn various things as well.
Being a leading music streaming service, it was inevitable for Spotify to foster a rich community of music lovers. Notably, Spotify nurtured its users and even contributed remarkable progress to the music industry. Experiencing its features, especially Spotify Wrapped, is just one of the many things that users can enjoy. If you still haven’t accessed your Spotify Wrapped results, you might be missing out on its fun features. Learning about your listening habits and streaming preferences can also ultimately help you discover more about your music taste and in turn, about yourself.
