Tag: wrapped

How Spotify’s Playlists Captured the Biggest Music Trends of 2023

November 29, 2023

With another year coming to a close, Spotify is back with your personalized Wrapped, our annual recap of your listening highlights from the past 12 months that includes your top songs, artists, and podcasts, as well as your most distinct streaming habits. But we’re also taking a step back and looking at 2023’s biggest music trends on Spotify.

Thanks to the in-the-know editors responsible for creating our editorial playlists as part of the Global Curation Groups, the most iconic musical moments of the year were reflected on Spotify. Whether it was blockbuster movie soundtracks that grabbed the world’s attention, viral social media moments that bubbled up to the mainstream, or classic genres finding new fans in Gen Z, our experts were on top of it all.

For the Record sat down with our editorial team and got the scoop. 

Peso Pluma and Música Mexicana go mainstream

RADAR US artist Peso Pluma made himself known to the world in March with his feature on Eslabon Armado’s “Ella Baila Sola.” Fast-forward to now, and that song is one of the top-five most-streamed songs of 2023 globally—and is about to hit Spotify’s Billions Club. Meanwhile, the Música Mexicana genre at large has enjoyed a surge in popularity, dominating the global charts this summer.

Explore this trend on: Lo Mejor de La Reina 2023, Corridos Perrones, Corridos Tumbados, Today’s Top Hits

Folk rising

In 2023, a slew of indie artists emerged with folk-inspired albums including Mitski, Toro Y Moi, and boygenius. Plus, we heard new folk voices like Searows and 2024 Best New Artist Noah Kahan. 

Explore this trend on: Indie Twang, Juniper

Shoegaze returns courtesy of Gen Z

Shoegaze has been around since the late ’80s, but it experienced a resurgence in 2023 among Gen Z, who found new bands like Wisp as well as aughts stalwarts like Panchiko.

Over the past year, the genre has thrived within various Gen Z internet communities that have fostered pockets of interest and given birth to exciting new acts. Perhaps unknowingly, the emerging class of neo-shoegaze artists is contributing to genre diffusion, blending techniques from various music genres to create something fresh and unique.

Explore this trend on: Shoegaze Now, IRL Angel

Rema carries Afrobeats into Spotify’s Billions Club

Rema has been a hitmaker in Africa since 2019, but it was a collaboration with Selena Gomez on “Calm Down (Remix)” that shot him to international fame in 2023. The global smash earned the Afrobeats star a Grammy nomination, as well as a spot in our highly coveted Billions Club, making “Calm Down” the first African artist-led track to do so. 

Explore this trend on: African Heat, Billions Club, Today’s Top Hits

Taylor Swift’s eras on tour

Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour kicked off in March and was the live-music event of the year. Taylor not only picked songs from all 10 of her studio albums to perform in a stunning three-hour show, but she also set aside time each night for acoustic performances of two surprise songs. And according to Taylor’s rules, no two songs could be repeated unless she messed it up the first time. To capture this epic moment, we collected all of the surprise songs in a playlist, which was updated every weekend during the U.S. leg of her tour.

Explore this trend on: Surprise Song Era

Troye Sivan and Hyunjin’s IRL friendship

This past summer, Troye Sivan posted a TikTok that went viral about trying to find Hyunjin of Stray Kids. We joined in on the fun with a playlist and they eventually collabed on a remix of “Rush,” which also featured PinkPantheress.

Explore this trend on: what a moment

Peggy Gou takes house music to the top of the charts

House, one of the original genres of dance music, has grown in popularity since the pandemic. This summer, we saw massive house hits resonate with fans internationally, including Peggy Gou‘s “(It Goes Like) Nanana.” 

Other huge moments for house music include artists like Fred again.., Black Coffee, Chris Lake, and FISHER, who are breaking records around the world, and breakthrough opportunities for exciting artists like LP Giobbi, John Summit, and Dom Dolla

Explore this trend on: Umami, Housewerk presents…Best House of 2023, Summer House

It’s a Barbie world

Ahead of the Barbie release this summer, we saw “Barbiecore” aesthetics manifest in the pop culture zeitgeist. Once we got word that Barbie was going to feature a star-studded soundtrack with hits like Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice, and Aqua’s “Barbie World” and Dua Lipa’s “Dance The Night,” we brought all things Barbie to life on Spotify through the “pinkification” of several playlist covers, new editorial playlists, and partner playlists.

Explore this trend on: Hot Pink, Barbie Official Playlist

Hyper techno surges

There was an influx of high-BPM dance pop songs in general, and with it came a new wave of tracks that showcased a harder sound using classic techno and big room beats and basslines. We saw a surge in streams—especially from European Gen Zs—of techno-infused songs like Niklas Dee’s “Not Fair,” Creeds’ “Push Up,” and BENNETT’s “Vois sur ton chemin.”

Explore this trend on: rave, techno party

Jersey Club is everywhere 

Jersey Club production became ubiquitous not only in U.S. hip-hop but around the world. We also saw the genre’s influence find its way into K-Pop and thoughtful electronic music. Pioneers such as DJ Smallz 732, UNIIQU3, and Cookiee Kawaii were tapped to remix some of 2023’s biggest hits, and newcomers such as Kanii, keltiey, and Lay Bankz staked their claims as names to watch.

Explore this trend on: Jersey Club Heat presents…Best Jersey Club Songs of 2023

Tyla’s turns her viral moment into crossover success

South Africa’s Amapiano sound has been winning the hearts of electronic and dance fans after TikTok dances and DJ mixes helped it go viral in 2020. In 2023, RADAR Africa artist Tyla took her career to the next level, blending her R&B sound with Amapiano and South African dance genre Bacardi house on her hit song “Water.” After Spotify Africa’s partnership with the Giants of Africa Festival—a basketball event in Rwanda where Tyla’s viral dance was first seen—many posted their own versions of the dance challenge on social media, which led to “Water” skyrocketing around the world and earning a feature from Travis Scott on the remix.

Explore this trend on: RNB X, RADAR Africa, African Heat, RADAR Global 

Women run hip-hop  

Female rappers continued their reign in 2023, with top names like Nicki Minaj, Doja Cat, Latto, Ice Spice, Kaliii, Doechii, and the year’s breakout star, Sexyy Red, making some of the most creative and worthwhile hip-hop this year. 

Explore this trend on: RapCaviar presents…Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2023, Feelin’ Myself 

Pop-punk’s greatest legends return

We witnessed the resurgence of pop-punk’s most iconic figures with mainstays like Fall Out Boy, Sum 41, Green Day, and Neck Deep returning in 2023 with a taste of new music. Additionally, blink-182 welcomed back Tom DeLonge and embarked on a global tour to celebrate their new album, ONE MORE TIME…. 

Explore this trend on: Pop Punk’s Not Dead

The nu-metal revival continues

Nu-metal and alternative metal have made triumphant returns this year, with a younger audience discovering and devouring the catalogs of bands like Deftones, Korn, Slipknot, and more. Additionally, we’re seeing a wave of new nu-metal songs from rising artists who are embracing the sound and paying homage to their predecessors.

Explore this trend on: new nü, ALLURE

Alt country crosses over

This trend in country music had a slow build that reached new heights with the release of RADAR US artist Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak in 2022, and took off 2023 with hits like Dylan Gossett’s “Coal.” This acoustic, gritty sound was typically reserved for alternative country and folk playlists in the past, but it has fully moved into the mainstream with songs that have been fan favorites across our flagship playlists. 

Explore this trend on: Hot Country presents…Best Country Songs of 2023, Hot Hits USA, Today’s Top Hits, homegrown

Looking for more of the songs that have left their stamp on 2023? Check out our flagship playlist Today’s Top Hits. 

Spotify’s Head of Global Marketing Experience Explains Why This Year’s Wrapped Is the Realest Yet

November 29, 2023

Today, the biggest Wrapped we’ve ever created debuted on Spotify. Not only is it live in a whopping 170 markets and 35+ languages, but it’s also taken on a more prominent role in our app, with integrations spanning DJ, audio listening rooms, Blend, merch, and more. In a year in which Spotify brought more to users than ever before, 2023 Wrapped stands to unite all of our offerings in one unforgettable experience. 

This year’s personalized Wrapped experience is also full of new data stories, including a twist on Your Top Artist that showcases how your relationship with your favorites has changed over time. It also features Sound Town, which highlights the city that has the most similar taste profile to yours, and video thank you messages from your favorite artists—submitted by over 40,000 creators—right in the Wrapped experience.

It’s all the result of a special company-wide collaboration between teams across Spotify. As Global Head of Marketing Experience, Louisa Ferguson builds those connections across every moment of the campaign strategy, end-user journey, and global roll-out. A music and Wrapped fan herself, she’s especially excited for the ability for fellow fans to be able to share their Your Top Song playlists with friends—a long-awaited, much requested update. 

For the Record asked Louisa to unpack the thinking, data, and creativity that contributed to 2023 Wrapped.  

Describe the 2023 Wrapped vibe. 

Every year, it feels like the world is moving faster. The internet is converging with real life. There’s something about this past year that felt especially chaotic with regards to how people consumed culture. We really wanted to acknowledge that feeling because it felt very accurate to 2023. Amidst all this, we realized that “your Wrapped doesn’t lie.” The data is real. And so we leaned into creating the realest Wrapped ever.

The design for 2023 Wrapped is inspired by the early aughts. How did the team land on this creative approach in tandem with the “realest Wrapped ever” theme? 

The Wrapped identity this year reinforces the “real” theme in a playful way. We were inspired by the nostalgia of early internet expressions, and the idea of crafting them through a modern lens. We used a layered approach to dial up and down various elements to create layouts that feel fluid and dynamic. We’re always looking to push the boundaries, and we know that every year, there’s debate that Wrapped inspires. We welcome that, and we expect this year will be no different.

I would also add that there’s so much time and thought around developing a scalable design system. You have to think about what will work for the languages across all the markets we’re working in. I think the team did an incredible job of marrying this nostalgic playfulness vibe with some of the very functional requirements that come with delivering this experience at an enormous scale.

Where did the idea for the genre sandwich come from?

Genre is a fan-favorite data story for sure. This year, we were especially interested in visualizing and quantifying the genres against one another, which we haven’t always done in the past. If you think about last year’s genreverse, those genres were all merchandised together—it was one next to the other. This year, we’re showing your relative listening when compared between genres, which meant we had to do something layered. We landed on a sandwich because it had both global relevance and could be customized in a fun way. There’s a bunch of different bread types, and then the genres take up different levels of height within the sandwich. It’s also just fun. 

Interactivity and engagement are key to the Spotify experience year-round. How did you translate it for 2023 Wrapped? 

Wrapped is the capstone of what has been an incredibly delightful year of Spotify interactive experiences. We started off the year with Playlist in a Bottle and were overwhelmed by the positive user response. We expanded the My Top Five franchise. We also developed a genre-based experience called “Find Your Flow.” These experiences represent a new way of thinking about marketing and product at Spotify. And there’s more coming after Wrapped, which I won’t give away just yet. 

Originally, we believed these experiences needed to be short and sweet. But we’ve found that there’s a cohort of fans that really want to go a level deeper. They want to engage. This was really exciting because it inspired us to do even more data-rich, complicated experiences. We also learned that market nuances really matter, and for Wrapped, these learnings just reinforced the need to think critically about global versus local campaign executions. 

Wrapped also comes to life for fans beyond the app. What’s new IRL this year? 

First and foremost, something that happens in real life is friends asking each other “what’s on your Wrapped?” 

We’re also throwing tons of events around the world to celebrate the year in music. Those are going to be complemented by out-of-home experiences with interactive components. We’ll also reveal our top artist through a special billboard moment in several cities across the world. I think what’s become really wonderful about our Wrapped celebration for the global top artist in particular is that it’s given us permission to really deliver special experiences for fans. Some of our coolest, craziest work comes from those collaborations. Critically, it’s a celebration for the fans as much as the artist. We’re able to recognize both and celebrate the achievement. 

Predict your own top artist and podcast of the year.

I think it’s going to be a very strange battle between Fred again.. and Dizzy Gillespie. I’m all over the place! For podcast, it’s likely going to be Popcast, followed by The Daily. I’m just a New York Times girl, clearly. 

Catch Louisa’s Top Songs of 2023, then head to Spotify Wrapped to find your own.

Wrapped Mapped: Top Songs Streamed Around the World

November 29, 2023

Each year during Wrapped, fans around the world clamor to see if their favorite songs, artists, albums, and podcasts have risen to the top of Spotify’s annual most-streamed lists, propelled by the love from their listening communities. We’ve been inspired to see these artists, songs, and genres traverse the globe, inspiring boundary-crossing collaborations and unexpected discoveries.

We also know that listening habits are largely shaped by the people and places around us. So this year for 2023 Spotify Wrapped, we’re celebrating these communities by highlighting local streaming trends from markets around the world. Get a taste of the top songs that, since January 1, have soundtracked 2023, from England to Indonesia, by clicking the interactive map below.

Me in 2023 Reveals the Streaming Habit That Defined Your Listening

November 29, 2023

Who were you as you streamed this past year? Your most adventurous self, dedicated to finding new artists and genres? Or perhaps a more introspective type, focused on creating your own perfect playlist. Maybe you were a combination. Throughout it all, your listening was true to yourself. That realness is something to celebrate and Wrapped serves as your receipt. 

Me in 2023 demonstrates a streaming habit that defined your listening this year. When you flip your card, it reveals a listening character specific to your tastes and habits on Spotify. Then, you can share it with the world so they can see—and celebrate—the true you. 

If you love examining different listening types as we do, dive into the 12 possible Me in 2023 characters that we created for 2023 Wrapped. 

 

Click on the cards below to read each description. Click anywhere to return to the gallery.

4 Reasons Why You Should Keep Your Spotify App Up-to-Date

October 25, 2023

a graphic design of a hand holding a phone with the spotify logo on it. Arrows circle around the hand.

We’ve all been there before. You download an app, use it daily, but never think to check if it needs to be updated. Maybe you hear buzzing from those around you about a new feature that you just can’t seem to find. 

At Spotify, we’re continuously working to provide the best experience for you, and that means pushing app updates that improve your listening journey. And if your app doesn’t have automatic updates, or you don’t check that it’s up-to-date regularly, it’s possible you could miss out. 

Here are four reasons why you should make updating Spotify part of your regular routine.

1. Access to the newest features

We’re constantly dropping new features on the Spotify app to enhance your experience. Now, you can listen along with your friends with Jam, you can receive a personalized playlist that changes with your day with daylist, and Premium users can hear from their very own AI DJ just by pushing play. If your app isn’t updated, you may miss out on the fun. 

2. Keep up with the latest tech

From Tinder and Instagram to BeReal, Spotify has dozens of integrations across some of your other favorite apps. To make the most of these partnerships and link up your Spotify account, both apps need to be updated to the latest versions. 

3. Bug fix

We’re always improving the mobile experience, fixing bugs, and troubleshooting glitches—keeping your app up-to-date is the best way to make sure your streaming experiences run smoother than our Smooth Jazz playlist.  

4. Get ready for Spotify Wrapped 

Last, but certainly not least, an updated app keeps you ready for Wrapped. When the time comes for the big reveal, instead of refreshing your app at the eleventh hour, you can get right into the Wrapped experience by making sure your app is always up-to-date.   

Have we convinced you yet? If you’re not running on the latest app, check out this page for more info on how to update it. 

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.”

Shop for Merch From Your Favorite Artists in Spotify’s New Hub

October 16, 2023

When new merch drops, fans don’t hesitate. We’ve seen that in the days and weeks after an artist releases shirts, totes, hats, vinyl, and more, fans flock to their Spotify profiles to get what’s new. So to give the fans what they want—and make it easier than ever for listeners to browse and shop for merch from their favorite artists—we’re unveiling a dedicated Merch Hub in the Spotify app. 

Sporting merch from your favorite artists is a vital part of music culture, and our new Merch hub provides personalized merch recommendations based on your listening habits. Previously, we made artist merch available from individual artist profiles, the Now Playing view, and release pages. Instead of having to browse artist by artist, this update makes it easier than ever to access all artist merch in one place. From the hub, you can browse, click on available items to learn more, and then purchase through the artist’s Spotify store, powered by Shopify. 

Connecting listeners with ways to rep their favorite fandoms and lend support to the artists they love is key to fulfilling our mission of enabling artists to live off their art. Last year, after seeing their Wrapped results, listeners flocked to buy merch, leading to the highest-grossing merch sales week for artists in Spotify history. Spoiler alert: There are plenty more merch moments in store for Wrapped this year!

Now you can find artists’ merch in the Merch tab on their artist pages, the Now Playing view when streaming their tracks, the new Merch Hub, and their albums, EPs, and singles pages.

Ready to shop? Simply search “Merch” to find the hub, or head to the Merch tile on the Browse page. Or click here to go directly to the Merch Hub. Artists can go to artists.spotify.com/merch to learn more about getting their merch on Spotify through our Shopify integration. 

Spotify Wins a Trio of Awards at Cannes Lions 2023

June 22, 2023

Gold background with 2020 Gold Lion Winner text

This week at the 2023 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity—which recognizes excellence in the world of marketing and advertising—Spotify received a trio of awards, including a Gold Lion.

Our Gold Lion victory came in the ​​Personalized Storytelling and Experience category for our 2022 Spotify Wrapped On-Platform Experience—our campaign that’s now a cultural phenomenon. 

Wrapped campaign mobile images

“Winning the Gold Lion is an honor and a testament to the immense talent and dedication of the cross-functional team at Spotify who work to bring the magic of Wrapped to life each year,” said Taj Alavi, Spotify VP, Global Head of Marketing. “As we say, Wrapped isn’t about Spotify, it’s about the world of audio culture. This achievement reaffirms our commitment to deliver a special moment to fans and creators at the end of each year and continue innovating, inspiring, and creating experiences for our users in the years to come.” 

Wrapped harnesses the power of discoverability and personalization on Spotify and showcases it in a way that delights users and creators alike, year after year. It’s a moment when the whole company comes together to think creatively about how we can surprise and delight our listeners, and every year we continue to iterate on how we bring Wrapped to life for fans, artists, and creators around the world. 

Bronze beacons

In addition to the Gold Lion, Spotify also received a Bronze Digital Craft Lion in the Cross-Channel Storytelling category for its design of 2022 Wrapped, which showcased listening individuality—the layers within all of us, brought to life through a visual identity focused on multiplicity.

a FC Barcelona Rosalia jersey

Spotify also received a Bronze Entertainment Lion for Music for its fan engagement and community building work in a campaign that saw the debut of a special FC Barcelona match kit during the club’s men’s and women’s El Clásico matches in March. Featuring ROSALÍA’s MOTOMAMI album logo, the kits celebrated the one-year anniversary of the album and the Spanish pop star’s huge success on Spotify.

These wins cap off an exciting week for Spotify at Cannes, which included a talk on the art of the interview with star creator Alex Cooper; live performances from H.E.R., Florence + The Machine, Foo Fighters, Jack Harlow, and A$AP Rocky; DJ sets from will.i.am, Disclosure, and Uncle Waffles; and the reveal of Trevor Noah’s new Spotify Original podcast. For more on all the week’s happenings from the French Riviera, be sure to check out our Spotify Beach landing page.

Spotify rapporterar intäkter för fjärde kvartalet 2022

January 31, 2023

Q4 Earnings header Swedish

Idag publicerar Spotify sina finansiella resultat för fjärde kvartalet 2022. Klicka här för att ta del av hela den finansiella pressreleasen och kolla in höjdpunkterna nedan:

Vill du höra mer? Lyssna gärna på vår Q&A-webcast som du hittar på vår IR-sajt. 

Klicka nedan för att lyssna på trailers från några av våra senaste Spotify Originals och exklusiva poddar. 

Spotify Reports Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings

January 31, 2023

Q4 Earnings GIF

Today, Spotify announced our fourth quarter 2022 financial performance. Click here to review the full earnings release, and take a look at the highlights below:


Interested in hearing more? You can listen to the webcast Q&A on our Investor Relations site here. 

Click below to check out a sizzle reel of audio trailers from a few of our recent original and exclusive podcasts. 

Hear from our CEO, Daniel Ek, CFO, Paul Vogel, and Co-President and Chief Business Officer Alex Norström as they talk about our progress this quarter, including topping 200m Premium subscribers, and what they’re excited about in the coming months on Spotify: For the Record.

2022 Saw Even More Advancements, Acquisitions, and Excitement at Spotify

December 27, 2022

Earlier this month, we all had a chance to revisit what we listened to most in 2022 with Wrapped. From the year’s top artist (congrats on the three-peat, Bad Bunny) to identifying our listening personalities (where the “Deep Divers” at?), fans worldwide shared their listening habits. But that’s only the icing on the cake. The year also saw new content offerings such as audiobooks and more programs to support diverse and underrepresented voices, all designed to bring the best experience to listeners and creators.

Ring in 2023 by reliving Spotify’s highlights from 2022.

Commitment to platform safety

At the start of the year, we shared several actions we’re taking to balance creator expression with safety, including publishing our Platform Rules and taking steps to ensure creators and users alike understand what’s permitted on Spotify. This summer, we unveiled the Spotify Safety Advisory Council, an interdisciplinary group of experts that are providing our teams with an outside-in view of the safety landscape and helping us ensure that our products and policies address the needs and concerns of our users, creators, and artists around the world.  

Acquisitions expand our offerings

Early in the year, we acquired two podcast technology companies: Podsights, a podcast advertising measurement service, and Chartable, a podcast analytics platform. This move helped us uplevel measurement for podcast advertising and give publishers a new way to grow their business through insights and promotions tools.  

Over the summer, we closed on the acquisition of Findaway, a global leader in digital audiobook distribution. Findaway works across the audiobook ecosystem with a platform and offerings that serve authors, publishers, and consumers. Their technology and know-how helped accelerate Spotify’s entry into audiobooks earlier this fall.

As the world’s leading audio streaming platform, it made perfect sense to bring Heardle, the beloved interactive music game to Spotify. It has provided a fun and innovative way to help fans discover new songs and artists.

We also acquired Kinzen, a global leader in protecting online communities from harmful content. Our partnership with the Dublin-based company, which began in 2020, has been critical to enhancing our approach to platform safety. The company’s technology and unique approach helps Spotify better understand, prepare for, and prevent abuse trends from emerging on our platform.

Frequency carves out a spot for Black creators

We expanded Frequency, our global initiative and holistic destination for celebrating Black art, entertainment, creativity, culture, and community both on- and off-platform, with even more opportunities for Black creators. In addition to on-platform hubs and playlists, we hosted The Free Studio, a four-day residency that brought together nine Black musicians and creators. Spotify’s popular playlist Ripple Effect continued the Frequency Sunday Dinner series in Houston, as well as cities across California. 

Helping diversify the voices of podcasting

Programs like Sound Up, the Creator Equity Fund, and RADAR for Podcasters help underrepresented voices and emerging talent in the audio space. From education and workshops to on-platform amplification, these initiatives give creators the tools they need to tell their story. In October, we introduced the Africa Podcast Fund, a first-of-its-kind initiative to support burgeoning podcasters through financial grants, workshops, and networking opportunities. In December, we launched Elevate for Podcasters in partnership with the Inevitable Foundation. The program empowers professional podcasters with disabilities, providing the funding, mentorship, equipment, and accommodations they need to level up their careers. 

Introducing User Choice Billing with Google

Our multi-year agreement with Google represents a first-of-its-kind option in payment choice with opportunities for both consumers and developers. Users who’ve downloaded Spotify from the Google Play Store are presented with the choice to pay with either Spotify’s payment system or Google Play Billing. These two options living side-by-side in the app give users the freedom to subscribe and make purchases, using the payment option of their choice. With this announcement and our partnership, Google is allowing more choice and competition—decisive steps that demonstrate how platforms should work.  

Blend it up

Blend combines the best of Spotify’s personalization capabilities and collaborative playlist functionality into a single shared playlist. In 2022, we took Blend to a whole new level. Users can now Blend with up to 10 people or they can Blend with artists like Lizzo, Post Malone, and Charli XCX. Fans also have the opportunity to shop artist merch from the Blend experience. Blend represents another way we can give artists a new oportunity to interact with fans, and to bring added personalization to a listener’s music experience.

Playing with video

In 2022 we expanded video podcasting to Anchor creators in over 180 global markets. Podcasters love having the option to accompany their audio with visual components, and fans get the opportunity to deeply connect with the content. We also introduced Spotify Podcast Subscriptions for video podcasts, an integration with Riverside (the go-to platform for remote recording), embeddable video, video bulk-replace, video-specific analytics, and interactive podcast features, such as polls and Q&A.

Celebrating EQUAL’s first anniversary 

Since its launch, EQUAL has spotlighted women artists through global partnerships, activations, new content experiences, and on- and off-platform support. April marked the program’s one year anniversary. Among EQUAL’s major accomplishments: listeners streamed more than 13 million hours of program artists in the first month of joining. 

Reimagining with Roblox

We entered the virtual universe Roblox to create Spotify Island, an audio paradise where fans and artists from all over the world can connect and explore exclusive sounds, quests, and merch. We enhanced the experience during the year with K-Park and Planet Hip-Hop.

Spotify and FC Barcelona team up on the field

In July, we kicked off a partnership with FC Barcelona, becoming the Main Partner of the Club as well as the Official Audio Streaming Partner. We joined the team in Miami during the club’s preseason tour and brought artists like Ovy on the Drums, Piso 21, and Mau y Ricky along for the fun. Through the in-stadium LEDs and our other marketing channels, we promoted artists of all sizes from around the world including BLACKPINK, Fireboy DML, Megan Thee Stallion, Aitch, Pomme, Feid, and Rigoberta Bandini. For FC Barcelona’s October El Clásico showdown—one of the most iconic events in all of sport—we celebrated Drake’s 50 billion streams by creating a limited-edition kit. Get more details on this multiyear partnership on our Spotify: For the Record podcast.

Upping the ante with audiobooks

This fall, we introduced audiobooks to listeners in the U.S., the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. With more than 300,000 titles on the platform, we are giving book lovers a new way to enjoy storytelling on Spotify.

Time to play fair

We believe everyone benefits when competition is fair. Unfortunately, Apple does not, and they’ve consistently abused their dominant position to favor their own services, stifle innovation and hurt consumers. This year, we continued to urge policymakers to take significant action to protect competition and consumers from Apple’s anticompetitive behavior. For more on this fight, listen to  Spotify: For the Record, where entrepreneurs, U.S. senators, and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek discuss the importance of consumer choice.

Spotify Celebrates 3 Years of Record-Breaking Bad Bunny Streaming With a Mexico City Fiesta

December 13, 2022

By now, the news of Bad Bunny’s record-breaking streaming success has ricocheted far and wide. The global recording artist generated over 18.5 billion streams in 2022, landing him the title of Spotify’s top artist for the third year in a row—the first artist ever to claim such an accomplishment. If you ask us, that’s cause for celebration. 

With Mexico leading over the past three years as the top market to stream Bad Bunny, it only seemed fitting to celebrate the artist’s success with 1,000 of his biggest fans, collaborators, and supporters there. So this past weekend, Spotify and Rimas (Bad Bunny’s label) joined forces to throw the ultimate after-party at Ragga Club in Mexico City to celebrate the end of his World’s Hottest Tour. Artists Rauw Alejandro, paopao, Jowell & Randy, Carin Leon, Danna Paola, Kim Loaiza, Juan de Dios Pantoja, Mario Bautista, Buscabulla, and Arcángel were among some of the guests toasting the Puerto Rican native. 

Benito himself even took to the stage in a surprise special performance where he thanked everyone for streaming his music and for celebrating this incredible moment with him. He surprised the crowd with an improvised performance of his hit “Despues de la Playa,” and with acoustic versions of “Neverita,” “Callaita,” and “El Apagon” with the backing of a Dahian El Apechao’s live merengue band. 

Key to the celebration was the Ring Ceremony, where Jeremy Erlich, Spotify’s Global Head of Music Content, joined Benito for a celebratory moment on behalf of Spotify. “Congratulations on the three-peat—the first time any artist is the most streamed for three years in a row,” he shared. “An epic showing for a career-defining year.”