As the year comes to a close, a very special festivity comes close: Spotify Wrapped. In this annual event run by the music streaming service Spotify, listeners get to view their unique listening statistics, such as their top streamed artists, top streamed songs, most streamed genres, a cultivated playlist of the 100 most streamed songs by you, and many other statistics. In addition, Spotify provides a list of the most streamed artists and songs worldwide. Each year, streamers are left in shock when their wrapped throws them for a loop. What will this year’s wrap have to offer?
Spotify tracks users’ individual stats and worldwide stats from January 1st all the way to an unknown date in November. Billboard, an American music magazine, states, “The three most anticipated Wrapped statistics – top 5 artists, top 5 songs and top 5 albums– are based on total number of streams, a stream being counted when a user listens to a track for at least 30 seconds, including offline listens”. With anywhere from 304-333 days for listens to be tracked, the most anticipated stats end up with millions–and sometimes billions–of streams to their names.
That raises the question, which artists are expected to place in the top 5 this year? With the successful Eras Tour and release of two remade albums, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), pop artist Taylor Swift is topping the chart and has without a doubt secured a spot on the top 5. In addition, with the release of her sophomore album, GUTS, and the tour for that album, rising artist Olivia Rodrigo seems to be close to placing somewhere worthy of mention, top 5 or otherwise. Sadly, not all artists who have success top the Spotify charts in time for the end of the year. Korean artist Jungkook’s new album GOLDEN released early November, but with such a small amount of time from the release of the album to the end of data collection, JK might have to wait for next year to secure a spot, despite heavy fanfare towards the album.
