Yes, We All Need to See Your Spotify Wrapped Playlists

Some folks believe music is a personal thing. They may not want their circles of friends and family to know they’ve listened to 33,348 minutes of music (my count from last year: yes, that is 556 hours of listening, 23 days straight, just on Spotify alone) in a year. Maybe they prefer to not share that their top artist was Billy Joel (but why not? Billy Joel rules and he was #2 on my list in 2022). Spotify even breaks down how many minutes you spent listening to your favorite act (1,967, or 32 hours, with my favorite band of 2022, which happens to be my son’s band. Yeah, I’m a homer).

This article is not for the music exhibitionists who’ve been eagerly waiting for Wrapped to be revealed. It’s for the listeners who keep their music preferences under wraps, those who believe music is a personal thing. It surely is, but it also serves an important social role, as we all know. You do you, music fam, but if you’re on the fence over sharing or not sharing your Wrapped 2023 findings, allow me to advocate for revealing yourself like a 1970s streaker. Bare it all, baby.

The biggest reason to promote sharing these results is it’s educational. If you’ve been listening to a super sexy R&B queen like Victoria Monét, an old-school Mexican ska band like Inspector or a folk punk, mandolin-driven act like Doom Scroll (all expected to be on my Spotify Wrapped results this season - and disclaimer, my daughter is in Doom Scroll: like I said, I'm a homer), maybe others haven’t heard those bands. Sharing your listening habits over the year may turn us onto some music we don’t yet know we love.

In the old days – let's say the 1980s – we had mixtapes to help us spread the joy of music that was new and exciting to others. In the digital age, it’s a year-end feature on Spotify. Maybe you’d be able to copy a dozen or a couple of dozen cassettes of Thomas Dolby, MC Lyte, Kim Wilde and Joe Jackson songs for friends back then to show them something new. Today, nearly 600 million Spotify users can paste and post their yearly mixtape for others to view on Instagram and Facebook.

What makes the practice interesting is seeking what’s not obvious to the music listening universe of 2023. Many of this year’s Wrapped playlists will feature the usuals – Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Beyoncé. We know and love ‘em. But plenty will boast lesser-known acts, artists deserving of broader audiences. If your Wrapped playlist is filled with those acts, we really need to see it. If it’s strong on local bands like Houston’s own

A second reason to share your playlist is it allows friends and family to know what 2023 was like for you. For instance, if your Wrapped list shows repeat listens of Killer Mike’s , we may infer you were a) feeling yourself this year; or, b) thinking deeply about family and/or God; or, c) somewhat conflicted about sociopolitical matters; or d) all of the above. That album, like its creator, was complex and sometimes puzzling and fascinating.

Maybe your Wrapped is going to be heavy on podcasts. The platform includes those results in its annual tracking, too. If you were heavy on or listening to lots of or tuned into hours of , those listening habits might also provide a peek behind your 2023 curtain.

My Wrapped this year may include a lot of Spanish rock, which would be unusual for me, even though I’m Latino and love music and heard lots of Tejano bands growing up. In 2023, I spent more time with friends who turned me onto Spanish rock and pop acts – some I even interviewed like

Since Wrapped is a time capsule of sorts, the music you listened to during that time tells us a bit about your wins and losses over the year. Hopefully, 2023 included more of the former than the latter for you, dear reader. If not, the calendar is about to flip on a new and hopefully better year. And when it does, there will be new music – maybe even some culled from the shared Wrapped 2023 playlists of our friends and families – to see us through another 12 months.

Thanksgiving’s come and gone so ‘tis the season for music lovers everywhere to unwrap the gift of Spotify Wrapped. The music streaming behemoth summarizes its users’ annual listening habits with this special feature and the results of hours of listening over 2023 dropped as expected this week. The platform provides neat graphics for users to share on social media, allowing their followers to see which artists, songs and music genres they leaned into over the past 12 months.Some folks believe music is a personal thing. They may not want their circles of friends and family to know they’ve listened to 33,348 minutes of music (my count from last year: yes, that is 556 hours of listening, 23 days straight, just on Spotify alone) in a year. Maybe they prefer to not share that their top artist was Billy Joel (but why not? Billy Joel rules and he was #2 on my list in 2022). Spotify even breaks down how many minutes you spent listening to your favorite act (1,967, or 32 hours, with my favorite band of 2022, which happens to be my son’s band. Yeah, I’m a homer).This article is not for the music exhibitionists who’ve been eagerly waiting for Wrapped to be revealed. It’s for the listeners who keep their music preferences under wraps, those who believe music is a personal thing. It surely is, but it also serves an important social role, as we all know. You do you, music fam, but if you’re on the fence over sharing or not sharing your Wrapped 2023 findings, allow me to advocate for revealing yourself like a 1970s streaker. Bare it all, baby.The biggest reason to promote sharing these results is it’s educational. If you’ve been listening to a super sexy R&B queen like Victoria Monét, an old-school Mexican ska band like Inspector or a folk punk, mandolin-driven act like Doom Scroll (all expected to be on my Spotify Wrapped results this season - and disclaimer, my daughter is in Doom Scroll: like I said, I'm a homer), maybe others haven’t heard those bands. Sharing your listening habits over the year may turn us onto some music we don’t yet know we love.In the old days – let's say the 1980s – we had mixtapes to help us spread the joy of music that was new and exciting to others. In the digital age, it’s a year-end feature on Spotify. Maybe you’d be able to copy a dozen or a couple of dozen cassettes of Thomas Dolby, MC Lyte, Kim Wilde and Joe Jackson songs for friends back then to show them something new. Today, nearly 600 million Spotify users can paste and post their yearly mixtape for others to view on Instagram and Facebook.What makes the practice interesting is seeking what’s not obvious to the music listening universe of 2023. Many of this year’s Wrapped playlists will feature the usuals – Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Beyoncé. We know and love ‘em. But plenty will boast lesser-known acts, artists deserving of broader audiences. If your Wrapped playlist is filled with those acts, we really need to see it. If it’s strong on local bands like Houston’s own Blaze X Black Swimwear Department and The Broken Spokes , who all released excellent new music and videos this year, you should definitely be sharing your Wrapped results with the world at-large. (See "homer" status).A second reason to share your playlist is it allows friends and family to know what 2023 was like for you. For instance, if your Wrapped list shows repeat listens of Killer Mike’s, we may infer you were a) feeling yourself this year; or, b) thinking deeply about family and/or God; or, c) somewhat conflicted about sociopolitical matters; or d) all of the above. That album, like its creator, was complex and sometimes puzzling and fascinating.Maybe your Wrapped is going to be heavy on podcasts. The platform includes those results in its annual tracking, too. If you were heavy onor listening to lots ofor tuned into hours of, those listening habits might also provide a peek behind your 2023 curtain.My Wrapped this year may include a lot of Spanish rock, which would be unusual for me, even though I’m Latino and love music and heard lots of Tejano bands growing up. In 2023, I spent more time with friends who turned me onto Spanish rock and pop acts – some I even interviewed like Ha*Ash – and now I’m so immersed in the genres that I’m soon headed for Besame Mucho Fest in Austin in March. If bands like Café Tacvba, Molotov and Mägo de Oz populate my Wrapped list this year, it’ll help tell the story of bonding with those friends and their influence on my listening habits and life in general. Maybe your list will include artists found in a similar, wonderful fashion.Since Wrapped is a time capsule of sorts, the music you listened to during that time tells us a bit about your wins and losses over the year. Hopefully, 2023 included more of the former than the latter for you, dear reader. If not, the calendar is about to flip on a new and hopefully better year. And when it does, there will be new music – maybe even some culled from the shared Wrapped 2023 playlists of our friends and families – to see us through another 12 months.