Spotify Wrapped 2021: when is it released, how to access your year in review and see your top 5 songs, artists and albums

What is Spotify Wrapped?

Spotify Wrapped is a deep dive into the artists, songs and podcasts that defined your year.

It’s made up of a series of personalised animated graphics that show Spotify users the tunes that have helped them through their happiest and lowest moments.

At the end of the animation sequence, users are presented with easily shareable and brightly coloured graphics that allow them to share their music taste with friends and family on social media channels.

Ultimately, it’s a marketing campaign that generates lots of free exposure for Spotify, but its success rests on the fact that we all want to have our music taste peer-reviewed as ‘cool’ and have ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out).

By sharing your ‘Wrapped’ on social media you can strengthen existing social relationships, bond with other social media users who have the same music taste as you, and even get recognition directly from the artists who have made it into your ‘most listened to’.

When will Spotify Wrapped 2021 be released?

The music streaming service’s website has been updated and says: “Today, in addition to revealing the top music and podcasts streamed globally in 2021, we’re unveiling our annual 2021 personalized Wrapped experience for listeners.”

In 2020, the advertising campaign was released on December 2.

The year before, music fans got access to their stats on December 5.

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What does Spotify Wrapped 2021 include?

In addition to your top artists, genres, songs, and podcasts and the minutes listened, the personalized Wrapped experience includes several all-new features:

2021: The Movie – This feature pairs your top songs with classic scenes from a movie that’s all about you.

Your Audio Aura – Spotify worked with an aura expert to visualize your audio aura based on your top two music moods.

Playing Cards – This is an interactive, data-based game that you play and then share with your friends. Spotify displays several statements about your listening this year and you’ll have to guess which are true.

2021 Wrapped Blend – Tapping into the new Blend feature launched this year, Spotify fans can see how their 2021 music tastes match up with friends, stream their blended playlist, and share their results on social.

How can you access your Spotify Wrapped 2021?

Open Spotify mobile app on Android or iOS. Tap the ‘Your 2021 Wrapped’ banner on the home screen.

If you do not see the banner, type ‘Wrapped’ intot he search bar to view the banner.

Why is Spotify Wrapped so popular?

As some of the social posts surrounding Spotify Wrapped 2020 show, users use their data to interact with their favourite artists on social media and evaluate how their music tastes have changed over the year period.They also use the graphics as a tongue-in-cheek way to reflect on any life events that may have altered their listening habits, with breakups often pushing empowering anthems or sad tunes higher up the rankings.

In the build up to the release of Spotify Wrapped 2021, the streaming behemoth encouraged listeners to revisit their 2020 playlist.

One Twitter user said: “I’m listening to my 2020 Spotify wrapped playlist and reflecting on how terribly sad I was and how much better my life is now.”

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How can you listen to your Spotify Wrapped from 2020?

Spotify creates a bespoke playlist where they can revisit their ‘Wrapped’ playlist from a previous year.

To find it, navigate to your Spotify library and search ‘Your Top Songs 2020’ in the library search bar.

How can you listen to your Spotify Wrapped from previous years?

Just add the year that you want to search for after ‘Your Top Songs’ while in your personal library.

The Spotify Wrapped campaign started in 2017 as a successor to the ‘Year in Music’ campaign, so you won’t be able to see results from any years prior to this date.

How long has Spotify Wrapped been around?

The Year in Music campaign began in 2015, and was a list of the biggest songs of the year and also a user's top 100 songs.

The name was changed to Wrapped in 2016, but the personalized listening stats and interactivity were introduced a year later.