On December 3rd, music lovers and Spotify users got the results of their listening over the last year. Counting the minutes listed, top artists and top albums of each of its millions of customers, Spotify wrapped’s yearly release has become a tradition for many looking to remember their year in music. However, this year’s wrapped threw in a few new features that differentiate it from previous iterations.

A popular addition to this year’s addition of wrapped was a top fan leaderboard, telling artist diehards where they rank among their fellow fans based on minutes spent listening this year. This new feature rewarded fans for their loyalty to their number one artist, if loyalty is purely based on quantity of minutes. This new leaderboard was complemented by a new animation showing the race for the user’s number one artist among their top five, creating suspense for those who didn’t commit to one artist throughout the year as well as showing the fluctuation of the other artists in the top five as well. 

On the opposite side of the spectrum, a less loved aspect put in was the listening ages given out based on the user’s listening habits. Talk about an unneeded feature, of the limitless features that could be added, this one seems like a dud that should be one and done. Speaking of things that didn’t do it for me, the clubs Spotify put you in based on the music taste the user displayed throughout the year just seemed like a forced evolution of last year’s monthly eras. 

It wasn’t all good or bad. Inclusions such as quizzing the user on what they thought their top song was in a multiple choice format and tracking certain days of listening that stood out added variety to the format. Even little changes like tweaking the genre definitions and how they were revealed went a long way to make this year’s wrapped stand out. 

Though this wrapped was good, I think it can go to another level with a few more changes. The fan leaderboard was a great addition as I stated earlier, but adding where the user ranks among their other big artists could be especially rewarding to those who listen to multiple artists religiously. Even if that can’t be done, adding how many minutes listened per artist in the top five could work too, just as a point of comparison in a fandom. 

Overall, a great tradition in the music industry continues this year, and continues to improve year after year.