Spotify Wrapped ‘ruined’ after people learn why data can feel wrong

Spotify dropped its annual Spotify Wrapped data this week, and if your data doesn’t look quite right, there could be a very simple explanation – as it’s all to do with time

Spotify Wrapped is one of the most talked-about moments at the end of any year. Each year, Spotify collects your listening data and presents it to you in a fun presentation. You can find out what your top artists were, which songs you listened to the most, what your top genre was, and even where you rank among other top listeners of your favourite musicians.

Sharing your listening data with your friends is a big part of the build-up to Christmas for many of us, but every year, there are people who claim Spotify has got their data “wrong”. And it turns out, they might be right.

As one man on TikTok has discovered, your Spotify Wrapped may not be completely accurate, and if you use another data-collecting app like Last FM or Stats FM to track your top artists and songs, you might notice some discrepancies.

But that doesn’t mean Spotify is lying to you, or that they’re trying to push a certain artist to the top of your list. Instead, they just collect their data in a different way. Most notably, they have a strict cut-off point.

In his TikTok video, Sean explained: “Spotify Wrapped was kind of ruined for me when I learned that it’s not actually fully representative of your last year of music. Every year, when I would get my Spotify Wrapped, I would think that kind of makes sense, but I feel like it’s a little off.

“So I started using Last FM, which links to your Spotify and tracks your music too, and then I would compare the two – and they were so different. Here’s an example: the song Fire by Waxahatchee, which I listened to 47 times last year, according to Last FM. But on Spotify, it only has it at 22 listens.

“According to the internet, the reason for this is that the Spotify tracking period is only from January 1st to mid-November, so you’re missing a month of music.”

Sean then showed an example using a song that didn’t come out until November 14th, but he had managed to listen to 40 times before Spotify Wrapped dropped its data. However, it wasn’t anywhere to be seen on his top songs list on Spotify because it had come out after the cut-off period. And, because Spotify doesn’t start counting again until January, those plays won’t appear on next year’s Wrapped either.

He added: “It’s still a fun summary, but it’s incomplete. I just don’t fully understand why the tracking period couldn’t be from November to November. I’m sure they still have that month of data, or could somehow get it.”

Why is my Spotify Wrapped inaccurate?

Sean’s findings were also backed by the music experts at SeatPick, who recently shared several reasons your Spotify Wrapped might be showing data that feels “wrong”.

Number one on the list was the cut-off period, as the experts said that although Spotify has never confirmed the exact date they stop counting data for Wrapped, it’s believed to be between late October and mid-November. As Spotify Wrapped doesn’t come out until early December, you’re potentially missing out on up to a month of data.

You may also find your data feels “wrong” if you listen to some songs that are shorter than others. A stream needs to be at least 30 seconds long to count for Wrapped, but if you listen to a 1:50 song five times, that will count for more streams than one 8-minute-long rock anthem.

If you listen to music in the background while you do other things or if you use a playlist of ambient sounds to help fall asleep, this can also skew your data.

Most importantly, the experts highlight that Spotify Wrapped is a marketing tool and is designed primarily for you to share with your friends. Therefore, it likely chooses “the most fun narrative” rather than complete data, so it should always be taken with a pinch of salt.