Opinion
Spotify Wrapped has gone from marketing genius to a festive bum note. However, Recurly’s Guy Meyers believes it can bounce back. It just needs to change its tune.
There’s a soft spot in many people’s hearts for Spotify Wrapped.
Every December brings about a recap of your year, the heartbreak songs on repeat after a breakup, the summer tunes that bring you back to holidays in warmer climates, and the obligatory musical number that, in retrospect, you clearly listened to far too much. All this is captured in the end-of-year social feeds of friends, through kaleidoscopic graphics, exposing listening stats, and a shared sense of music-fuelled nostalgia.
Spotify Wrapped is a cultural event, the unofficial start of the holiday season for many. But in 2024, the buzz hit a sour note. In fact, the top comment on Wrapped’s official announcement on Instagram read ‘I’m sorry but wtf was that??’ Clearly not the reception it had hoped for.
While Spotify Wrapped may have failed to reach a true crescendo last year, there’s plenty of opportunity to rekindle the magic again with audiences this year. To get it right, the streaming giant needs to innovate, surprise, and truly reward its most loyal fans, or else risk losing them to its many competitors.
First-mover advantage
When Wrapped first appeared in 2016, it was a stroke of marketing genius. It turned anonymous listening data into something deeply personal and proudly shareable.
With each passing year came new features that kept the format fresh – quirky genre names, personalised animations, celebrity cameos, and geo-based playlists that reflected the diversity of Spotify’s global audience.
What made it special was how it blended nostalgia and identity. It spread like wildfire on social media precisely because it felt personal yet communal, a collective celebration of individuality.
By 2024, however, the formula had grown somewhat stale. The graphics looked familiar, the categories predictable, and the sense of anticipation that once defined Wrapped had faded.
Rival platforms such as Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music all launched similar features, diluting Spotify’s originality. Wrapped, once the trendsetter, was now part of the noise.
Predictability is the death of excitement, and users knew exactly what they were getting. The once-thrilling ritual had become routine, the digital equivalent of hearing the same chorus one too many times.
Beyond nostalgia: making Wrapped matter again
Spotify Wrapped has always been more than a marketing stunt. For Spotify, it is a powerful brand moment – one that turns millions of users into unpaid ambassadors, filling social feeds with personalised endorsements. Every December, Wrapped becomes Spotify’s most effective piece of advertising, a living, breathing campaign powered entirely by its community.
That is why a dip in enthusiasm matters. It signals more than creative fatigue. It hints at a deeper risk to Spotify’s cultural relevance.
To restore the spark, Spotify needs to think beyond nostalgia. It should transform Wrapped from a retrospective look into a year of listening, into a reward-based experience that feels personal and forward-looking.
A musical renaissance
One way to do this would be to link digital behaviour to real-world benefits. Imagine receiving early access to tour tickets for your most-streamed artist, or an invitation to an exclusive listening session.
These tangible perks would turn Wrapped from a vanity metric into something fans genuinely value. Our 2024 Subscription Loyalty Report found that customers who are offered exclusive benefits are 40% more likely to remain active subscribers long term. Rewarding listening loyalty would give users something more meaningful than another pie chart of play counts.
Spotify could also use Wrapped as a moment of appreciation for its most dedicated listeners.
Offering temporary upgrades or discounted Premium access to the most engaged would send a powerful message: your loyalty matters. Recurly’s data shows that acquisition rates across all subscriptions fell from 4.1% in 2021 to 2.8% in 2024. Retaining engaged users is now far more valuable than chasing new ones.
Finally, Spotify could make Wrapped not just about the past but about the future.
An AI-powered “2026 Forecast Playlist” could use listening patterns to predict emerging favourites or new artists users are likely to love. This approach shifts Wrapped from nostalgia to anticipation, transforming it into a celebration of discovery – the very essence of what Spotify stands for.
A celebration worth sharing
To bring back that musical magic, Spotify must reintroduce surprise, innovation, and genuine appreciation. The future of Wrapped lies not in recycling what has worked before but in creating something that feels rewarding, unexpected, and alive.
Wrapped should be more than a summary of songs – it should be a thank you note to the listeners who make Spotify what it is.
If Spotify can turn Wrapped back into a true celebration – one that rewards loyalty, sparks curiosity, and captures the collective excitement of music fans worldwide – it will once again own the sound of the season.
We’ll have to see how it lands in the coming weeks.
Guy Meyers is the senior director of customer success (global) at Recurly
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