Throughout November, Spotify users eagerly wait for the annual “Spotify Wrapped” which reveals the most popular artists, songs, and albums of the year. Users also get a personalized curation of music, listening statistics, and an in-depth breakdown of their music taste.
The top streaming artists of 2023 were no surprise. Taylor Swift ended Bad Bunny’s three-year-long reign as the most-streamed artist with 26.1 billion streams! Billie Eilish made a comeback with over 28 billion streams when she wrote “What Was I Made For?” which was featured in the Barbie movie. While Taylor Swift still takes the win for the artist with the most monthly streams at 109.94 million, The Weekend comes out of nowhere at a close second with 105.41 million. From there, Justin Beiber takes third with 83.82 million listeners.
Senior Alyssa Ramirez and I had Taylor Swift as our top artist, much like many other Royals. Alyssa also shares that her number two artist was the Arctic Monkeys. Senior Natalia Chavez said her top artist was Blood Orange, a New York City singer-songwriter.
Bad Bunny’s album “Un Verano Sin Ti” was the most streamed album for both 2022 and 2023 with over 4.5 billion streams. Taylor Swift’s “Midnight’s” album took second with over 701 million streams and became the most downloaded album in one day. Lainey Goldstein ’24 shares her love for the third-place album “S.O.S” by SZA: “SZA was my top artist and ‘Low’ was my most streamed song.” Drake released “For All The Dogs” in October and already hit 514 million streams. Country singer Zach Bryan released a new album, “Zach Bryan,” and hit 233 million streams. Morgan Wallen became the top-selling country artist this year when he released “One Thing At A Time” which gained 498 million streams.
In addition to the neon graphics and animations, Spotify Wrapped introduced a new feature this year, Sound Towns, that shows the location that correlates to your music taste. I, like many others, ended up in San Luis Obisbo: users’ music often includes artists like Taylor Swift; Tyler, The Creator; and Mac Miller. Senior Shelby Devoy was surprised when her Spotify Wrapped said her music taste correlated with Flagstaff in Arizona: popular artists from this region are The Smiths, Radiohead, and The Strokes. Another senior, Marissa Carbajal, remarked her location was Davis, California: college towns like Berkley and Davis make up a majority of the Sound Towns.
The global top songs were “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus, “Kill Bill” by SZA, “As It Was” by Harry Styles, and “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift. My top songs this year were “Doses and Mimosas” by Cherub; “Float On” by Modest Mouse, and “Head Over Heels” by Tears For Fears.
Mandy Puga ’24 revealed her lineup was “Happier Than Ever” by Billie Eilish, “As It Was” By Harry Styles, and “ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?” by Tyler, The Creator. Marissa commented one of her top songs was “Y U Gotta B Like That” by Audrey Mika. Natalia said her top song was “Orlando” by Blood Orange. Our Royals have quite a variety when it comes to music taste.
But let’s not forget the real gem of Spotify Wrapped. The random songs you listened to 157 times in the middle of the night when you couldn’t sleep? Yeah, it’s there. The guilty-pleasure pop anthem that you pretended to hate in public? Exposed. It’s the only time you can boast about your love for both Mozart and Cardi B and nobody bats an eye.
Senior Brooke Skipton proudly shares that “The Cast of Phineas and Ferb was actually my #1 album.” Lainey also exposed her love for Disney because the Frozen II soundtrack landed within her top 10 albums. For me, my secret song was “Thneedville” from the Lorax soundtrack. Brooke’s love for niche music and movies led her to discover Wham!: “In October, I watched Wham! Documentary on Netflix and that kickstarted my Wham! phase, so I really enjoy Wham!” According to many Royals on a Christmas music poll, “Last Christmas” by Wham! is the best Christmas song, and I couldn’t agree more.
Spotify Wrapped is not just a playlist, but a reflection on the highs and lows of your year through music. Comment your top songs below!
