The stakes were higher than ever leading up to this year’s Spotify Wrapped.
Typically a beloved holiday staple, Spotify’s marketing campaign backfired last year when users criticized the company’s AI-forward approach. In an anonymous survey among Forum Staff last year, one of our own members expressed that “The data just feels wrong” when recalling their yearly stats.
An underwhelming Wrapped was only the beginning of a troublesome 2025 for Spotify. The company’s continued promotion of AI, support for Helsing (a military technology company) and reluctance to pay its artists proper royalties further poisoned its public perception. Furthermore, in early November, Spotify was hit with a class-action lawsuit that challenged the validity of “Discovery Mode,” alleging that this feature was a pay-to-play scheme rather than a personalized algorithm for users.
Still, by the time December rolled around, people geared up for Wrapped’s release once more. Amidst the usual buzz that comes with the campaign, Spotify released this year’s statistics on December 3rd, to all the regular buzz that comes with the campaign.
As it turned out, 2025’s Wrapped ended up being a return to form. While it didn’t negate the company’s series of PR disasters, it managed to satisfy users by bringing back features like top genres and top albums, while introducing new, exciting elements like listening clubs and listening age.
Additionally, there were unexpected developments in the musical world. Bad Bunny, who is performing at the 2026 Super Bowl, usurped Taylor Swift’s worldwide #1 spot. Likewise, Swift’s songs were absent from the top ten most listened to songs.
So, how do the Forum’s stats compare? In keeping with last year’s article, we sent out a form to members of The Forum, asking them to share their listening results and thoughts regarding this year’s Wrapped.
Most members of The Forum (60% to be exact) reported using Spotify. Nevertheless, we compiled data from other streaming services, like Apple Replay, Youtube Music, and Amazon Music to gauge our club’s preferences.
Much like last year, Taylor Swift broke the top five, but Laufey ultimately Bewitched The Forum and took the crown. Other favorites included Conan Gray, Noah Kahan, and Playboi Carti. Theatre kids were well represented, and the soundtrack to Hamilton featured in the top albums along with You’ll be Alright, Kid by Alex Warren.
The Forum’s writers and artists listened to as little as 2,844 minutes of music and as much as 47,808 minutes of music. Overall, we recorded an average of 27,832 minutes listened—that equates to about 19 days of streaming music!
Our staff recorded mostly positive opinions about 2025’s Wrapped. In our anonymous survey, one writer said that it was “much better than last year’s” but that “some niche artists that I listened to a couple times still made their way on my Top Artists list.” Another member said that they “didn’t really like last year’s Wrapped, and this year was a bit predictable, but it was ok!”
Perhaps it’s a bit strange how we’ve come to accept and even celebrate Spotify’s surveillance, despite our typical data privacy concerns. But whether it be the original Spotify Wrapped, or one of the new recaps like Your Year with ChatGPT or YouTube Recap, these yearly summaries allow us to reflect on our consumption trends and connect with others over our shared interests (or disappointment, in last year’s case).
2025 was an exciting year for The Forum. We published over 54 works across all our columns and introduced our own multimedia radio show. It’ll be exciting to see what 2026 has in store for our talented writers, artists, editors, and readers!
Well that’s a wrap! Tune in this year to see what’s on repeat.
