Spotify Wrapped
Spotify2016
Spotify Wrapped is a 2016 personalised in-app data story and social campaign for Spotify, created in-house (Spotify).
Why it works
The year-end ad that users make for you. Every December since 2016, when Spotify renamed its 2015 'Year in Music' as Wrapped, the service has turned each listener's own data, from top artists and songs to genres and minutes streamed, into a personal recap and a 'Your Top Songs' playlist made for sharing. The brand supplies the format; hundreds of millions of people supply the media, posting their results across social platforms. It is studied as the defining example of data as content: personalisation that flatters the user, gives them something to say about themselves, and quietly advertises the product. The scale keeps growing. Spotify says the 2019 edition was personalised for more than 200 million users, 2023 engaged a record 227 million monthly active users, and the 2025 campaign ended with more than 300 million engaged users and over 630 million social shares in 56 languages. The 2019 campaign won a One Show Gold Pencil.
Techniques
- Participation Each listener's own data becomes a personal year-end recap made for sharing, so users supply the media by posting their results.
- Bandwagon Hundreds of millions of people posting their results at once fill social feeds, making taking part feel like something everyone is doing.
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