Now that the end to this crazy year is looming over us, Spotify has released their all-new 2020 “Spotify Wrapped,” bringing music addicts much needed fun and positivity during a time of disappointments. This annual institution gives users the opportunity to look back at songs that they streamed, as well as the top charts for favorite artists, albums, genres, and podcasts. 

Curious about this year’s reports? For starters, the most streamed artist was Puerto Rican rapper, Bad Bunny, with more than 8.3 billion streams. And right behind him are Drake, J Balvin, and Juice WRLD. Not to mention, for the top album played globally, Bad Bunny’s YHLQMDLG album was able to steal another achievement on the charts, with a whopping 3.3 billion streams. This hyped-up album consists of 20 songs and collaborations with Sech, Anuel AA, and Daddy Yankee. 

Moving forward, Billie Eilish has served once again as top female artist, with runners-up Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. Even though she is only 18, it comes as no surprise that this is already her second time in a row to claim the spot. And just this year, she released many hit songs including “No Time To Die,” “My Future,” and “Therefore I Am.”

In terms of the most played song, The Weeknd’s catchy and upbeat release, “Blinding Lights,” got ranked as number one with around 1.6 billion streams.

Spotify also decided to focus on expanding their podcasts, which has brought in a huge audience and has gotten lots of great feedback. Specifically with the impact of this year’s pandemic, their team noticed that health and wellness podcast listening rates dramatically grew by 180%, with the topic of Society and Culture in the reigning spot. While they are still continuing to build on the 1.9 million titles already present, The Joe Rogan Experience scored first place globally, with TED Talks Daily, and The Daily to follow, for the top podcasts. 

Additionally, this year marked the Black Lives Matter Movement, and the strong need to stand up for those affected. Because of this, there were 64+ million streams for Spotify’s Black Lives Matter Playlist. Plus, there were around 65,000 playlists created by users with the title of “BLM” or “Black Lives Matter”. The highest ranked songs for this topic were “This is America” by Childish Gambino, “I need You to (Breonna Taylor)” by Tobe Nwigwe, “Black Parade” by Beyoncé, “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar, and “The Bigger Picture” by Lil Baby.

With all the excitement over the release of 2020’s Spotify Wrapped, it can be confirmed with the impressive number of screenshots being sent and posted from our peers. To get your personalized Spotify analytics, head over to the Spotify Wrapped link, and from there, you will quickly be sent to a page with a review of your time on the platform this year. 

“I like Spotify Wrapped because it gives me a chance to see all the types of music I have listened to during the year,” said freshman Kayla Ibrahim. 

The simple process and the laughter that comes with looking back on yours and the world’s rankings have become a fun thing to share with friends and family, bringing more publicity and buzz to this event.

Graphic courtesy of SPOTIFY.COM