It’s that time of year again when alert bells are ringing, notes are a-chiming, and playlists are a-popping left and right. Yep, Spotify’s 2023 Wrapped is upon us once again. And if you’re a music fan who’s proud of his/her music tastes (and uses the app regularly), then you might’ve already posted it on your socials for all your friends and family to see how wonderfully eclectic your musical leanings are and what a cool tastemaker you are for sure. 

But for the uninitiated, what does Spotify Wrapped mean?

It’s the summary of how you have been using the popular music streaming platform (free or via subscription) for a year. Every music artist, album, single, or piece of music you played on the aforementioned app leaves a record on your user profile.

Remember when Spotify asked you if you liked a track and if it's okay to suggest similar stuff in the future? They have a record of that and everything you played and can suggest something similar based on genre, style, and artist. For the ease of Spotify’s interface, it’s still software that records every bit of information you give.

That’s how the algorithm works.

So, every ‘heart’ or like button that you pushed, or music or artist that you listened to in succession (for one reason or another) is a breadcrumb of info that the app can quantify and process for its use. And if you use the app long enough, it can summarize your usage.

Hence, you got wrapped.

And Spotify has a colorful way of showing you that it has your data.

And here’s how mine went.

“2023 was a feast for your ears. You listened to 20 genres.”

“You listened to 1,089 artists this year.”

“You played 2,082 songs in 2023,” it went and then got a bit specific.

“But you had room in your heart for more than one favorite,” and pointed me to a summary of what I listened to (which I’ll get into in a bit).

Those folks at Spotify can get fancy with their copy: “Time is a construct, but we kept track anyway,” and then proceeded to indicate that I “listened for 13,041 minutes” and that I’m a “Hypnotist” type of listener/user of their app. “Your concentration is absolute, friend. You like to play albums throughout, from the opening track to the final note.”

Of course, I did. It’s part and parcel of the job description here at Audiojunkie.

As for my top acts, I’m not surprised it came out the way it did.

My 2023 Top artist is Taylor Swift.  

“You’re a top 12% fan and spent 419 minutes together.” And I specifically “couldn’t get enough of Mine (Taylor’s Version)” according to my data.

FYI, that doesn’t include the MP3s of Ms. Swift that I listened to in my car on drives to and from work. 

My top 2 artists are Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

My No. 3 is Cup Of Joe. 

Followed by Sarah Geronimo (at No.4) and Olivia Rodrigo at No. 5.

My Top 5 songs for 2023 are as follows.

No.1 is “Kisame” by Rhodessa, No.2 is Cup Of Joe’s “Tataya,” and No.3 is The Beatles’ “Now And Then.” Local songwriting ace Kyle Raphael’s “Hanggang Tingin” is at No. 4 and No. 5

It said I also listened to many Dogstar, EBTG, Foo Fighters, DENY, The Jayhawks, Rob Deniel, Wilco, Calein, etc.

And that’s a wrap on that.