2023 in Music: Spotify Unwrapped

This year I listened to 62,011 minutes of music (more than 97% of users), accounting for 7,645 songs, 3,550 different artists, and 118 different genres. My most played genres of 2023 were alt-z (huh?), pop, indie pop, modern rock, and rock.

Here’s 2021 and 2022 data to compare.

My Top 5 Songs of 2023

Kind of a girl-powered punk/pop vibe in my top songs. More of that in my 100 top songs of 2023 playlist, though it does start to diversify a bit.

  1. “Say It to My Face” by Meet Me @ the Altar (played 44 times)
  2. “I Don’t Even Like U” by Royal & the Serpent
  3. “Sweet Sensation” by Luna Aura
  4. “Feel More Okay” by Caity Baser
  5. “Unavoidable” by Melina KB

My Top 5 Artists of 2023

No big surprises in my top artists. Three were the same as last year (U2, Maisie Peters, and Tegan and Sara), with two new discoveries—Royal & the Serpent and Zoe Wees. My top five artists account for only 13 songs out of my top 100.

  1. U2 – I played 2,382 minutes of U2, which is the top .5%
  2. Maisie Peters
  3. Royal & the Serpent
  4. Tegan and Sara
  5. Zoe Wees

More Stats

The stats are always fascinating to me, but I also wish they gave us more data behind it. How many songs does it take to be a top artist? If my most played song was played 44 times, where does the rest of the list stack up—is it a clear winner or would the whole list have changed if we gave it another day?

I find it fascinating enough that I downloaded another app, Stats.fm, that gives me a little more data (the free version is limited). According to their data, my top 5 artists over the past six months are the same except Mia Morris replaces Tegan Sara. In the past four weeks, it’s vastly different with U2, Tegan and Sara, and Royal & the Serpent being replaced by Five Iron Frenzy, Fefe Dobson, and Willowbank Grove. Tracks has a similar thing happening. Top tracks over the past six months keeps “I Don’t Even Like U” and “Sweet Sensation,” but the others are new—”Fruity” by Chloe Moriondo, “I’d Show Up” by Semler, and “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid” by The Offfspring. Over the past four weeks only has one same song (“Sweet Sensation”).

My listening habits are kind of weird. I play music all day while I work, and sometimes that means I zone out and don’t really pay attention to what’s playing. Other times I’m desperate to find new music, which means I play Spotify’s Release Radar and Discover Weekly playlists every week when they repopulate. I also have a habit of starring any song I mostly like and playing that list pretty often (that list has more than 2,100 songs on it). My daughter says my music taste is weird because I like everything (which overstates it, but it’s not far off).

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