It is that exciting time of year that people have been eagerly waiting for, no we are not talking about christmas.

Spotify Wrapped is officially out!

At the end of each year, Spotify collects data of every single user’s listening activity to compile into a finalised analysis of their top genres, artists, songs, albums, and podcasts. You are bound to flick through countless instagram stories as the site is already overflowing with screenshots of peoples results.

Spotify holds hosts to an eye watering 700 million users worldwide all of whom use the application as their primary streaming platform. Spotify themselves round up a summary of the worlds decided top artists. 2025’s top artist is Bad Bunny, the artist dominated the leaderboard rounding up 19.8 billion streams this year. Following him in the leaderboard is Taylor Swift in second place, then The Weeknd in third, Drake in fourth and Billie Eilish taking the fifth spot.

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The top 5 songs globally are revealed to be-

1. ‘Die With A Smile’, by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars

2. ‘BIRDS OF A FEATHER’, by Billie Eilish

3. ‘APT’, by ROSE and Bruno Mars

4. ‘Ordinary,’ by Alex Warren

5. ‘DtMF’, by Bad Bunny

Spotify wrapped landed into users devices at 13:00 GMT on Wednesday. The collection of data is presented in a fun and playful formation, often presented in personality-driven ways urging people to share their top track results on social media,

Spotify first introduced the simple wrapped phenomenon in 2015, and it has only blossomed from there on. It is an incredible marketing tactic pushing people to use the apps streaming services more to differ their results. This leads to those that do not use the app to develop FOMO and feel inclined to get involved. The data is typically harvested right up until October allowing people enough time to get their minutes listened up to however impressive they may deem. It seems silly that people use this as a means to show off but it sure as hell works in Spotify’s favour.

Wrapped typically comes out between the last week of November each year or leans into the first week of December. Spotify Wrapped typically includes the five musicians, songs, and musical genres that a user has listened to the most throughout the previous year. Artists themselves also have access to the response of their craft with their own version of wrapped displaying which of their tracks that fans favoured.

Following in Spotify’s footsteps several other competing streaming services have introduced their own version of the data compiling. Apple Music released its ‘Replay’ feature in 2019, Tidal launched its ‘My Rewind’ feature in 2020, Youtube Music has introduced ‘Your Music Journey’ and Deezer has their own variant known as ‘MyDeezerYear’. All great attempts however none are yet to recreate the cultural impact of Spotify Wrapped.

A strategic marketing tactic that provides users with a little digital christmas present in the run up to the festive season. Spotify Wrapped offers an internal moment of self reflection in the form of listening activity and may (or may not) bring people closer together via music preferences

don’t like how music is becoming less and less about albums

not a single mention of albums on Spotify wrapped

love a full album listen personally

— Jed (@Jed__28) December 4, 2024

apparently spotify laid off a lot of workers and used AI to create the wrapped this year instead no wonder it sucks… pic.twitter.com/jRvbHW9qGq — noah (@weremytown13) December 4, 2024

Top Streamed Artists

It seems the UK loves US artists with three out of five being American, and two Canadian. It’s no surprise that Taylor Swift has taken the top spot again with her incredible Era’s Tour and release of the album “The Tortured Poets Department” and an extended 31 song long version of the album, aptly titled “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology”. Popular as ever are Drake and the Weeknd, both of whom appeared on this list for 2023, with Drake retaining his spot as the second most listened-to artist, though the weekend has dropped from third to fifth.

The Five Top Streamed Artists in the UK:

1. Taylor Swift
2. Drake
3. Kanye West
4. Billie Eilish
5. The Weeknd

With Kanye West (with his release of the album trilogy “Vultures”) and Billie Eilish (with her hit album “Hit Me Hard and Soft”) taking the third and fourth spots respectively, which means no British artists appear in the top five this year, replacing both Ed Sheeran and Arctic Monkeys.

Top Streamed Songs

Interestingly, none of the artists featured in the top five streamed songs in the UK this year were present in last year’s top five. Last year three out of five artists were British, with the most streamed song being “Sprinter” by Dave and Central Cee. This year the most streamed song is the lyricially complex, alternative/folk song “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan, originally released in 2022. Taking second place is, unsurprisingly, Sabrina Carpenter with “Espresso”. The catchy pop hit was released as a single this year in support of the equally successful full-length album “Short n’ Sweet”, which marked Carpenter’s big break in the UK. The track currently has 1.6 billion streams on Spotify worldwide. Spots three and four are also taken by US artists Benson Boone and Teddy Swims, with the fourth most streamed song being “Too Sweet” by Hozier. The track is the only one originating from an artist originating from the UK, with Hozier being Irish, and he happens to be the only British/Irish artist to appear on any of the top five statistics covered in this article.

The Five Top Streamed Songs in the UK:

1. “Stick Season” – Noah Kahan
2. “Espresso” – Sabrina Carpenter
3. “Beautiful Things” – Benson Boone
4. “Too Sweet” – Hozier
5. “Lose Control” – Teddy Swims

Top Streamed Albums in the UK

Following with the trends of the previous lists, the most streamed albums in the UK come from only US artists, with two coming from Taylor Swift. Interestingly, Noah Kahan’s album “Stick Season” takes the third spot despite being released in October of 2022; similarly, “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” was released in 2023 yet still made it onto this year’s list. Carpenter capitalised on the success of single “Espresso” with the release of hits such as “Please Please Please” and “Taste”, both of which also charted well in the UK. Billie Eilish’s album “Hit Me Hard and Soft” justifies her spot on the list, with the viral success of her track “Birds of a Feather” from the album.

The Five Top Streamed Albums in the UK:

1. “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” – Taylor Swift
2. “Short n’ Sweet” – Sabrina Carpenter
3. “Stick Season” – Noah Kahan
4. “Hit Me Hard and Soft” – Billie Eilish
5. “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” – Taylor Swift

How do the UK’s most streamed artists, songs and albums compare to your Spotify Wrapped? More information can be found here, and last year’s statistics can be found here. Find your Spotify Wrapped 2024 here.