It’s been 20 years since Spotify first graced our phone screens, and the music streaming app has come leaps and bounds since.
The brand celebrated its 20th anniversary just over a week ago, and as a ‘thank you for listening,’ it dropped a free gift for those on Premium and Free plans. Your Party of the Year(s) popped up on our phones and we were able to see stats even Spotify Wrapped didn’t reveal. From your first song to the total minutes listened since you opened your account, Spotify’s free update was full of surprises.
Not all pleasant surprises, of course, because imagine my surprise when I found out that the first song I’d listened to on Spotify, back in 2018, was ‘Love the Way You Lie’ by Eminem and Rihanna… and I haven’t played it on Spotify since then. Alongside some retro-fuelled graphics which some may argue were better than Spotify Wrapped’s, Spotify also created a ‘Your All-Time Top Songs’ playlist for users to enjoy.
I’ve been going through the playlist for the past week and it has surprised me in more ways than one. It’s provided more insight into my listening history and patterns than Spotify Wrapped has ever managed to do. So, join me as I dissect my top songs of all time, and share what surprised me most (and what didn’t).
How does it work?
First things first, how does Spotify’s 20th anniversary gift work? All you need to do is open the app on either desktop or mobile, and there should be a ‘Your Party of the Year(s)’ banner that you can click on. If that doesn’t work, you can go to the website and access it. Easy to do!
Spotify will then give you a few graphics, akin to the ones featured in the annual Spotify Wrapped, and it will even quiz you on which song you think you played first. I, incorrectly, guessed mine was ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ by Pink Floyd. Turns out it was that Eminem track. My partner and coworkers guessed theirs incorrectly, too, so you may be in for a surprise.
Once the graphics have finished doing their thing, Spotify will ask if you want to check out a curated ‘Your All-Time Top Songs’ playlist and save it to your library. This playlist gives you the exact number of plays for, well, your top songs of all time. It’s definitely worth going through the list. Some songs may shock you.
What I suspected is, in fact, true
If there’s one thing you need to know about me, it’s that I can be a bit obsessive. If I like a piece of media — like, really like it — I will consume it incessantly. It could be a video game (Baldur’s Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in my case), or a TV show (Agatha All Along for me), but whatever it is I won’t let it go. And clearly, those interests show up in my listening activity, too, and that’s something I’m very aware of. Yes, even if they aren’t really related to music, per se.
Well, Spotify’s ‘Your All-Time Top Songs’ playlist only further confirmed it. I will obsessively listen to songs — be it from TV shows and video games, or parodies. Take a look at the screenshots above and you’ll see what I mean. You’re telling me I listened to ‘The Ballad of the Witches’ Road‘ from Agatha All Along 398 times?! Followed by ‘The Chosen,’ a Baldur’s Gate 3 parody by Space Bards 249 times? That’s… a lot of listens. You know what else I’ve listened to a lot of? The entirety of the Expedition 33 soundtrack. That one wasn’t surprising, though, as the game only came out last year.
I know these aren’t isolated instances either. For instance, right at this moment, I’m obsessed with ‘FA9LA‘ and ‘Lutt Le Gaya,’ from the Bollywood movie Dhurandhar. I doubt it’ll be long before this song creeps into this playlist — if Spotify updates it regularly, like the automated ‘On Repeat’ one, but this remains to be seen.
Old loves and new alike
In addition to helping me understand my listening patterns better, Spotify’s ‘Your All-Time Top Songs’ has done something else: it’s reignited my love for songs I used to love way, way back when. And the number of songs and artists I used to obsess over but have forgotten about since really surprised me.
Take Mitski, as an example. Mitski writes lots of sad songs, and I don’t like listening to sad songs. I’m all about whimsy (when I’m not having an existential crisis over what Pink Floyd sang in ‘Echoes‘ and the like). I know my music taste is quite varied, though, but imagine my surprise when Mitski’s ‘First Love/Late Spring‘ showed up as my second-most listened to song — and the rest of the playlist features many other songs by her, too.
I consider myself a deep thinker, and someone who will overanalyze everything, and I couldn’t help but look back to when I was a huge Mitski fan (which was, in the end, a passing phase) or when I was in love with, say, ‘Sea Shanty Medley‘ by Home Free. I was in different phases of my life back then — be that heartbreak, struggle, or joy. Not to get too deep about it, but Spotify’s playlist reminds me of how far I’ve come, and how I’ve overcome sadness that hung over me like a dark cloud.
That’s one of the reasons why I think ‘Your All-Time Top Songs’ is much, much better than the 2025 iteration of Spotify Wrapped. Sure, Wrapped is fun and it’s something users look forward to every December, because it gives them a yearly recap of their listening activity.
But Wrapped is an annual event, and Spotify dropping its latest playlist on a random Wednesday has gone down a treat in my friends circle. Combine that with its ‘Listening Stats’ which give you an insight into your week’s activity and you’ve got yourself an insightful, winning formula. I want Spotify to do more things like this. Rekindle my love for obscure tracks I’ve forgotten about. Show me how I’ve changed. And keep ’em coming.
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