[...] Many users are complaining of hallucinated artists' stats, songs they've never heard appearing in most listened lists, and more. Some users aren't happy with the way that Spotify Wrapped looked this year, complaining that it was boring, and not as creative as previous years. [...]
One of the most common complaints seems to be that Spotify Wrapped has misreported on the stats in claims to represent. Now, while this has happened in previous years, this year it seems to be a whole lot more prevalent — as you can see in this Spotify support thread. It's filled with users complaining about top artists they've never listened to, songs appearing in at the top of their lists that they didn't even know existed, or a mixture of the two.
Just anecdotally talking with people outside the internet-o-sphere and you'll quickly find people with iffy Spotify Wrapped statistics. I have friends who listen exclusively to bizarre, underground punk acts, and their Wrappeds were topped by the likes of The Weeknd and Taylor Swift. Even on the Tom's Guide team, we've seen strangeness — our own Millie Fender discovered Swift among her top artists, yet her songs didn't appear in her top 100.
Just read people's reactions online, especially in the trending topic on X or even the announcement thread on Reddit. Many are blaming Spotify's pivot to AI this year for the lack of personality, and some even hold it responsible for their weird Spotify statistics. I have reached out to Spotify for comment, but I am yet to hear a response.
What can we do?
First off, there are other streaming platforms with year-end roundups. Deezer, for example, has unleashed My Deezer Year, and like everything the French streamer does, it's filled with creativity and personality. That's a streaming service with better sound quality too. Apple Music has its Replay feature, which similarly takes you through your year. There are options.
If you're duty-bound to Spotify, then there is a way to really check your most-listened-to artists, songs, and genres — Track your listening with Last.FM, for example, which gives you breakdowns over the course of the year. Whatever happens, I (and many others) are hoping that Spotify Wrapped is a whole lot better next year.
Why this even calls for generative AI is beyond me. Just post my top 5 artists and top 5 songs. It's data already available.
Mine said my top artist is Hozier, driving my Goblincore Fantasy Forest phase. I couldn't name a Hozier song since Take Me To Church, a song that falls into Nickelback territory for me, as in sellouts that get way too much playtime. And no idea how that turned into goblins and fantasy forests.
Also had goblincore in my genre. Whatever that is...
I thinks it's more a flavor, than a genre.
You can get "goblincore" vibes that span genres. ICP would likely be "goblincore" but so would a lot of Billie Eilish, and some Lupe Fiasco.
Think grungy, anti-establishment type of vibes, regardless of genre. And yes, anti-establishment is subjective, in this case.