Anticipation for the annual reveal of Spotify Wrapped has reached a fever pitch, with worldwide searches for ‘When does Spotify Wrapped come out?’ surging by an astonishing 5,000% over the last month. As the streaming giant formally urges users to update their apps, signs suggest the 2025 edition will land any day now.
However, the excitement is often paired with confusion. In recent years, many users took to social media platforms like Reddit to complain that their results didn’t align with their actual listening habits. Addressing these discrepancies, music experts at SeatPick have analysed why the data often feels “off,” even if the numbers are technically correct.
According to the analysis, there are several specific factors that can distort the story your Wrapped tells. The most significant is the cut-off time. Although Spotify has never officially confirmed the exact date, data collection for the year is widely believed to end between late October and mid-November. This means your most recent obsessions from late 2025 simply won’t be factored into the results.
The experts at SeatPick have identified six key reasons why your stats might be skewed:
- The cut-off time: Newer listening habits from November and December are generally excluded.
- Short songs generate more plays: A stream only needs to last 30 seconds to count. Consequently, a 90-second hyperpop track played five times outweighs an 8-minute prog rock anthem played once. If you listen to genres with shorter track lengths, they will be over-represented.
- Algorithmic playlists: Plays from ‘Discover Weekly’, ‘Release Radar’, or ‘Smart Shuffle’ count toward your totals, even if you didn’t actively select the artist. This often results in top artists that users barely recognise.
- Background listening: Spotify cannot distinguish intent. Lo-fi study beats, white noise for sleeping, or ambient playlists left on autoplay can dominate your total minutes and push your actual favourite artists down the rankings.
- Marketable data: Wrapped is a marketing product designed for social sharing rather than a strict statistical audit. The algorithm may prioritise a “fun narrative” over complete data accuracy.
- Spiked listening patterns: Intense listening clusters are favoured. If you obsessively listened to one artist for two weeks in February but never again, they may still appear in your top five.
Gilad Zilberman, CEO at SeatPick, suggests users should view the campaign as entertainment rather than hard science. “Spotify Wrapped is fun and intentionally dramatic, but isn’t necessarily a precise reflection of your musical identity,” Zilberman explained. “It’s a highlight reel built for social sharing, and not a comprehensive analytical report.”
Zilberman added that the format “compresses a full year into a narrative Spotify thinks might look exciting on Instagram,” often glossing over the context of how and why music was played. For those music fans who are desperate for a more granular look at their habits without the marketing gloss, various third-party tools are available that offer strictly data-led statistics.