Spotify Wrapped: How Old is Your Music Taste Really?

Popular streaming service Spotify has introduced a new addition to its annual ‘Wrapped’ feature, generating widespread curiosity and mixed feelings among listeners. Dubbed the “Listening Age,” this new feature assigns a hypothetical age to users based on their listening habits. Consequently, whilst some middle-aged individuals have found reassured hope regarding their cultural relevance, many younger users have been informed that their listening habits suggest they are well into retirement. This gimmick utilises the swathes of listening data collected to deliver personalised insights into a user’s “year in sound,” displaying this age alongside their musical summary.

Many users have observed with astonishment a significant disparity between their actual age and their musical age. Some Gen Zers noted they had been given an age in the 70s. Conversely, parents presumed their children’s determination to listen to the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack on loop had dragged down their supposed listening maturity. The artist Grimes posted a listening age of 92, attributing it to her love of “oldies.” Mark Morgan, a 37-year-old principal ecologist, remained admirably relaxed at being allocated a listening age of 72. He surmised that the figure had been pushed up by him listening to ‘Long Long Time’ by Linda Ronstadt, released in 1970. He mentioned listening to it because it featured on the US drama ‘The Last of Us’. Whilst he was neither happy nor annoyed, he admitted it makes one feel a little less “cool.”

In contrast, John Howes, 67, from Malvern, Worcestershire, said his musical age came through as 17, thanks to listening to new music for his local music sharing group. A generational reversal was observed with Jon Porter, a 60-year-old logistics consultant from Berkshire, and his daughter Bethan. Jon was given a listening age of 21 due to streaming the Irish singer CMAT, whilst his 21-year-old daughter was given a listening age of 59. Spotify states the data science behind the feature is based on a “reminiscence bump,” or a tendency to listen to music from one’s formative years, playfully hypothesising an age by examining listening history against generational peers. Troy Osinoff, a digital marketing entrepreneur, described Spotify Wrapped as the most successful marketing tactic of the last 10 years, built on the simple idea that people are obsessed with themselves.

In the UK, Taylor Swift topped the streaming charts. A list of this year’s top artists in the UK is provided below:

Whilst the annual Wrapped campaign has become a marketing boon, a rival “Unwrapped” campaign aims to highlight the platform’s hosting of AI-generated music and its willingness to run ads from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE’s role in implementing Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration agenda has led to protests and arrests. Spotify has previously stated that the ICE ads do not violate its policies and are part of a broad government campaign, noting that users can manage their preferences by giving ads a thumbs up or down.

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