Someone once described Spotify’s Wrapped event as feeling like show and tell for the psych ward, but Wrapped is more than just an opportunity for us to share our favorite music.
It is a time for us all to reminisce and honor the artists whose music scored our lives over the past 11 months. It is our very own award show where we are both the committee determining what songs and artists get recognized as much as we are the viewer hoping our favorite artists and songs receive the recognition they deserve.
Since Wrapped’s rankings are presumably derived from individual’s listening data, it provides a more reliable reflection of how much a listener values an artist compared to traditional award shows like the Grammys, where who wins an award can be swayed by factors such as politics, conformity to industry norms, and popularity.
I say presumably because for the most part, we don’t know how exactly Spotify determines its rankings… For example, in June following the collapse of a situationship, I was in a state of dejection where I played Tove Lo’s No One Dies From Love on repeat for several hours. Does Spotify simply count all of these streams or does it know that this listening session was anomalous and that most of these streams shouldn’t be counted? If the former is true, does a song that was played on a replay during an anomalous listening session deserve a higher ranking than a song that was played consistently throughout the year?
The same can be said about artists’ rankings. Are artists’ rankings determined solely by how many songs the user listens to where the artist is the lead artist or are songs where an artist is featured counted as well? If the latter is true is the lead artist counted equally to the featured artists or is it a lower percentage?
Lastly, let’s discuss the eligibility period. Allegedly tracking starts on January 1st and concludes either on October 31st or until some other unspecified date before it’s released to listeners. If this October 31st deadline is true then that severely impacts any artist’s ranking who releases music between November and December. Here’s a short list of albums by major artists which were released in November or December since Spotify began Wrapped:
- “Starboy” by The Weeknd (November 25, 2016)
- “24K Magic” by Bruno Mars (November 18, 2016)
- “Awaken, My Love!” by Childish Gambino (December 2, 2016)
- “Championships” by Meek Mill (November 30, 2018)
- “Fine Line” by Harry Styles (December 13, 2019)
- “Evermore” by Taylor Swift (December 11, 2020)
- “30” by Adele (November 19, 2021)
- “SOS” by SZA (December 9th 2022)
And soon to be released:
- “Pink Friday 2” by Nicki Minaj (December 8th, 2023)
And this is only considering albums. Individual songs released during this period are even more impacted since a user’s top 5 are only listed in the main Spotify graphic that is widely shared.
Now of course as long as people stream music released during this period from January to October of the following year then artists’ and individual songs’ rankings may not be too severely affected, but an artist’s single or album debut is an important period that must be tracked since artists do a lot of promo during their rollout and remember Spotify’s rankings are based exclusively on data. Traditional awards shows don’t have this problem because if an album is released outside of a given year’s eligibility period it is eligible for the next year’s Grammys. Spotify’s Wrapped potential as a Grammys killer is limited by this tracking gap.
That is why this year relying on the data from my 2023 Spotify Wrapped intertwined with my own taste, I am publishing my own awards instead of sharing my Spotify Wrapped.
The 2023 Royale Awards (Royale is my middle name) is my way of harnessing both the spirit (and data) of Spotify Wrapped to showcase and honor some of my favorite art without being inhibited by Spotify’s data-based approach.
The 2023 Royale Awards while focusing mostly on music will also award other areas of entertainment such as television, video games, books, and social media.
Click the link below to view the art recognized at the first-ever Royale Awards.