Spotify Wrapped 2021: How does the feature work? Check details on cut-off date & accuracy

An analysis of how one has fared over the year is always interesting, and this can be not just about professional commitments, but also one's hobbies. With music being one of the common hobbies around the world, an analysis of the time spent listening to songs, the most-listened artists and genres could interest some. That's just what Spotify Wrapped does.

Spotify Wrapped of 2021 has been unveiled for the listeners of the platform. Apart from providing personalised statistics of their music patterns on the app, one also gets an overall performance analysis of which all artists dominated the playlists of most users around the world. Here's looking at some of the features, their accuracy and more:

When does Spotify Wrapped starts tracking listening pattern?

As per some reports, Spotify Wrapped tracks users' listening habits from the period from January 1 to  October 31. However, the cut-off date could extend for a few days in November too, till 'few weeks' before the December release, as per the website.

Thus, the analysis is based on just 10-11 months, and not the entire year.  The remaining 1-2 months could go be related to the analysis, strategy and preparations for the campaign. 

How accurate is Spotify Wrapped?

While no official information regarding the accuracy of Spotify Wrapped, netizens have often expressed their take on its accuracy. Over the years, many have expressed their surprise when they realise that it was indeed the songs, artists or genres they heard most often.

Some have been not been most convinced, as they do not believe that the songs, artists or genres, which the app claimed was most listened to, and claimed what they had actually listened to the most was something else. Apart from these contentions, some have also stated that the feature did not work at all, as the lists were not generated for them.  

How does Spotify Wrapped work?

The contentions regarding the accuracy and some not finding their Spotify Wrapped might be because numerous factors come into the picture. Only those who have listened to at least 30 songs of five different artists will find their Spotify Wrapped. Moreover, a stream is counted only when a song is heard for at least 30 seconds. Offline streams come into consideration and are counted after the user comes online.

Last year, some reports stated that only those who joined Spotify before November 15 the year before, 2019, were eligible for the lists coming out in December 2020. However, no information is available if any such date of joining is an eligibility criterion for this year.

The list is compiled through a combination of the number of plays and the unique number of days someone listened to it. The Top 5 songs and Top 5 artists are compiled through play count. For the Top 100 playlist, artist separation is used after Track 10, thus it is not a direct reflection of the play count, as per the website.