Early December of last year, Spotify released ‘Spotify Wrapped’ a long-awaited yearly review of their users’ listening habits. All of the other music sites followed, with Apple Music being the only one that posted earlier, just a day before. The release, like all of the years before, was a huge social media phenomenon, with practically everyone posting their top artists and songs on their Instagram stories. In a school with so many musically-minded students, the results of a poll on the student body’s ‘Year in Listening’ proved to be quite interesting.
Despite the multiple different music sites used by the general population, the name ‘Spotify Wrapped’ serves almost as a ‘proprietary eponym,’ similar to ‘Band-Aid’ or ‘Kleenex.’ Granville’s spread of music listening sites proved to be dominated by Spotify, with 67.5% of the 85 responses proving the music giant’s popularity. The other results varied, with Apple Music coming in second with 18.1%, Amazon Music having 8.4%, and YouTube Music having only 2 submissions. SoundCloud came in last with only one submission.
The genres that popped up in the students’ top artists proved to be consistent with national trends, with Hip-Hop and Pop music at the top of the charts.
Based off of the total number of occurrences in the students’ responses, Drake proved to be Granville’s highest ranking artist, with his sworn nemesis Kendrick Lamar taking up the rear of the multi-mentioned artists.
Reviews for the Wrapped were overwhelmingly positive, with 62 positive reviews out of the 85 stating that they really enjoyed the experience, especially compared to last year.
Junior Andrew Busack raved on the digital experience. “I absolutely did [enjoy my Spotify Wrapped]! I always look forward to Wrapped Day, and it didn’t disappoint,” he said.
He went on to say that he “usually [tries] to curate my Wrapped on purpose so I will be happy at the end of the year, and I did so successfully this year. Much better than 2024.”
Fellow junior Sam Goldston agreed with Busack, saying that “this year was definitely an improvement over last years wrapped.”
He reasoned his stance, stating that “last year they did a section with genre evolution, and most people said it was not accurate or was weird. The aesthetic this year and adding things like album listens and total listens on different songs has made it much better compared to prior ones.”
Another common trend with many responses was the idea that the listeners were surprised with the statistics of their own listening habits.
Senior Grey Smith said that he really enjoyed his Wrapped because he likes “being surprised by what I listen to the most.”
This trend continued with senior Payton Korstad, who said she enjoyed her wrapped but her top songs were “very surprising and embarrassing.”
Despite many of the positive reviews, there were some people who had issues with the system.
Senior Deli Young called Spotify’s most recent effort “meh,” going on to say that the statistics often “get skewed because I listen to songs over and over again to play along to them. I also listen to lots of music on the radio in my car and really only use Spotify when I’m at home or on a plane now that we can’t use phones at school.”
With most of the poor or sub-par reviews, most of the negative feelings came from a desire for more content.
Freshman Rebekah Prokop stated the school’s common opinion, saying that she “wanted even more information.”
All in all, the recent release of Spotify Wrapped has led to a greater discussion around music in the halls of Granville High School. Especially with the popularity of posting one’s results on social media, Spotify Wrapped and the other yearly music review sites have resulted in a greater level of communication between otherwise non-communicative peers. By being able to see everyone’s taste in music, Spotify Wrapped has led to a greater sense of understanding and community between the students at Granville High School.
