Overthinking My Spotify Wrapped 2024
Well, really, it's Apple Music Replay, but tomato tomato.
Last week, Spotify released their yearly “Wrapped” feature where people could see their music-listening stats for 2024. Apple Music released their similar “Replay” feature, which admittedly has seemingly figured out the strongest way to model their own year-end feature. There were some gripes about the design for Spotify’s Wrapped this year, which lead to further criticism from layoffs earlier in the year. Of course, there were the usual (and extremely justified) reminders about how little streaming services pay artists, and I’d like to take some time to encourage you to buy some merch from your top artists or try to see them on tour. That is going to benefit them much more than just streaming.
I am not a Spotify user, so I’ve never had a Wrapped, but I do have Apple Music. I look to my replay with the same excitement as people do their Spotify Wrapped. I also enjoy that it updates throughout the year, and the final results on December 3 may be different from the final results on December 31. Maybe I’ll give an update to this on New Year’s Eve with my final numbers.
Anyway, I always enjoy going through my lists and trying to figure out why certain artists ended up in some positions, so we’re going to breaking this down piece-by-piece.
On the front page, the two biggest surprises were first that Zach Bryan is my top artist, and that at the time of this writing, I’ve listened to 60,888 minutes of music. We’ll get to Bryan in a minute, but 60,888 equates to about 42 days worth of music-listening. I think this is because most of my time spent at home is with headphones in. It has undoubtedly negatively impacted my hearing, especially the fact that many of those minutes were likely spent outside while running, where my music is inevitably turned up too high. It also doesn’t account for podcasts, phone calls, or anything else.
As much as I look at my appreciation for music as a positive quality, I do hope that next year the number is a little lower, for my hearing’s sake.
Top Artists:
I have reached an age where most of my top artists do end up repeating themselves. There are at least six artists here who didn’t release new full-length projects this year, but I was also sure that they’d be here. Zach Bryan landing at number one was a surprise.
I did thoroughly enjoy The Great American Bar Scene. It ended up as my fifth favorite album of the year, but it didn’t even surpass where Bryan’s self-titled album landed in 2023’s list. By the end of this year, I think Bryan will retain that position, because I’m set to go see him in concert later this month. I’ll undoubtedly be listening to him before and after. Still, this was a surprise, because I could’ve sworn that I listened to other artists more than him. I think part of it has to do with the length of that album. It’s 19 songs and clocks in over an hour.
Each album that outranked Bryan on my year-end list lands between 30 and 53 minutes, so to get a full listen for TGABS, I would need to listen for a full 10 minutes longer than the second longest record in the top five (Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia).
The length of recent projects I think did affect some of the other artists in my tops. Taylor Swift released The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, which has over 30 songs and is over 2 hours long. Even though I only listened to that full project once or twice, it undoubtedly helped her numbers get up for my Replay. The same thing happened with Noah Kahan’s massive Stick Season (Forever) deluxe edition, which has his album, plus all the bonus tracks and collaborations he worked on. I also went through a period of getting really into Kahan’s music this year (more on that later).
I was surprised to see Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties in the 15th slot, because the beginning of this year was dominated by In Lieu of Flowers for me, especially as I prepared to interview Dan Campbell for Atwood Magazine. That being said, I spent most of that time listening to the album’s advance, which probably didn’t count.
Songs:
Ironically, my top songs were a better reflection of my top album for the year than the artists list was. The artist with the most songs was Mannequin Pussy, with their song “I Got Heaven,” landing at number two. (Kneecap has the second most songs, followed by Zach Bryan and Kendrick Lamar, who are each tied with two).
Most of the other songs are not really surprises. I thought that perhaps Chappell Roan would get a few more tracks on the list, but “Femininomenon” is a pretty good stand in for the entire Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess album.
My most streamed song was “euphoria” by Kendrick Lamar, but that may drop by the end of the year, as it’s currently only two streams ahead of “I Got Heaven.” Besides being my favorite song from the Drake beef earlier this year (though “Not Like Us” was my 13th most streamed song), it’s also the song that I started most of my runs too. Once the horns kick in and Lamar starts spitting venom, it’s a great song to start hauling ass too.
Albums:
Of all the categories, the albums are the least surprising. I wish I knew how album plays were quantified by Apple’s algorithm, but most of the records are albums that ended up in my year end list. Stick Season (Forever) did land at number two, but I think that’s because this was when I finally clicked on Kahan. The Gaslight Anthem’s History Books also landed there, but that was a late favorite from 2023, and I did go to see TGA this year. The same goes for Spanish Love Songs’ No Joy, plus the fact that “I’m Gonna Miss Everything” was a go-to running song for me for a phase.
I was surprised to see Good Looks’ Lived Here for a While end up in the fourth most played spot, beating out Mannequin Pussy. I do think part of that was just my own excitement when that record came out.
The only 2024 albums that didn’t make the cut on my year-end list were Bleachers’ self-titled album and Vampire Weekend’s Only God Was Above Us, which were both last-minute contenders. I spent some time late this week and last week listening to them to consider if they’d make the cut. I’m just surprised they ended up in the 11th and 12th spots on my Replay.
Monthly Artists:
For the monthly breakdowns, I’m just going to explain why I was listening to each of those artists that month.
January – Green Day: Saviors was coming out, and I did try to see them at Irving Plaza. After hours waiting in the cold, I didn’t get to go.
February – Frank Sinatra: Emmi and I were hosting our parents for dinner, and we played a Sinatra playlist on repeat for like a whole night, which skewed the listening for that night.
March – Koyo: 2023’s Would You Miss It? didn’t click for me until earlier this year, and in March I saw Koyo on their triple co-headliner with Anxious and One Step Closer. So I was really in the Koyo zone.
April – Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department dropped.
May – Mannequin Pussy: I went to see them on the I Got Heaven tour, so I was prepping both with the new album and revisiting the back catalogue.
June – Bruce Springsteen: As much as I’d think it was just summer vibes, it was also because I read Steven Hyden’s excellent book There Was Nothing You Could Do about Born in the USA.
July – Zach Bryan: The Great American Bar Scene was released.
August – Jeff Rosenstock: I attended one of Rosenstock’s “neverending Brooklyn residency” shows.
September – Kneecap: I saw both the movie and the group in concert. This was when I really got hooked on the trio.
October – The Wonder Years: Besides the fact that this is my favorite band, I also traveled down to Pennsylvania to catch their co-headline tour with The Menzingers.
November – Dillinger Four: I caught Dillinger Four live for the first time in Brooklyn, so I needed to brush up.
Monthly Songs:
January – “The American Dream Is Killing Me” by Green Day: With Green Day being my top artist for this month, I really played a lot of Saviors, but “TADIKM” was the lead single.
February – “Dial Drunk” by Noah Kahan and Post Malone: I prefer the Post Malone version of this Noah Kahan song, and February (which to some extent felt like “stick season” with a dry New York winter) was the month that I really let myself fall in love.
March – “I Might Not” by Koyo: This single was such a strong pop-punk song on one of last year’s standout records. It’s no wonder that Koyo has been opening their sets on tour with The Story So Far with this song.
April – “Nothing Feels Good Anymore” by The Menzingers: After spending much of March beginning my job hunt, the hopelessness really began in April, and I wallowed with this Menzingers song for a while.
May – “euphoria” by Kendrick Lamar: Besides Kendrick’s numerous great songs in May, I also had a falling out with someone. It was kind of perfect timing for me when this song dropped.
June – “All My Friends” by Queen of Jeans: If I remember correctly, this was one of the early singles for this album, and I reviewed it for Atwood Magazine. Even though I had the advance, I spent a lot of time just listening to the singles as I prepared for my review.
July – “28” by Zach Bryan: This was easily my standout from TGABS. In August, I proposed to my girlfriend, and as soon as I heard “How lucky are we? It’s been a hell of a week” it would be something I’d associate with our proposal a month later.
August – “Tougher Than the Rest” by Bruce Springsteen: After finishing Steven Hyden’s book about Springsteen, I kept thinking about the chapter where he spoke about Springsteen’s greatest love songs. With my proposal happening this month, of course, I leaned into the Boss’ best love song.
September – “H.O.O.D.” by Kneecap: “H.O.O.D.” is probably the song featured most prominently in the film Kneecap. After seeing it early in September, I was hooked.
October – “Fine Art” by Kneecap: The only artist to nail the top song two months in a row. This was the month I saw Kneecap, so I had much of Fine Art on repeat.
November – “Maximum Piss and Vinegar” by Dillinger Four: I caught D4 at Brooklyn Monarch after being a fan for a decade. I had a playlist of their usual setlist to mentally prep.
Monthly Albums:
January – Saviors by Green Day: Green Day did have the first big release of the year. Even though it did get lost a bit in the shuffle by December, it still has a lot of great tunes.
February – Stick Season (Forever) by Noah Kahan: Of all the folk and country-adjacent popstars that emerged in the past 3 or so years, Kahan has been the easiest to root for, and Stick Season has been the gift that keeps on giving.
March – Tigers Blood by Waxahatchee: Even though it was only early March, I knew Tigers Blood would be one of my favorite records of the year. This was the first new album that was truly great.
April – The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology by Taylor Swift: This was the biggest album to release that month, but this version of the album is so overblown, it was hard for it not to dominate my listening habits.
May – Some of It Was True by The Menzingers: In June, I went to go see The Menzingers for my 30th birthday, but I hadn’t yet seen the band while they toured behind last year’s Some Of It Was True. While this didn’t move me as much as previous Menzos albums, it was worth revisiting.
June – BRAT by Charli XCX: Was it June when we first started saying “brat summer?” We’re still kind of in it, aren’t we? This was Charli’s year, but it’s hard to believe it wasn’t until this album came out in June.
July – The Great American Bar Scene by Zach Bryan: Just after Brat, I jumped into sad country boy summer.
August – No Name by Jack White: Jack White’s comeback album was like brat summer for rock nerds in their 40s. Despite only being 30, I really did feel like I was back in high school discovering The White Stripes with this album.
September – Foxing by Foxing: This album is a pretty fast 56 minutes. I want to love Foxing as much as other people do.
October – Chromakopia by Tyler, the Creator: Despite being a late album in the month, I really ate up Chromakopia. Tyler deserves to be in the best working rappers conversation, and this album pushes that forward.
November – GNX by Kendrick Lamar: Another late release, but with Kendrick’s monumental year, GNX felt something like a victory lap. It was essential listening for the end of Kendrick’s biggest year.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough data to get where I was in December, but I probably will check it more frequently throughout next year. Apple does offer monthly replay to get a sense of what your listening habits are throughout the year. Hopefully, there will be some surprises in 2025, and we’ll have more exciting songs.
