2023 Wrapped by Spotify
A deep dive into the copy for Spotify's annual campaign and in-app feature.
10,000ft
In exchange for our precious data, Spotify gives us an annual recap of our music listening called Wrapped. And each year, the double feature—IRL campaign and in-app experience—turns into an internet lithium mine.
Beyond seeing our top artists and songs, we get to see our friends’ weird tastes in music and get fill up on tailored memes. Social media managers get an easy post for the day. Some brands have even created their version of a year-end recap to varying degrees of success.1
The work was produced by Spotify’s in-house team.
“We start so early, in June, because we need that space to explore…We don’t settle until we’ve talked about the design one time too many, rather than one time too few.” - Rasmus Wängelin, global head of brand design at Spotify via It’s Nice That
👀 Wondering if Wrapped gets Spotify more than brand mentions and app engagement? Last year’s Wrapped was the streaming platform's “biggest merch sales week to date.” Wrapped breakdown
Think of 2023 Spotify Wrapped as a celebration of the real, the realer, and the realest listening moments that defined our year. It’s the receipt that you’ll definitely want to keep—from the song you secretly couldn’t stop streaming to the artists and podcasts you weren’t shy to shout your unwavering admiration for. - Spotify Wrapped Press Release
1. Taste stack
2023 Wrapped opens on our top genres as visualized by a sandwich.
2. Sound town
Then, we see what cities our music taste lines up with. As many know, this bit opened up the gay Bermuda Triangle.
3. Most-played song
4. Top songs
5. Top songs playlist
6. Time spent listening
Here is when I noticed the shareable versions of the graphics used different, Instagram-styled copy.
7. Top artist
8. Top song from your top artist
9. Top artist listening habits
Another new addition to Wrapped are these radial heat maps that show how much we listened to our favorite artists throughout the year.
11. Top artists
12. Artist messages
Some artists recorded video messages for fans, the approaches falling on a broad spectrum of sincerity.
13. Top Podcast
14. Listener profiles
Each of the 12 profiles get a tarot-inspired card.
Throughout it all, your listening was true to yourself. That realness is something to celebrate and Wrapped serves as your receipt.2
VAMPIRE (me) - When it comes to your listening, you like to embrace a little…darkness. You listen to emotional, atmospheric music more than most.
ALCHEMIST - Listening is your laboratory. You create your own playlists more than other listeners do. Nice work, doc.
TIME TRAVELER - Have we met before? You travel back in time and listen to songs on repeat, again and again. The best tracks never get old.
CYCLOPS - When it comes to your listening, you’re loyal and devoted. You like to focus on one genre. Sometimes while wearing a monocle.
LUMINARY - There’s a spark in you, and your listening shows it. You play light, upbeat music more than others. Bet you’re fun at parties.
MASTERMIND- Knowledge is power, listener. Which makes you powerful indeed, as you like to study a wide range of different genres. Clever you.
ROBOTICIST - You like to hit play, kick back, and let the clever algorithms work their magic, track after track. Oh look, that rhymes.
SHAPESHIFTER - One moment you’re head over heels for an artist. The next, you’ve moved on. Some say it’s erratic. We call it eclectic.
COLLECTOR - Your taste is sublime. You listen mostly to your own playlists, and we totally get why. They’re perfect, after all.
HUNTER - You’re always searching for new favorites. You skip tracks more than other listeners. Maybe it’s the thrill of the chase?
FANATIC - Once you pick a favorite, you never let go. Your top artist makes up more than a third of your listening. Impressive.
HYPNOTIST - Your concentration is absolute, friend. You like to play albums all the way through, from the opening track to the final note.
Campaign breakdown
As usual, Spotify plastered Wrapped insights on billboards across the country. The campaign revolves around the headline “Wrapped or It Didn’t Happen.”3
“There’s something about this past year that felt especially chaotic with regards to how people consumed culture. We really wanted to acknowledge that feeling because it felt very accurate to 2023. Amidst all this, we realized that “your Wrapped doesn’t lie.” The data is real.” - Spotify’s Head of Global Marketing Experience
👀 It’s interesting how little of the actual Spotify campaign I see anymore compared to the deluge of memes. 
This board uses “real” and “realer” as headlines to showcase 78M+ streams of “Single Soon” and 228+ playlists titled “dump him,” respectively.
Another illustrates how many people have adopted Ice Spice’s signature ad-lib.
There were a few organic social pieces, as well, including some influencer/celebrity partnerships.
My thoughts
A recognition of effort
I really enjoyed 2023 Wrapped. The copy feels less hammy than it has in the past. There are still a lot of punny bits, but I can look past them to celebrate the sheer number of lines in the campaign. This year’s Wrapped felt like an expansive world of microcopy and design—a digital choose-your-own-adventure with every possible outcome mapped out. It’s no small feat.
My favorite lines
“Coming really soon” as a prelaunch sign-off
Time is a construct but we kept track anyway
Has anyone ever told you that you’re a great listener?
Spotify loves an aside
I think it’s more effective in some places than others, but they’re consistent without using too many of them in a row.
Your top genres. Delicious.
You like to hit play, kick back, and let the clever algorithms work their magic, track after track. Oh look, that rhymes.
But you had room in your heart for more than one favorite. You romantic, you.
You were in the top 4% of listeners worldwide. Nice.
Interesting word choices
In some places, the copy feels oddly formal or technical.
You peaked on January 18th at 869 minutes.4
Let’s make this a two-way conversation.
I also couldn’t get on board with the anti-hero piece of the listening profiles. The profiles are well written but too varied to fit under one umbrella, which they don’t really need to do in the first place.
The way you listened this year makes you a hero. Or should we say…anti-hero?5
Finally, they frame up time spent listening to an artist as time spent with an artist, an interesting choice given the climate of parasocial relationships.
You couldn’t get enough of [song]. Now delivering fan mail… - In-app
You’re a top X% fan. Let’s turn this into a two-way conversation.
You had something special with your top artists. Here’s how you spent time with them across the year.
Puns, peaks, and asides aside, kudos to the 2023 Wrapped writing team. 🎉 Hope y’all got some good sleep after launch day.
It’s hard to pull this off without someone calling it “Brand Name’s Wrapped”
This is the second mention of receipts within the Press Release/media kit, a smart justification for the “Wrapped or It Didn’t Happen” headline
I would love to learn more about the choice to keep “Wrapped or It Didn’t Happen” off the app experience.
I hope not?
Did anyone else ever get a lecture in elementary school about how a one-bullet list should never exist?