Spotify Wrapped is here. What is it and what are people in Australia listening to?

Each year, Spotify reveals insights into which artists, songs, and podcasts are the most popular amongst listeners.

Each year, Spotify Wrapped reveals information about users' listening habits including top artists, albums, songs, and podcasts. Source: SBS News

Key Points

• Spotify has released its annual Spotify Wrapped, offering insights into users' listening habits over the last year.
• The dataset reveals which artists, albums, podcasts, songs and genres have attracted the most streams and searches.

Digital music service Spotify released its annual Spotify Wrapped data on Thursday, offering insight into the listening habits of its 456 million users.

Sharing Spotify Wrapped results has become an annual social media ritual for some users, with many taking pride in their results, and others publicly cringing.

So what is Spotify Wrapped and how do Australia's listening habits compare on a global scale?

What is Spotify Wrapped?

Part dataset, part entertainment, Spotify Wrapped is released every December by the audio streaming service and provides individuals with information about their listening habits over the past year.

The information is presented via video and tiles, which users can share on social media.

Spotify Wrapped is displayed via infographics, which users often share on social media. Source: Supplied / Spotify

Each user receives an individual Spotify Wrapped based on their listening, but Spotify also releases global data illustrating preferences in different countries.

In addition to top artists, songs and albums, it also reveals top podcasts, music genres, movie soundtracks, playlists and search trends.

This year, "listening personality" and "an audio day" have been added as new inclusions, designed to show users what their listening habits can tell them about themselves

Users can find their Spotify Wrapped on the home screen after they open the app.

What does Australia listen to?

Australia's most-streamed artists from around the globe were Taylor Swift, Drake, Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd and Kanye West.

When it comes to home-grown talent, Kamilaroi artist The Kid LAROI topped the list, followed by The Wiggles, Hilltop Hoods, Vance Joy and Flume.

Spotify Wrapped provides information about listeners' audio habits. Source: SBS News

Australia's most streamed song in 2022 was As It Was by Harry Styles, followed by Heat Waves by Glass Animals, which took out the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2021.

STAY by The Kid LAROI (with Justin Bieber) came in third, followed by Cold Heart (PNAU remix) by Elton John and Dua Lipa, and First Class by Jack Harlow.

The Kid LAROI's STAY was the most popular Australian song, with Thousand Miles coming in fifth.

The Cold Heart (PNAU remix) came in second, followed by Joji's Glimpse of Us and Down Under by Luude featuring Colin Hay.

What does the rest of the world listen to?

Globally, the most streamed artist was Bad Bunny, who has held the top spot since 2020 despite not making the top 5 in Australia.

He was followed by Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd and K-Pop boy band BTS.

Bad Bunny was the most-streamed artist globally, but did not make the top five in Australia. Source: SBS News

The top global songs were similar to Australia's, with As It Was, Heat Waves and STAY ranking first, second and third respectively.

Bad Bunny took fourth and fifth places with tracks Me Porto Bonito (featuring Chencho Corleon) and Tití Me Preguntó.