Each year, Spotify releases its annual “Wrapped:” a compilation of data that tells users their most listened to artists, their most played songs and the number of minutes they listened in a beautiful, entertaining little slideshow. Despite this year’s release feeling disappointing to some, it is still one of the most anticipated, and posted about, days of the year — whether the result be embarrassing, or something worth bragging about.
Here’s what the artsiest IDSers listened to this year.
Grace Romine, Arts Desk Co-Editor
Top Song: “HOT TO GO!” by Chappell Roan
Top Artist: Wallows
Minutes Listened: 39,369
I could have sworn up and down that my top artist would be Charlie XCX this year. “BRAT” was absolutely my go-to album since its release, and I anxiously awaited each new feature and each new album (“Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not” and “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat”). I even had plans to go to the Columbus leg of the Sweat Tour with Troye Sivan, until I got a pricey speeding ticket a month before and had to pay (literally) the (very expensive) consequences. As I was sitting in the Indiana Memorial Union Starbucks and got the “OMG IT’S ALREADY HERE” text message five minutes before 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, I opened my Spotify Wrapped and was welcomed with the opening melody to “365,” only for Spotify to reveal my top artist was Wallows? What a red herring.
Charli XCX was my second artist, so I wasn’t completely off, and Wallows didn’t come as a complete shock. I’ve been a fan since 2018, when the classic teenage lifestyle YouTuber Emma Chamberlain put me onto the indie-pop music scene my freshman year of high school. Their newest album, “Model,” released at the end of this May, had some great discography additions, but my favorite album, and the one I return to the most, will always be “Nothing Happens” from 2019. Wallows never fails to create an album with existential, youthful lyrics I relate to. “Guitar Romantic Search Adventure,” for when I graduated high school, and “Anytime, Always” for when my best friend moved to Spain this August.
Gino Diminich, Arts Desk Co-Editor
Top Song: “Out in the Street” by Bruce Springsteen
Top Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Minutes Listened: 68,715
Well. This is the exact same as last year. If it’s not apparent, I am a man of habit. I’ve had the same hairstyle for 6 years and I’ve listened to the same group of artists the past few years as well. Springsteen really is just a master of songwriting — calm down Swifities, there can be more than one — and every song he has just gets me. “Out in the Street” is the song I have listened to (and I’m not joking) every morning since freshman year. This live version of the song just gets the feet moving and puts me in such a good headspace to take on the day.
In summary, my top artist list looks like someone’s dad hacked my account, because after Springsteen, my second artist is Elvis Presley followed by The Rolling Stones. Then it looks like someone’s aunt hacked my Spotify, because my number four spot went to Cher (her 1989 rock album “Heart of Stone” is genuinely amazing so don’t yell at me). Finally, someone must really like listening to Gustav Mahler while studying, working, cleaning or cooking because that composer was my number five. Spotify Wrapped, you’ve done it again.
Ursula Stickelmaier, Arts Columnist
Top Song: “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” by Taylor Swift
Top Artist: Taylor Swift
Minutes Listened: 16,488
Not only was Taylor Swift’s “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” my top song for this year, I was in the top 0.1% of listeners for that specific song. While I am a little shocked that I listened to that song that much this year, I can’t say that I’m totally surprised. Taylor Swift has been one of my favorite artists since I was a kid and never fails to be one of my top artists year after year. Her latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” might be one of my favorite albums from her. While it was long, every song on the album was full of that emotional and brilliant songwriting that I really love, and I feel that fans have come to expect from her work. “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” in particular has one of my favorite bridges. From the lyrics to the instrumental bits, it’s a heartbreaking song but beautiful nonetheless.
Halie Jasinover, Arts Columnist
Top Song: “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan (but it should’ve been “Last Goodbye” by Jeff Buckley)
Top Artist: The Beatles
Minutes Listened: 41,880
My Spotify Wrapped is truly wrong. While I love the song “Good Luck, Babe,” I feel as if there were other ones that should’ve taken that top spot. For example, during my time studying abroad in Barcelona, I had a Joni Mitchell hyper fixation, and I think I listened to "Help Me” and “California” over 40 times in a row.
Maybe that is an exaggeration, but I do have a bone to pick with Spotify this year! Where is my top genre? Why do I have an AI podcast episode about my listening habits? And what kind of phase is “Pumpkin Spice Slow Dance Dream Pop?” Other decisions made more sense for my listening habits with Jeff Buckley, The 1975, Fleetwood Mac and One Direction (this makes sense if you’ve read my column on the band) taking the top artist spots. Oh, Spotify Wrapped, you have let me down this year. But I know that next year I will anticipate your arrival as I typically do. I’m just glad it didn’t pick up my obsession with the “Wicked” movie soundtrack. I really am not sure how I’d explain that one!
Lowrie McGeary, Arts Reporter
Top Song: “The First Taste” by Fiona Apple
Top Artist: Fiona Apple
Minutes Listened: 15,540
I’m endlessly grateful for another year well spent with Fiona Apple, the musical love of my life. Nothing is more seductive than “The First Taste” from her debut album “Tidal,” my top song of this year. Although she is usually put in a box of sad-girl angst, that song is just straight up sexy. She also claimed three out of five spots on my top song ranking, with “Please Please Please,” and “Sleep to Dream” coming in second and third. But the Spotify listening minutes I have pale in comparison to the amount of time I spend cycling through her CDs on my stereo, and her third studio album “Extraordinary Machine” was especially abused this year. Obviously, Charli XCX was featured in my Wrapped too, coming in second for my top artist (nobody can beat Ms. Apple). My top listening day was June 13 and was likely dominated by her club-pop album “BRAT” released just a week before.
Hayden Kay, Arts Reporter
Top Song: “Simulation Swarm” by Big Thief
Top Artist: Dominic Fike
Minutes Listened: 34,443
I don’t understand why everyone is so mad at their Wrapped results this year. This may be the first year where I can actually agree with all my top artists. Sure, I may have listened to a little extra Dominic Fike because I wrote an essay about his first EP, but I chose him because he’s been one of my favorite artists for years. I love how he blends aspects from all my favorite genres into truly enjoyable songs. While plenty of other songs could have replaced “Simulation Swarm” as my most listened, it deserves that spot nonetheless. It is a beautiful song about having a younger sibling and wanting to do everything to protect them from the world. I can always turn to Adrianne Lenker’s beautiful lyricism when I want to lay back and forget about my worries. And isn’t that the purpose of music?
Sophie Albert, Arts Columnist
Top song: “Older” by Lizzy McAlpine
Top Artist: Taylor Swift
Minutes listened: 50,854
Reflection:
I think everyone can agree that it’s been an amazing year for music (despite Spotify Wrapped not being very creative this year). This year one of my favorite artists, Lizzy McAlpine, released a new album titled “Older” and this album got me through a large part of this year. The lyrics are often pretty simple but very raw and human and I was able to connect with every song on that album in some way. So, I was happy to find out that the title track was my top song this year because I do think it was a very important part of my personal journey this year.
As per usual, Taylor Swift is still reigning as my top artist, a position she will probably always hold. However, this year I also became a big Billie Eilish fan. I ended up literally only listening to her music for three weeks straight (I’m not even exaggerating). I’m really grateful I discovered her music because it has also helped me get through this not very great year, and I honestly don’t know what I would have done without it. Her music felt like a familiar friend that I needed, and was the one thing that could comfort me when it felt like the world was ending. I think this exemplifies the power of music and I hope everyone can find an artist, genre, or song that can feel like their closest friend in times of need. As always, I’m looking forward to seeing how my music taste evolves over the next year, and I will be expecting better from you next year, Spotify Wrapped.
Lilly Luse, Local Music Reporter
Top Song: “Johnny’s Gonna Die” by The Replacements
Top Artist: The Replacements
Minutes Listened: 52,698
This was my most musically diverse year yet. While I am delighted to look back on my year’s playlist to see how many artists I’ve discovered this year that have now become solidified as favorites, The Replacements dominated my Wrapped, taking my top artist spot and four out of five of my top song spots. Over 10% of my top 100 songs for the year were The Replacements, and I think when I look back at 2024, and really my entire college career, I’ll think of The Replacements as the sound of what has been the most rich and formative period of my life. Their sound is at once youthful and reckless while earnest and reflective. Their punk origins, combined with the clever but sincere songwriting of Paul Westerberg, has proven the perfect soundtrack to my early twenties. My song of the year, “Johnny’s Gonna Die,” is from their iconic debut and their most traditional punk album “Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash” which is anchored by a mesmerizing bass line and is one of the first iterations of Westerberg’s particular brand of frank but wholly felt lyricism.
Besides The Replacements, two artists in my top five, Jessica Pratt and Mannequin Pussy, both released career-defining new albums: “Here in the Pitch” and “I Got Heaven,” respectively, and I was lucky enough to catch both these artists in concert. Both shows were standing room only at venues of less than 500 capacity and were some of the most intimate and moving live music experiences I’ve ever had. I spent a lot of time sitting out on my front porch this summer listening to Jessic Pratt while watching the sun set. Her album is inspired by the sounds of the ocean and of California. It was the perfect album to keep me company this summer.
