Christmas lights and wickets falling in backyard games of cricket may signify the year’s end for many — but another viral holiday tradition dominating both social media and office banter has become the annual Spotify Wrapped.
Covering more Instagram stories than a pink sunset, music streaming platform Spotify started the marketing campaign back in 2016 by turning a data dump of users most listened songs and artists throughout the year into a top five scoreboard.
It has gone on to be a global viral phenomenon and an annual tradition for digital music lovers to express their “unique” taste and share it with their mates and online followers.
And every year, the platform continues to find new ways to reinvent the simple concept and bring new excitement for returning users.
This year, Spotify introduced listening ages — a feature that asked users to “not be offended” over the age of music they listened to, but left many questioning their music choices.
And there is no cheating Spotify wrapped.
While showing your friends that Sabrina Carpenter is your top artist for second year in a row can be exciting for some, others are left dreading that people will find out their guilty pleasure was listening to Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen.
The past year brought up-and-coming artists into the spotlight, but West Aussies wanted to know all about The Life of a Showgirl after Taylor Swift took the crown as Perth’s top artist for 2025.
While the famous feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar might of been won by the latter, it was the Canadian superstar who was a better listen in Perth’s ears, sitting in second place, while Lamar was the city’s fourth most streamed artist.
And despite their quiet years and little-to-no music released, Perth still couldn’t get enough of The Weeknd and Billie Eilish as the pair rounded out WA’s top five.
Perth’s most streamed song was Ordinary by Alex Warren — a global hit by the English singer which reached billboard heights for a Brit that was last enjoyed by Ed Sheeran with Bad Habits.
Accumulating 1.3 billion streams on Spotify, Aussies couldn’t get enough of the tune.
That was followed by viral hit The Days (NOTION REMIX) by Chrystal and That’s So True by Gracie Abrams in third place among Perth listeners.
Meanwhile, Perth’s most streamed album was the soundtrack from the Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters — a not-so-surprising addition considering the wide-ranging scope the film reached.
National pride stood tall in the land Down Under with the The Wiggles given the crown for the most-streamed Aussie band, followed by The Kid LAROI and AC/DC thanks to their latest hits Wiggle Up, Giddy Up! and The Tree of Wisdom.
The Beach Boys surfed to the top of Premier Roger Cook’s Wrapped, but the list took a sharp detour as the Premier showed his love for house music throughout the year.
Japanese DJ Shingo Nakamura was second on the Labor leader’s most-listened-to charts, who is known for a progressive house style and trance beats which blend in classical piano.
It’s an interesting choice for the 60-year-old Premier — who revealed his listening age to be 19 years old — to help him unwind after a stressful day in Parliament.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave the country an insight into his love of Aussie rock, bumping Northern Territory band King Stingray as his top artist for the year.
Followed closely by Taylor Swift in second, who even the rock and roll loving PM couldn’t escape, and Sydney indie rock band Middle Kids came out third.
Housing Minister John Carey, meanwhile, showed how he kept up his poker face in the midst of a housing shortage with his top artist, proudly boasting of his love for Lady Gaga ahead of her Aussie tour.
With a line-up of other boppy pop stars dominating his Wrapped, Carey was quick to poke fun at his own music taste, remarking, “Yeah I’m gay”.
Fremantle Docker’s ruckman Luke Jackson revealed he likes beats fast with a heavy bassline, sitting in the top 0.02 per cent of global Sub Focus fans — a drum and bass DJ that boasts 5.5m monthly listeners.
There was no second guessing who Aussie tennis professional Storm Hunter’s favourite artist was, with all five of her top songs coming from British singer Olivia Dean.
Perth Wildcats shooting guard Elijah Pepper bumped heavy with melodic rap this year with Drake as his top artist.
As far as super fans go, Wildcats export and Cleveland Cavaliers forward Luke Travers proved his loyalty for Nigerian singer Burna Boy coming out in the top 0.0008 per cent globally.
As the tradition of Spotify Wrapped grows, the music streaming platform also launched its first ever TV commercial for Wrapped to their UK audience, helping to build excitement.
The ad featured some of the platform’s biggest artists including Central Cee, Pinkpantheress, Lewis Capaldi and Sammy Virji.
The streaming service went to even greater lengths to promote their hit marketing product, with singer Jade popping up in London’s Southbank in a perspex box to promote wrapped — a reference to her hit solo Plastic Box.
