Spotify Wrapped – an automated year-end playlist of all your most-listened-to tracks on the music-streaming service – has spawned a legion of imitators, with everything from web-hosting providers to credit agencies offering to sum up your year in statistics and charts.
Spotify’s arch-rival Apple Music has its own version of Wrapped, and it’s just started rolling out to users. But it surges ahead of Spotify’s version in one respect, and that means you might find it much more interesting to use.
It's called Apple Music Replay 2024, and it differs from Spotify Wrapped in an important way. While Spotify’s round-up is a static playlist that’s presented to you every year in early December, Apple Music Replay is far more dynamic.
That’s because it’s made available to subscribers at the start of the year, then automatically updates every week with new entries, which means you can keep track of your music taste as it evolves over the course of 12 months. While you have to wait all year for Spotify Wrapped, you can check your Apple Music Replay at any time, and gain insights into your listening habits whenever you want.
Apple vs Spotify
It’s not the only way Apple lets you mine your music library for fascinating trends. At the end of the year, the app presents you with a much more in-depth look at your top artists, favorite albums, total listening time, and more. That version is a lot closer to Spotify Wrapped, but it means that overall Apple Music provides far more insights, both as one-off playlists and as updated lists throughout the year.
Spotify has expanded its offerings in recent years, with the Playlist in a Bottle feature allowing you to use your favorite tracks as answers to prompts like “a song you’d bring to a desert island” or “a song you’d play for aliens if they visited Earth.” Then, a year later, you can open the bottle and look back on your auditory decisions. It’s a fun addition, and something Apple Music doesn't yet offer.
To find your Apple Music Replay 2024 playlist you’ll need to open the Apple Music app on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and head to the bottom of the Listen Now tab, where your newly generated playlist should be located. This section also houses your Apple Music Replay playlists for previous years. Note that Apple seems to be rolling out the playlist gradually, so it might take a while to appear for you.
There’s not much love lost between Apple and Spotify, and the two companies have been at loggerheads for years. Just last week, Spotify released a statement on Apple’s new third-party app store rules, calling Apple’s new system “a complete and total farce.”
Whether you love Spotify or prefer Apple Music, both apps offer you a way to better understand your musical preferences. But in the case of Apple Music Replay, Apple fans have access to something Spotify can’t yet match.
