Spotify Wrapped vs Apple Music Replay: What’s different about the year-end roundups

For music enthusiasts, Christmas has come, with both Apple Music and Spotify unveiling their year-end wraps for us. Whether you’re an avid listener with over 30,000 minutes of streaming or are someone who only uses the apps for nursery rhymes, you’re probably going to want to check those statistics – even if just for kicks. But despite both platforms offering a vast library and hands-on convenience, it’s only natural to be loyal to one. However, if you’ve only just begun to ‘wrap’ your head around the social media craze and were wondering what sets them apart, here’s what you need to know.

What does Apple Music Replay and Spotify Wrapped do?

Think of every song you’ve ever heard in the past year; both these streaming giants use your listening history to give you quirky statistics about your habits. This could include the total number of minutes you spend on it, who your top artist is, or what are your top played songs. The charts are personalised to appeal to you and give you numbers that you can share with other like-minded on social media.

ALSO READ: Spotify Wrapped 2023 is out; here’s how to find your top songs

However, despite both platforms offering (almost) the same elements, we see no dearth of Apple Music vs Spotify memes online today. Despite stepping up to deliver statistics the way Spotify does, Apple Music still seems to fall short with visualisation and providing a personalised user experience for its listeners.

Apple Music Replay vs Spotify Wrapped: What’s different?

Both these apps will typically provide you with the same numbers, but one certainly is celebrated widely across the world. In fact, despite Apple dropping its Apple Music Replay only a couple of hours before Spotify would, it is still the latter that picks up more traction and shares. Apple launched Replay in 2019 and has solely provided a web-based experience, on both smartphones and laptops, with anything other than your top-played songs.

While it does leave you with a playlist (and all the songs from your past few years), you still have to leave the app to be able to see anything other than that. Spotify, on the other hand, has quietly left this behind and has moulded itself into a more ‘story’ or Reel-based approach that gives users the opportunity to own customised shareables.

Another key difference that sets off debates online is because of Apple’s lack of development for the product. Spotify, while giving essentially the same set of statistics every year, does ensure there is more to look forward to. This year, the streaming platform introduced Sound Town and Me in 2023, which allows you to flaunt your unique music personality online. Additionally, Apple makes it difficult for you to share your favourite graphs, and screenshotting is, perhaps, your only best bet. This change significantly allowed Spotify to rule social media, as the streaming giant was quick to incorporate interactive charts that could be shared during and after you’ve viewed your wrap.

While both platforms have a lot to offer, it doesn’t come in as a surprise that Spotify is the cult favourite. That said, we know Apple Music loyalists will probably never switch because, let’s face it, we’re all a little too comfortable with our app choices, and of course, there’s no other reason to! However, with other platforms, such as YouTube Music, rapidly stepping up with their year-end roundups, Apple might just have to up its game to stay relevant in the next few years.