It’s that time of year again. The weather is getting colder, the days are getting shorter and Spotify just dropped their annual “Wrapped,” giving us an glimpse into what everyone’s been playing on repeat this year. Sometimes this in-depth report on our listening activity can provide a nostalgic walk down memory lane as you revisit our favorite songs. Other times it’s an embarrassing reminder of that one day in March when you listened to the “High School Musical” soundtrack on repeat — true story.
Like probably many avid music listeners, the IDS arts desk has been waiting all year for Spotify Wrapped to release. So, here’s what we’ve been listening to this year.
Lily Saylor, arts desk co-editor
Top Artist: Megan Thee Stallion
Top Song: “HISS” by Megan Thee Stallion
Minutes Listened: 31,402
For yet another year, my gym/workout playlist has surpassed all other playlists and came out on top. When I’m in the gym, there are few artists like Megan Thee Stallion that make me feel confident and ready to lift — and while I thought for sure that some of my other favorite artists like Hozier, Jeff Buckley or Lana Del Rey would appear as my top artist, I guess this year’s Spotify Wrapped is a testament to how much time I spend in the gym.
Moving on to my top five albums, there was no surprise to me there. Since writing my “DON’T TAP THE GLASS” album review in August, I had a suspicion that the record would end up on my Spotify Wrapped. My other four top albums were “CHROMAKOPIA” by Tyler, the Creator, “GNX” by Kendrick Lamar, “Hozier” and “Wasteland, Baby!” both by Hozier. No matter my mood, a song by the Irish singer, Hozier, is always in my earbuds. I think it is actually impossible for Hozier to produce a bad song. With that being said, I would say that my top five album list very accurately represents my music taste this past year.
Ursula Stickelmaier, arts desk co-editor
Top Artist: Jensen McRae
Top Song: “Savannah” by Jensen McRae
Minutes Listened: 18,078
Every year when I go to look at my Spotify Wrapped, I usually see the same top artists. Taylor Swift, Noah Kahan, Gracie Abrams and Lizzy McAlpine have all become staples in the lineup, with the occasional Tate McRae or even the “Glee” Cast rounding it out. From how much I’ve listened to them over the years, it’s become almost a tradition to see them in my annual Spotify Wrapped.
All that’s to say that when I saw all four musicians in my top five artists for 2025, I wasn’t surprised. What did shock me though was when I didn’t see any of them claim the number one spot, instead taken by singer-songwriter Jensen McRae.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love McRae’s music, it’s poetic and slightly sad, so pretty much everything I look for in my music. The surprising part of her being in this year’s Spotify Wrapped was that I only started listening to her in June of this year. In just six months, I’ve listened to her song “Savannah” over 60 times, according to Spotify. I have also played her album “I Don’t Know How But They Found Me!” so often that its songs made up the entirety of my top five tracks list and put me in the top 0.3% of her listeners.
It’s not every day that you find an artist whose music you connect with on such a deep level that their discography becomes a staple in what you listen to, so I feel lucky to have started listening to McRae when I did. I can’t wait for her next album, and until then I guess I will just have to listen to her music another 60 times, if not more.
Sydney Weber, arts reporter
Top Artist: Mat Kearney
Top Song: “Say It Now” by Mat Kearney
Minutes Listened: 46,393
Just looking at the list of my top five songs makes me happy and brings back some of my favorite memories from this past summer. Not only do both “Say It Now” by Mat Kearney and “Forever Ain’t Long Enough” by Max McNown feel like falling in love, but McNown’s song reminds me of driving through the countryside around Bloomington at sunset, just enjoying being alive. “Hindsight” by Van Buren, “Dancing In The Courts” by Hunter Plake and “bad times” by Jessica Baio also made the list and were my absolute jams for road trips — or just dancing in my kitchen.
When it came to my top artists this year, I was surprised to see that McNown was so far down until I remembered my unfortunate habit of getting really into new artists just around the time Spotify Wrapped comes out. The deluxe version of his new album, however, came out in July, giving me time to listen to a bunch more of his music over the summer. Another surprise came in the form of American violinist Lindsey Stirling, who I didn’t expect to be on my top five artists list. But last year I started listening to more instrumental songs while studying, and that spilled over into 2025. The sheer amount of reading I’ve had to do in the past two semesters handily explains why Stirling took the second spot.
Abby Whited, IU Jacobs School of Music reporter
Top artist: Lorde
Top song: “What Was That” by Lorde
Minutes listened: 52,607
I am the kind of person who views Spotify Wrapped day as my Super Bowl, so to speak; every year I look forward to reflecting on all the music I discovered and revisited. However, after my disappointment in last year’s Spotify Wrapped, my hopes weren’t the highest for this year’s music recap. Nevertheless, I still opened my Wrapped as soon as it was available to me like an impatient child on Christmas morning.
Usually, I have an idea of who my top artist will be, but this year there were a few artists that I would have expected to take my top spot; SZA, Hayley Williams and Solange were all in my regular rotations. But after the release of Lorde’s album “Virgin” in June, and how much I listened to her second record “Melodrama” in anticipation of that release, I should have expected Lorde to be my top artist of the year. Despite some ridiculous things she’s said in the press this year, I can’t deny that I think she is an artistic genius and that her music speaks to a very fundamental part of me. Pair that with a new Lorde album and all the horrors and joys that come with being 19, and I was absolutely primed to have a Lorde year.
“What Was That,” the first single from “Virgin,” took my top song spot. When I first heard it, I felt as though I was hearing the kind of Lorde writing that resonates with me the most, which is the way she writes on “Melodrama.” The wistfully frenetic writing on “What Was That” brought me back to what I think is the most interesting version of Lorde as an artist – deeply flawed, messy and able to recreate time capsules of youthful emotion in her songs.
Addison Jacoby, IU Theatre, Drama and Contemporary Dance reporter
Top Artist: Blood Orange
Top Song: “Uncle ACE” by Blood Orange
Minutes listened: 66,984
All I heard from my friends, around campus and online the day before the release of Spotify Wrapped were complaints. These complaints were about past years Wrapped, conspiracies about the inaccuracy of Wrapped and grudges about their top artists from past years.
Yet, I remained optimistic about my Wrapped, especially because Spotify has never scorned me. So, when this year’s Spotify Wrapped released, I opened the app knowing that I will have to be confident in my listening habits, and if something “embarrassing” appeared, it’s myself to take the blame, not Spotify, because I sat down and listened to the music. I will confidently admit to everyone, unsure if I should be embarrassed, that “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream” from The Book of Mormon musical was my top song my freshman year of high school. This year’s Wrapped was way less “embarrassing;” honestly, it reveals how much of a fan I am of Blood Orange. My top song was “Uncle ACE” by Blood Orange, and I had listened to this song 263 times. “Cupid Deluxe,” the album “Uncle ACE” is on, was also my top album of the year, as well. Additionally, four out of five of my top songs are Blood Orange.
Unsurprisingly, my entire Wrapped came out exactly how I expected to, with lots of Blood Orange, The Magnetic Fields and Yo La Tengo. I continue my optimism for Spotify Wrapped in the years to come; my doubt has been unwavering for a good reason. Don’t be ashamed of Spotify for the music that is willingly listened to.
Sophie Albert, IU Auditorium reporter
Top Artist: Taylor Swift
Top song: “Bathroom Light” by Mt. Joy
Minutes listened: 53,090
This year’s Spotify Wrapped definitely had some surprises in store for me, but what I was mostly shocked and pretty confused by were my top five songs. While I think my second most streamed song, “Headstones and Land Mines” by Lizzy McAlpine, deserves to be there as it is one of my favorites of McAlpine's discography, the rest felt very random. This year’s Spotify Wrapped somehow managed to include “I’m Not That Girl” from “Wicked” the movie, which, admittedly, I love, but I didn’t ever think it would make it into my top five tracks of 2025. I also think that out of the entire “Wicked” soundtrack that is not the song I would think I listened to the most, but I guess me loving depressing music prevails here as well.
I wasn’t too surprised by my top artists as my top four tend to stay the same with only the fifth one changing depending on the year. Taylor Swift always manages to be in the number one spot, probably due to the sheer vastness of her discography, and Lizzy McAlpine is always number two because I absolutely love her music and resonate with it so much. The one artist that surprised me being in my top five was the band Mt. Joy, because while I do enjoy their music and listen to quite a bit of it, I felt like I resonated more with music from Noah Kahan and Conan Gray this year and was expecting one of them to take that fifth spot.
Overall, I was happier with the data and look of Spotify Wrapped this year since last year was a bit of a train wreck, and I’m hoping Spotify will keep up with the more niche and silly stats next year as well.
Stella Klaus, local music reporter
Top Song: “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac
Top Artist: Fleetwood Mac
Minutes Listened: 11,497
My Spotify wrapped was, for the most part, not a surprise this year. While I only listened to 11,497 minutes, which I know is not much compared to most people’s Wrapped, most of those minutes were Fleetwood Mac, so it’s no surprise that it was number one. My next three top artists being Stevie Nicks, Eagles and Daisy Jones and the Six, reveal how much of a classic rock kind of phase I was in this year as well. My fifth top artist, Taylor Swift, was the only real surprise to me. I would say that I am a Swift fan and I do love a lot of her music, but her newest album definitely didn’t hit for me and so I listened to her a lot less this year in total. Thinking back on the whole year though, I’m sure I had some Swift phases at the beginning of 2025.
The only other thing I was kind of surprised by was my listening minutes, but I was only really surprised after seeing other people's minutes. I guess it didn’t occur to me how little I must listen to music compared to other people. I think the main reason for this is because I am not one to listen to music while walking places, I kind of just like to listen to what's happening around me. I am much more of a car music listener and, especially during school, I rarely use my car. I am also not a Spotify purist, and I only recently deleted Apple Music because my storage was full, so I definitely did some Apple Music listening this year, too.
