Elmo landed in the top spot on the Spotify Wrapped of a parent from Falls Church, Virginia. Photo credit: Mark Mann for The Washington Post
It’s a fun time for music fans on Spotify - a chance to review all the most-listened-to songs of the year and rejoice in the choices they made.
Or, for others, it’s a reminder that parenting has erased art, joy and Death Cab for Cutie from their lives, because their Spotify Wrapped playlist is clogged with their children’s favorite tunes.
On Wednesday, Spotify sent out its annual and ever-popular Wrapped playlist, a kind of report card on one’s listening history from the calendar year, telling people which songs, podcasts, albums and artists they listened to most throughout the year. It’s become something of a cultural event.
But for parents, what should be a day of communal self-expression might be spoiled when they discover the extent to which their children’s favorite songs have dominated their playlists.
Whereas everyone else on social media is sharing Spotify-branded cards of Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and the Weeknd, they come to terms with being one of Bluey’s top fans.
"Last year, my number one artist was Elmo and my number one artist this year is Idina Menzel of ‘Frozen’,” said Pete Davis, a 35-year-old parent of two from Falls Church, Virginia. The annual report "no longer revealed anything about my own music journey. It’s almost like it’s my son’s Spotify Wrapped.”
He reflected on this, nostalgically comparing the days when he could blast Bob Dylan or the Band in the car to now, when his kids control the playlist.
"It’s like, okay, I guess I had some of my own time,” he said. "Enough to have two of my five [top songs] not being ‘Frozen’ or ‘Un Poco Loco’ from ‘Coco’ or ‘Elmo’s Alphabet Rap.”
Kris Mercado, a 35-year-old fashion retoucher in New York City, clicked through her Wrapped list this year to find Mark Mancina was one of her most-played artists.
"I had to do some research,” she said. "I’m like, ‘Who is this?’”
Mancina is a music composer who has worked on several hit movies, including the "Moana” soundtrack, which she’s played for her 4- and 10-year-old daughters as she drives them to and from school.
She imagines that if the pattern continues, she’ll be seeing the likes of "Tangled” and "Wicked” on her Spotify Wrapped next year, where once it was Beyoncé and Bad Bunny.
Spotify, which has sometimes been coy about how it collects user information, did not respond to requests for comments about how children’s music impacts a parent’s Wrapped review.
But it does seem to be aware of the perennial gripes and jokes about the phenomenon.
In 2019, the company released an app just for kids to help give mom and dad’s playlists a rest from "Baby Shark.” And it added a feature in 2023 that allows people to exclude specific playlists from one’s "taste profile,” as it calls your listening history.
Spotify also launched a program in Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden earlier this year that allows users to manage accounts for younger adults, too. "Each account under the plan will have separate recommendations, and a young listener’s musical favorites won’t feed into the plan manager’s annual Wrapped results,” Spotify said in its announcement of the plan.
Elizabeth Beggs, a Virginia mother of children ages 2 and 3, sees Spotify Wrapped as a reflection of her parenting choices. "Last year it was all ‘Frozen,’ all ‘Moana.’ I learned from my mistakes and made sure that stuff moved on my husband’s [phone],” she said.
Beggs and her husband even organized a "night night” playlist for their children on his Spotify account. But the ultimate chess move, she said, was introducing her children to Taylor Swift.
