Key Takeaways
- Spotify Wrapped gives you a summary of your top genres, artists, and songs of the year. Plus, it now includes your “Sound Town” – a city where other listeners have similar music habits to you.
- To find your Sound Town, go to spotify.com/wrapped and scroll through the slides. Be sure not to skip any, or you might miss it!
- Sound Towns can vary, but some examples include Burlington, VT and Cambridge, MA. If you didn’t get assigned a Sound Town, it may mean you have a unique music taste that doesn’t align with a specific community.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year; that’s right, it’s Spotify Wrapped season. Every December, Spotify sends out Spotify Wrapped, which gives its listeners a summary of their top genres, artists, and songs throughout the year. This year, Spotify added a new feature where listeners can see what their “Sound Town” is – or where in the world other Spotify users have similar listening habits to yours.
What is Spotify Wrapped, what does it show you, and how do you find it?
If you want to find your Spotify Wrapped for 2023, here’s how – plus, everything you need to know about it.
In case anyone was wondering, I will be packing my bags and moving to Burlington, VT next year. If you’re still confused on what a “Sound Town” is and why Spotify is saying you should move to Provo, UT, I got you covered.
What is Spotify Wrapped’s Sound Town?
“Sound Town was created to show users how their listening habits are shared by communities everywhere.”
A Sound Town is a city where other listeners have similar listening habits as you. For example, in my Spotify Wrapped, I got Burlington, VT, as my Sound Town because others living there tend to listen to Noah Kahan, Hozier and Briston Maroney; three of my top artists.
“Sound Town was created to show users how their listening habits are shared by communities everywhere,” Spotify said to Vulture. “The Sound Town selected for each eligible user has the most similar taste profile to their own – based on their most streamed artists of the year and how those artists are streamed in other cities across the globe. It is objective and entirely driven by a user’s listening history.”
Spotify
How to find your Sound Town in Spotify
- Head to spotify.com/wrapped to see your whole Spotify Wrapped in a series of slides.
- You can go through them similar to how you would tap through Instagram stories. Your Wrapped includes your top five artists, top five songs, different genres you’ve listened to and, of course, your Sound Town.
- As you scroll through the slides, one of the last stories will reveal your Sound Town.
Be careful not to skip through every slide like I did at first, because you may just miss your Sound Town.
What are the different Sound Towns?
Spotify hasn’t released an official list of all the different Sound Towns given to users, but below are just a few I’ve seen mentioned:
- Burlington, VT
- Cambridge, MA
- New York, NY
- Provo, UT
- Boulder, CO
- Denver, CO
- Bozeman, MT
- St. Paul, MN
- Austin, TX
- Berkeley, CA
- Los Angeles, CA
- Islington, United Kingdom
Does everyone get a Sound Town?
No. In fact, if you didn’t get assigned a Sound Town, that may even signal that you have too original of a music taste to be granted a specific label. Or at the very least, your listening habits don’t align with those in specific cities given that Sound Towns were only assigned to those whose listening habits aligned with other communities.
Spotify
What does my Spotify Sound Town say about me?
In reality, your Spotify Sound Town may simply mean that listening to Tame Impala isn’t as niche of a genre as often advertised. There is a lot of discourse surrounding Sound Towns on X, formerly known as Twitter. Those who listen to indie-folk music (like myself) typically received Burlington as their Sound Town whereas those who listen to the style dubbed “sad-girl music” like boygenius or Gracie Abrams may have been told their Sound Town is Cambridge, MA.
What is Spotify and how does it work?
Read our guide to Spotify, what it is, how much it costs and how it works. All the details you need to know about the music streaming service.
Users on X speculate that these towns, both real-life heavily popoulated college-aged student communities, were chosen to reflect the young age demographic those artists often attract.
Certain communities such as members of the LGBTQ+ community have also taken to the app, joking that different members, based on self-dubbed stereotype, belong in certain Sound Town over others. So, if you want to commiserate with others who were told to pack their bags and move to a specific Sound Town, I highly recommend opening X now
What is my Spotify Wrapped based on?
Every year, Spotify collects data based on your listening patterns and habits and compiles it into Spotify Wrapped. In your Wrapped, Spotify tells you how many times you have listened to certain songs or artists and when you began listening to them.
Why you might be surprised by some of your top songs
Sometimes, songs you didn’t think you listened to that much shock you and end up being your number one song played. It’s not until you think back and realize that “Party in the USA” is actually on all of your gym and work playlists so you shouldn’t be surprised that it’s your top streamed song.
Can I change my top Spotify artist for next year? If so, how?
Start streaming. Your top artists are based on what five artists you stream the most throughout the year. Trust me, I’m already planning to listen to more artists next year, so my number one artist isn’t Taylor Swift again for the fourth year in a row.
Does Apple Music have something similar to Spotify’s Sound Town?
Unfortunately, Apple Music doesn’t yet have anything similar to Spotify’s Sound Town. Apple Music users can still get their Apple Music Replay, which is similar to Spotify Wrapped, on their accounts to see who their top artists and songs are. Spotify’s Sound Town is brand new this year, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple Music does something similar next year on its Replay segment.
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