YouTube Music leapfrogs Spotify Wrapped with new seasonal recap playlists

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

YouTube is introducing new seasonal recaps of your top artists, songs, albums, and playlists to YouTube Music, starting first with the Spring Recap. YouTube rolled out a Spotify Wrapped-style annual recap at the end of last year, but now YouTube owner Google is taking the concept further with seasonal rundowns.

“Similar to the 2021 Recap, you’ll find your personalized content in the Spring Recap landing page on the YouTube Music app along with your personalized Spring Recap playlist,” YouTube product manager Ayshaw Khan wrote in a blog post. “Want to tell your friends about your favorite songs of the Spring? Easily share your Spring Recap playlist and stats by simply tapping the arrow at the bottom of your stats card.”

Image: YouTube
YouTube’s screenshot showing off what the recap looks like.

The release of Spotify’s annual recaps typically mark a delightful few days on the internet every year — it’s always fun to judge thoughtfully observe what music people listened to the most. It seems that YouTube is trying to make that shared experience a more frequent tradition, though I haven’t yet seen any YouTube Music recaps cross my Twitter timeline just yet.

If you have a recap available, please share it, I’m begging you. I’d return the favor, but in scanning my own YouTube Music page, the recap doesn’t seem to be showing up. I recently resubscribed to Apple Music, and I’d offer up my Apple Music Replay 2022 playlist, but the service is telling me I haven’t listened to enough music yet to generate one. Ouch.