Spotify, the most used music streaming platform globally, recently came out with Spotify Wrapped 2024. Spotify Wrapped is an event that takes all your listens from the past year and wraps it all up into top listens, artists, albums, and genres, even showing total minutes spent with each artist. This past year has been quite a ride in music with artists making a new name for themselves on the leaderboards, rising tensions between some of the most well-known names, record-breaking albums from popular artists, and more. All of the new and popular music this past year has brought so much variety, which made Spotify Wrapped heavily anticipated by listeners.
After a long wait, many listeners couldn’t wait to see what their Spotify Wrapped would show. “I most wanted to see my top artist I had listened to,” said Evan Cook (10). Some of the biggest names that showed up in Wrapped were artists that exploded in popularity just this year. For example, Sabrina Carpenter has been an artist since 2014 but truly climbed the ranks in May when she released her song Espresso. Since then she has dominated the genre of pop, rising up to large names like Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift.
In genres of hip-hop and rap, the connection between Kendrick Lamar and Drake came into the spotlight in March of 2024 when Kendrick Lamar called Drake out on “Like That” by Metro Boomin. Dylan Heitzman (9) said that the beef was too stressful to keep up with but was always on Kendrick’s side. Their fans watched anxiously while the tension unfolded and rose as both artists released multiple tracks intended to attack the other. Through the 4-5 month course of this beef, they both exploded in numbers. While the rivalry reached its high during last school year, the effects are still prevalent as they landed on top leaderboards and on many Spotify Wrapped.
Sure, the beef between the two was one of the biggest music events of the year, but what about the other events? More specifically, the new top albums of 2024. Large artists like Tyler, The Creator, SZA, Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift, and more have all had new hit albums this year that drew the attention of fans and listeners across the world. Max Blair (9) stated, “My favorite album that came out this year is Chromakopia by Tyler.” 2024 brought a large variety of music for listeners and did not disappoint. From new top albums to beef between two big names and new artists exploding in numbers, Spotify did a great job showcasing the crazy ride. With 2024 wrapping up, what are you most looking forward to in the world of music in 2025?