How did Spotify Wrapped decide my listening age is 81? I need answers

'I'm 74?'

'I'm 83?'

Oh Spotify, what did you do.

There are only two certainties at the end of every year: someone on your feed will suddenly become a fitness influencer and Spotify Wrapped will expose your most unfiltered audio habits to the world.

And this year, Wrapped detonated. Alongside the usual nostalgia-laced recap of your most-played songs, genres, moods, and late-night existential tracks, Spotify rolled out a brand-new feature that immediately took over the internet: Listening Age.

In one swipe, Wrapped told users whether their musical soul belonged to Gen Z, the 1970s. Reddit, predictably, had thoughts.

Globally, the numbers were once again ruled by familiar giants.
Bad Bunny reclaimed his crown as Spotify’s most-streamed artist for the fourth time with 19.8 billion streams, unmatched, unstoppable, unbothered. Taylor Swift came in second (but conquered the US.), followed by The Weeknd, Drake and Billie Eilish.

The world’s most-streamed song: Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ Die With A Smile, which amassed over 1.7 billion streams—making heartbreak strangely glamorous for the second year in a row. Billie Eilish’s BIRDS OF A FEATHER perched at number two, showcasing its staying power.

Even films jumped into the mix, with the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack becoming the second most-streamed album of the year.

But while the global charts remained steady and star-studded, the real drama unfolded on Reddit, where users posted their Wrappeds.

The feature everyone is talking about: Listening Age, Spotify’s attempt to decode how 'young or old' your music taste is. Inspired by the average release year of your most-played tracks, it’s equal parts clever, cute, and wildly destabilising.

Within minutes of Wrapped going live, Reddit turned into a support group.

A 40-year-old got a listening age of 30.
A 30-year-old got 77.
A user in their 40s got 81, while their spouse clocked in at 88.
Another’s Wrapped declared their listening age as 22, prompting them to ask:
“Does that mean I can’t listen to music in rental cars anymore?”

The funniest response came from a commenter trying to comfort a teenager whose listening age skewed extremely low:
“My dude, what are you doing on Reddit from the womb?”

And then there were the unlucky few who didn’t get a listening age at all:
“Am I the only one who doesn’t have a listening age???”
Yes. And no one knows why.

Beyond listening age, Wrapped revealed three types of listeners this year:

These are the fans who streamed their favourite band relentlessly.

One Reddit user logged 82,755 minutes (57.4 days) listening to MAN WITH A MISSION—ranking in the top 0.001% of the band’s global listeners. They even vowed:
“Next year, I resolve to be #1.”

Their stats:
268,909 minutes.
182 genres.
854 artists.
Basically, a part-time internship at Spotify.

Some users discovered more genres than most people know exist.

699 genres.
353 genres.
182 genres.

One listener’s top genre was the extremely niche Canterbury Scene. They were confused:
“I listened to like… 20 tracks of it. Why is this my identity now?”

A few standouts:

Spotify’s algorithm said yes, he absolutely can.

That music is personal, chaotic, and sometimes beyond any algorithm’s understanding. And remember: if a song from the 60s is your top track and you’ve never heard it…please change your password.