The writer of this story would like to formally apologise to Spotify for contributing absolutely nothing new to its algorithm this year.
My Wrapped remains a carbon copy of the last five: Baby Shark as the immovable No. 1 – thanks to small children with large opinions – and the K-Pop Demon Hunters soundtrack holding court because apparently I no longer own my own speakers.
Anyway…
Spotify, however, has chosen innovation over nostalgia – cracking open its cultural juggernaut and finally giving advertisers a seat inside the machine.
For the first time, Wrapped for Advertisers lives inside Spotify Ads Manager, offering brands a personalised insights recap mirroring the consumer experience.
Advertisers can now see:
• total ad streaming minutes their campaigns generated
• the mix of formats they used across 2025
• their audiences’ top podcast and music genres
• a curated highlight reel of their annual activity
Spotify also released its new Wrapped for Advertisers Trend Report, pulling together behavioural insights that will feed into 2026 planning – including the finding that Australians spent more time with local podcasts this year than any other format, and that music discovery among 18–24s grew double digits.
Wrapped lands with helicopters, sand sculptures and Sunrise live crosses
Spotify was big on the halo effect this year, indulging in a raft of offline and off-ground stunts.
Among them, Sydney woke up to a helicopter circling the CBD, towing a giant wrapped banner flown by Aussie DJ CYRIL. Sunrise ran live weather crosses from 6-9am, capturing the stunt in all its aerial marketing glory.
On land, the company rolled out its most theatrical local activation slate yet:
• a 5SOS (Everyone’s A) Star Walk in Sydney
• a sand billboard sculpted in Manly starring Don West
• and Wrapped Clubs kiosks across Sydney and Melbourne, where fans were sorted into one of six “listening personalities”.
Australia’s 2025 listening habits
Top Artist (Australia): Taylor Swift, for the third year in a row.
Most-streamed track: Ordinary by Alex Warren.
Top Local Artist: The Wiggles – followed by The Kid LAROI.
Top Local Song: Riptide by Vance Joy.
Top Album: The K-Pop Demon Hunters soundtrack, beating global heavyweights and reinforcing Australia’s increasingly chaotic relationship with the genre.
Genre shifts backed the same trend: K-pop growth spiked again, dance-pop surged, and throwbacks (pre-2000) saw a meaningful lift driven by AC/DC, Crowded House and Kylie Minogue.
The Wiggles
Podcasts
• The Joe Rogan Experience stayed No. 1 overall.
• Casefile True Crime held the top local position.
• Hamish & Andy remained a cultural constant at #2 local.
Audiobooks became a Rebecca Yarros masterclass, with Fourth Wing and Iron Flame taking the top two national slots.
Globally
Worldwide, Bad Bunny delivered 19.8 billion streams to reclaim the Global Top Artist title for the fourth time.
Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ Die With A Smile became the global top song with 1.7 billion streams. Bad Bunny also secured the global top album with DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.
Wrapped also expanded its audiobook component with:
• Top Audiobook
• Top Audiobook Genre
• Your Author Clip, featuring writers like Dan Brown and James Patterson
A deeper, more flexible Wrapped for listeners
2025 Wrapped adds almost a dozen new data stories to the user experience, including Listening Age, Top Albums, Top Audiobook Genre, Fan Leaderboard, and an AI-powered Listening Archive surfacing key listening days.
Wrapped Party also launches as a social add-on, letting friends replay the year together in real time.
Let’s wrap it up
Wrapped has long been Spotify’s biggest cultural export – half confessional, half competition.
By formally extending the experience to advertisers for the first time, Spotify is turning its most joyful product into a strategic planning tool that blends audience emotion with hard data.
For brands entering 2026, Wrapped isn’t just a conversation starter. It’s now part of the media toolkit.