Nanuet Students Rejoice in the Annual Gift that is Spotify Wrapped

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The most wonderful time of the year is upon us again! No, not Christmastime, or the season of giving. It’s Spotify Wrapped season!

Every year, at the start of December, music streaming services including Spotify and Apple Music come out with a sort of recap of each listener’s individualized music statistics from the previous year. These include Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music Replay. Both include stats like how many minutes a person has spent listening to music that year, their top artists, their top five songs and their preferred genres of music. 

Last year, The Knight Times covered a collection of different students’ stats from their Spotify and Apple Music accounts. Students are always eager to share music with friends and family, and music is a great way to better get to know peers and teachers alike. 

So, what has Nanuet been listening to in 2022?

Freshman Caroline Conway’s top artists included Tyler, The Creator, J. Cole, Childish Gambino, and Frank Ocean. Comparably, Junior Katie Conway, Caroline’s sister, found Tyler, The Creator in her number one spot, as well. Her top artists also included Billie Eilish, Mac Miller, and Frank Ocean. Evidently, there is overlap between people among similar ages and groups of friends, even families (like the Conways). 

“My sister’s got the music taste of most senior boys I think,” Katie joked. 

Also, considering the most popular artists in the most popular genres, it is no surprise that an array of high school students find their top artists, albums, and genres are very similar. Rapper Tyler, The Creator, for example, has over twenty million monthly listeners on Spotify. It makes sense that he finds himself in the number one spot of many lists.

Speaking of artists at the top of their genres, pop star Taylor Swift has essentially monopolized the top 10 charts in 2022. Another freshman who wished to remain anonymous found Swift at the top of their chart, followed by another pop icon Harry Styles, Phoebe Bridgers, The Neighbourhood, and Conan Gray.

Artists like Swift not only control the charts for the entire country, but seemingly the entirety of Nanuet High School, too. From freshmen to seniors, high school students have been enjoying her music for almost two decades. Senior Natalie Conese’s top five songs were almost all Swift, all from her 2021 album Folklore. Conese’s top songs of 2022 included Swift’s songs Cardigan, August, Betty, Mirrorball, and finally, Graceland Too by Phoebe Bridgers. 

Spotify also let Conese know that she was in the top 0.1% of Taylor Swift listeners this year, according to Conese, a fact that did not surprise her 

Senior Dylan Lee shared that, like Conese, his top five songs of the year were all from the same artist and album, ASTROWORLD, by Travis Scott. Some of his top tracks include CAROUSEL, STARGAZING, and HOUSTONFORNICATION

“I don’t feel like this encompasses my music taste properly,” Lee added, a contrast from Conese’s opinion of her top five songs. 

The novelty of the morning of December first, and the combined anticipation leading up to finding out your top songs at the end of the year, having no predictions in mind, is likely what keeps users coming back for more. 

“My most listened to song is I’m Still Standing by Elton John,” said senior, Nick Mayzun. 

Mayzun explained that his Apple Music Replay varies every year, because he doesn’t have a “set playlist,” of all of his favorite songs to listen to, as most teenagers today might, but rather he listens to new songs and albums as he discovers them. Similarly to Lee, his final statistics are usually a surprise. 

Seniors Amanda Drobes and Isabella Magnotta found their top genres in rap this year. Drobes, like Lee, found that her top track of the year was from Travis Scott’s ASTROWORLD, which seems to have made quite a lasting impact on music culture, since it’s been almost four years since the album’s release. Drobes listened to over 8,000 minutes of Trippie Redd this year, over 5,000 minutes of Juice WRLD and Playboi Carti, which she said was no surprise, and is about the same every year. 

Magnotta listened to 21,437 minutes of music this year, and her top genres besides rap included underground hip hop, rock, and pop funk. Her top artist was Lil Peep, the same as last year.

“It should’ve been 12 hours of ‘pink noise sound machine’, to be honest,” she joked.

Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music Replay certainly stir up excitement, between scrolling through countless posts on social media about everyone’s top five tracks and amount of hours listening, to discussing thoughts with families, friends, and teachers. Music is something almost everybody has in common, which makes it another great way to find community. December first of every year certainly brings us together.