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It’s that time of the year again.

If you opened Instagram on Wednesday, you probably saw everyone posting about their year in music — aka Spotify Wrapped day. The annual music rewind shows Spotify users how many minutes they listened, their top artists, albums, songs and even their average listening age. The Daily Orange staff members’ Spotify Wrapped is ready to be unpacked below.

And don’t worry, we included two Apple Music soldiers in here as well to share their annual replay.

Rosina Boehm, Managing Editor
The “Charm” era abruptly ended with Camp Flog Gnaw’s postponement just a few weeks ago, without Clairo’s final performance of the era. Nonetheless, it was “Charm” that dominated my 2025 listening. This album is the perfect thing to stroll, read, study or even fall asleep to.

Understandably, Clairo notched my top artist this year. Her songs were all of my top five (including four from “Charm”). “Charm,” of course, had to be my album of the year. Released in July 2024, the album probably should’ve dominated my 2024 Wrapped the same way. Even a year after its initial release, I’m proud to say a former Syracuse student is my top artist, and I expect it to continue.

Charlotte Price, Asst. Culture Editor
I’m probably the most hated type of fan out there, but I’m not ashamed to say Taylor Swift came out on top of my Spotify Wrapped for the third year in a row. With Swift as my top artist; “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” was my top album. Swift was in great company in my AirPods with four horsemen of sad girl music: Lorde, Phoebe Bridgers, Gracie Abrams and Adrianne Lenker. But don’t worry, I mix it up: my average listening age was 70.

Claire Zhang, Asst. Culture Copy Editor
Last November, Kendrick Lamar released his sixth album, “GNX,” and the song “tv off (feat. lefty gunplay)” reached over 700 million streams. Somehow, this was my most-played song of 2025.

While I’m a fan of Lamar, I couldn’t recall a single time this year I’d ever played “tv off,” and I could only come to one conclusion: my younger brother’s Amazon Echo Dot is linked to my Spotify account (even though he has his own), and he asked Alexa to play the song over 70 times.

So, thanks to my brother, a song that never once graced my ears this year beat “Crush” by Ethel Cain for the number one spot on my Spotify Wrapped.

Lily Zuckerman, Asst. Culture Digital Editor
The top five most listened to songs of my 31,315 listening minutes – equal to 21 whole days – all share a common thread: Gracie Abrams. It’s no surprise that Abrams was a recurring character in my Spotify journey this year. In first place, my most listened to song was “I Love You, I’m Sorry” with 63 plays. This came as a surprise; I was sure Taylor Swift would come out on top. Though she did make an appearance with her “The Tortured Poets Department” as my most played album.

Tara Binte Sharil, Asst. Culture Digital Editor
2025 was the year I turned 21 and officially entered adulthood; I leaned into nostalgia and looked back at the music I grew up listening to. The result? Daft Punk came out on top as my most listened to artist.

My dad introduced me to Daft Punk when I was little. Though every album is a masterpiece, “Discovery” reminded me most of my childhood, emerging as the most listened to album of my Spotify Wrapped. A no-skips work, the 2001 record is a high-energy collection filled with impressive EDM instrumentals and superbly meshed samples. It’s an album you can listen to during any season, and it’s sure to open your eyes to the brilliance of Daft Punk.

Griffin Uribe Brown, Social Media Editor
Of my 120,679 listening minutes, perhaps none were more memorable for me than those I spent listening to Dominic Fike. His summer release, “Rocket,” serenaded me on my drive back to Syracuse University in August, and will forever be the soundtrack to my memories of senior year.

“Great Pretender,” the album’s standout song and my highest-played of 2025 (97 streams), is my favorite song of the year. But since I reviewed the album in August, some of the record’s slower songs, including “David Lyons” and “Epilogue,” have become my favorites. I expect to see this album in next year’s Wrapped, too.

Ilyan Sarech | Design Editor

Henry Daley, Asst. Sports Digital Editor
It feels like I’m opening myself to some “performative male” accusations here, but for the third straight year, Laufey was my number one artist. The release of her summer album, “A Matter of Time,” solidified her as one of today’s best artists, with tracks like “Silver Lining” and “Lover Girl” among my favorites.

Olivia Dean and Malcolm Todd both jumped into my top five artists at the second and third slots, followed by SZA and sombr. “Nice To Each Other” and “Chest Pain (I Love)” were in my top five tracks this year, so it’s no surprise to see both artists at the top of my Wrapped.

Harris Pemberton, Asst. Sports Editor
For the second year in a row, Drake topped my artists list, this time with 43,735 minutes. The one flaw of being a loyal Apple Music user is that I have no idea where that ranks percentile-wise. But I know that’s about 30 full days of listening, or about 9% of my entire year. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

When I wasn’t listening to Drake, I enjoyed some older tracks from J. Cole, SZA, Rihanna and Future, who all made my top eight. My biggest surprise this year was my fourth-most-listened-to artist, Treaty Oak Revival, a country group from West Texas I’ve come to enjoy. I guess the Texan in me can still shine through, but it’ll always be Drake at the top.

Adelaide Guan, Design Editor
I’m the only Canadian editor on The D.O.’s staff. However, Drake hasn’t touched my Wrapped since “Hotline Bling” in 2016 (I was nine). Admittedly, my all-American and all-depressing big five — namely Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams, Noah Kahan, Phoebe Bridgers and Lizzy McAlpine — are a reminder of getting through my senior year of high school this calendar year. Oh, how the times have changed!

On a more positive note, I’m happy to report that I can now boast about my 67,000 listening minutes for the next 12 months.

Mauricio Palmar, Asst. Sports Editor
Unlike Addie, I’m not intimately familiar with Canada. I’ve never even stepped foot in Toronto — “The Six,” as Drake affectionately refers to it — or any other part of Canada, for that matter. But Drake’s influence knows no bounds. He’s taking over the world, not just Canada, and his first step in that mission is taking over my Spotify Wrapped.

This year, Spotify launched a feature that visualizes your top artists racing against one another in a quest to become your most-listened-to artist. It was comical, and unsurprising, to watch Drake get out to an insurmountable lead immediately. He was my number one, with over 23,000 minutes listened, and my only regret is that I let Harris nearly double me up somehow.

Quinn Postman, Asst. Sports Digital Editor

My chest is hurting from all the Spotify users in here. My role isn’t only to attest to the greatness of the artist that’s Malcolm Todd, but to all Apple Music users out there who might’ve felt a little left out Wednesday morning. This one’s for you.

I remember exactly where I was when I first heard Malcolm Todd. February 2025. South Campus. “Cheer Me On.” It was glorious. I only knew his self-titled album back then, which has some absolute bangers in “Bleed,” “Lying” and “Make Me a Better Man.” Don’t even get me started on the extended version. Then, I stumbled onto “Sweet Boy” over the summer; from there, the parasocial relationship took full flight. Eight thousand twenty-three minutes later, Todd and I have become new friends.

Published on December 3, 2025 at 11:35 pm