Spotify Unveils Its Latest Social Distancing Trends

Spotify is back again with its latest installment of streaming trends. While the previous trends were all about gardening, DIY haircutting and baking, as we head towards Spring, it’s now more about the outdoors, staycations and more upbeat vibes.  

But that doesn’t mean everyone is taking to outdoor activities. In fact, there are now more than 1.3M quarantine themed playlists on Spotify globally, and some of the most popular track additions between May 5-July 30 include: “Stuck With U” by Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, “Bored In The House” by Tyga and Curtis Roach, “Be Kind (with Halsey)” by Halsey and Marshmello, “Lockdown” by Anderson Paak and fresh off Taylor Swift’s new album, her track “exile” with Bon Iver. And we’d be remiss if we didn’t offer a special shoutout to those quarantining solo who may have been the ones adding Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” to these playlists — we hear you!

Here’s a round-up of other trends we’re seeing globally – note we’ve listed the timeframe for each trend. 

• Is anyone bored? Yes. It turns out life has many feeling a little restless; more than 127,000 playlists have been created with “bored” or “boredom” in the title between May 5-July 30. 
• Top songs include:  “I Don’t Care” by Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber, “when the party’s over” by Billie Eilish, “High Hopes” by Panic! At The Disco and “The Less I Know The Better” by Tame Impala.

• Happier vibes: We’ve noticed a shift in the overall valence – or “vibe” – of the music listeners are streaming around the world. In July, we saw our listeners streaming more upbeat music compared to previous months. If July was the “happiest” month so far in 2020 then we can point to April as the month where listeners were streaming “sadder” or more downtempo tracks.

• Let’s go (nowhere) on a staycation: Many people have been staying close to home rather than travelling for vacations and we’ve seen nearly a 120% increase in the creation of “Staycation” themed playlists from June to July. 
• Popular picks for staycationers trying to capture a summer vibe through music include: “Summer Clothes” by Marc Scibilia, “Island In The Sun” by Weezer, “Summertime Magic” by Childish Gambino, “Kokomo” by the Beach Boys, “The Boys Of Summer” by Don Henly, “Paradise” by Bazzi, “Could You Be Loved” by Bob Marley & The Wailers, “Take Me Home” by Bryce Vine and “Señorita” by Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes.

• Wide open spaces: Listeners seem to be seeking fresh air in the great outdoors, as we’ve seen a nearly 140% increase of camping-themed playlists from June to July being created on Spotify. 
• Some of the top songs added to camping playlists include: “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, “Fishin’ in the Dark” by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, “Under the Bridge” by Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Dance Monkey” by Tones and I. And with the elements clearly top of mind for campers, hits like “Thunderstruck” by ACDC, “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac, and “Rain On Me” by Lady Gaga with Ariana Grande are popular additions

• Streaming with friends: And while social distancing remains in effect in many parts of the world, we’ve seen listeners come together via Spotify’s Group Session feature that enables Premium listeners around the world to tune into the same playlist or podcast simultaneously. 

Check out Spotify’s blog, For the Record, for even more details around the trends we’re currently seeing on Spotify! 

**Unless otherwise stated, all data was collected between May 5 and July 30, 2020. Data is global unless otherwise stated. 

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