Your Guide To Spotify’s Algorithmic Playlists

by Quite Great Quite Great PR & Quite Great Marketing

One of Spotify’s strengths is its ability to recommend and curate music based on its subscribers’ listening habits. After all, who will know what kind of music you’ll like more than the algorithm that takes into account every song you choose to listen to?

As an artist looking to grow their fanbase, being matched with prospective fans by this algorithm can be a powerful tool. If used correctly, it will suggest that those most likely to like your music listen to it by placing them on algorithmic playlists. But what are the different algorithmic playlists?

Discover Weekly
Release Radar
Daily Mix
On Repeat
Repeat Rewind
Spotify Radio

Discover Weekly:

Discover Weekly is a 30-track mixtape generated every Monday, made of old favourites and new artists based on the user’s listening habits. Because it’s tailored to the tastes of its audience, these are an ideal spot for emerging artists to place their music.

Release Radar

Release Radar is a playlist made each Friday that rounds up the latest music by artists the user follows, as well as new singles picked for them. By pitching your music to editorial playlists two weeks before your release, you can ensure that your followers will have your single in their Release Radar once it’s out.

Daily Mix

Daily Mixes categorises a user’s music tastes into distinct sub-types generated by an understanding of their favourite genres, songs, and artists, and stretching that out to include new tracks in a similar space. The kind of Daily Mix that your find your music in is a good indication of how Spotify is categorising your sound.

On Repeat

Your On Repeat should be most familiar to you. The playlist is made up of the songs played the most across the last 30 days. If your music is appearing on here, it means that that user can’t get enough of that track!

Repeat Rewind

Repeat Rewind is made up of a user’s most played songs from more than 30 days ago, designed to jog their memories of songs they had on repeat not too long ago. If you’re placing in these playlists, it can be a sign that this user is primed for a new release by you.

Spotify Radio

Spotify radios are generated based on a song, album, playlist, or artist at a starting point. It’ll create a playlist of roughly 50 tracks that will automatically extend as the user continues listeners. Like Daily Mixes, these radios will give you a good indication as to where Spotify is placing your music alongside other similar genres, artists, and moods.

While there is no exact science as to how you can get on Spotify’s algorithmic playlists, there are some general tips that can help. Between increasing your streams, optimising external profiles to best work with the streaming platform’s algorithm, and targeting specific audiences to encourage them to engage with your music, you can boost your chance of being picked up by the algorithm.

Read our related blogs:

Spotify playlists: Changing the music industry

Why Spotify is key for unsigned artists

At Quite Great our Spotify playlist and music streaming PR team analyse your music – we do not ask you to press a button and pay money; we listen, we learn, and we lean into the music. Contact us now, and let our team hear your musical talent.