Every year, millions of people who listen to music on the audio streaming service Spotify look forward to their ‘Spotify Wrapped.’ This is when Spotify releases lists of their listeners’ top artists, songs and music genres. On Dec 5, users were able to log into their account and find a slideshow that presented their individual stats to them. Around school and social media, people compared their stats with each other and learned more about their personal music tastes.

One interesting stat Spotify includes is how many minutes one has listened to music for. Sophomore Emily Pinkerton spent her time listening to music while hanging out with friends, driving around, doing homework and, at some points, just while relaxing. 

“I listened to music for 22,712 minutes,” Pinkerton said. “My top artist was Lana del Rey and my number one song was ‘Les’ by Childish Gambino.”

Though Pinkerton was surprised that rapper 21 Savage wasn’t one of her top five artists, her number one artist affected her in ways some wouldn’t expect.

“Lana del Rey affects me cause her music has so many characteristics, from calming to rap,” Pinkerton said. “It can put you into any mood. I think this type of music definitely affects your mood and your personality, like how you dress. For indie music, people dress more ‘90’s’ with long pants compared to people who listen to country.”

Alongside minutes, Spotify placed users in a certain percentile, depending on their time spent listening to their top artist. Sophomore Em Peterson was placed in the 0.05% for the artist SZA, and had a total of 29,000 minutes with the song ‘Prom’ by SZA taking the top spot.

“I basically listened to SZA’s ‘Ctrl’ album on repeat everyday over summer, I found a large source of comfort in her music,” Peterson said. “Even the songs I didn’t really relate to were still insanely good, plus her songs are agreeable and easy to sing to. She honestly doesn’t have a bad song. Her new album goes crazy, by the way.”

With Peterson’s ever-changing music taste and genres, and artists that range from the Foo Fighters to The Beatles to Britney Spears, she has had a wide variety of experiences listening to music, according to Peterson. Peterson also said that music has always been a very important part of her life.

“For a long while, I was into punk and alt rock, but at the beginning of this year I removed all my liked songs off my playlists and started from scratch,” Peterson said. “I needed something new. This has really helped me expand and look for new artists. I still listen to punk and alt rock, but now I listen to a different variety of it, plus some other stuff.”

Though her Spotify Wrapped has changed since last year, with Doja Cat being her top artist, Peterson said she is  as to how her Spotify Wrapped has actually contributed to her wellbeing. 

“I still like [Doja Cat’s] music, but recently I’ve been needing more chill in my life,” Peterson said. “I wouldn’t say that my music taste hasn’t changed much, just the artists that I listen to.”

Although Spotify advertises that they track their user’s year in music, the company stops tracking your music around Oct. 31, which leaves 2 months of listening not tracked. 

“I wish my Spotify Wrapped reflected my later half of the year a little more,” Peterson said. “I had recently been exploring metal and punk again, but overall I was pleased with what I got, [and] definitely wasn’t surprised.”

With certain music types comes certain stereotypes, which can be applied to every music genre. People like Peterson, however, choose to ignore it.

“The music I listen to doesn’t really change my outlook I feel, not my mindset, nor my clothing,” Peterson said. “Part of that is probably because I listen to music that fits me instead of finding music to fit myself into.”