After such a difficult year, we decided to pivot from our traditional stance of looking at the year that was, and instead look forward at the year to come. We took inspiration from the way people listened, and also the things happening outside the world of music. For instance, with nostalgia and personal experiences core to so much activity on social media, we created a website experience that covered both: looking back at your year in listening and encouraging you to share it with the world. We also understood that 2017 was a particularly divisive year in the political space, so we used our OOH to both poke fun at some particularly polarizing figures, while balancing it with messages of positivity. And in a year where “fake news” dominated the headlines, we applied the fact-checking filter to music with a partner—the New York Times—who was under “fake news” accusations themselves.

For 2017’s year-end campaign, we looked forward instead of back, finding bright spots in our data to create optimism for the year to come. A global OOH campaign transformed user’s 2017 listening data into “2018 Goals.” A microsite, Your2017Wrapped.com, let each user look back on their personal year of listening year data and dared them to share with the world. We paid tribute to 2017’s top artist, Ed Sheeran, by having him devour one of 2017’s top hits. And we commissioned the New York Times to “fact-check” the year’s top songs for a more truthful 2018.

The campaign generated over 2.4 billion streams, 5 million social shares and drove a bigger increase in monthly active users than any campaign in Spotify history.