Spotify created the streaming category - but it now faces a number of formidable competitors. One of Spotify's key advantages is its 200 million users, which are not only the world’s biggest music audience, but also the most passionate.

Spotify’s growth has been driven by the advocacy of our users, along with the content of the world’s musicians. Our brief was to create a personalized data experience for both creators and fans, allowing them to relive - and share - their year in streaming.

Spotify created the streaming category - but it now faces a number of formidable competitors. One of Spotify's key advantages is its 200 million users, which are not only the world’s biggest music audience, but also the most passionate. Spotify’s growth has been driven by the advocacy of our users, along with the content of the world’s musicians.

For millions of listeners, Spotify’s personalized end-of-year data recap has become an annual tradition that’s as keenly anticipated as the holiday season itself. We rewarded this loyalty with an elevated user experience, while also opening it up to the creators who inspire their passion every day. In 2018, artists were invited to relive and celebrate their Spotify data as well.

The strategy was to use data to bring fans and artists closer. For fans, we offered a journey through their year of listening, starting with their “firsts” - including their first song of the year, and the first artists they discovered in 2018. We also gave them their definitive lists, and told them if they were in the top percentage of fans of their favorite artists. An added feature even allows fans to “thank” their favorite artist on Twitter.

For artists, the focus was how their music performed on the platform, but through the lens of the passion of their fans. Outside of their top-performing songs and the growth of their streams, we told them where in the world their top fans were, and how many fans had them as their number-one artist.

No two people use Spotify the exact same way, so we built a site experience that was unique for everyone. Color was used for personalization, with the colors in each user’s experience being dictated by their own listening data. Typography was used for cinematic effect, with animations leading into data stories giving the overall experience a movie title sequence feel.

A colorful approach was key to ensure a celebratory feel at the end of an eventful year. Type was key because that was the only way to convey the personalized data for both fans and artists.

The personalized digital experience was built over a three-month period, in WebGL. Spotify’s data team created an API, holding the relevant data of nearly 200 million people, which was then accessed to fuel the experience.

The site went live in over 60 countries on the same day, and was adapted into 21 languages. During the first day, over 20 million visitors came to the experience, without affecting the site performance.

Every data story within the experience could be shared on social channels, and a sharable snapshot was available to every user at the end of the experience.

By creating an engaging and visually dynamic experience, we averaged over 2:30 minutes of engagement per visit, from over 34 million consumers. Over 400,000 artists engaged for even longer. While the site’s playlists helped to drive over 4 billion incremental streams, earned media provided a “FOMO” factor for those not on the platform. On the first day of the site’s launch, Spotify Wrapped occupied the top two places on Twitter’s global trends.

By creating an engaging and visually dynamic experience, we averaged over 2:30 minutes of engagement per visit, from over 34 million consumers. Over 400,000 artists engaged for even longer. While the site’s playlists helped to drive over 4 billion incremental streams, earned media provided a “FOMO” factor for those not on the platform. On the first day of the site’s launch, Spotify Wrapped occupied the top two places on Twitter’s global trends.