Apple Music Replay, which was launched in 2019 in the form of custom playlists, is accessible through its dedicated website
(Picture: Apple)Apple has given its Apple Music Replay feature a fresh look and layout, bringing its feel closer to that of the multi-year viral hit Spotify Wrapped.
Both services show your listening habits over the year. These include your most-played song and artists, and a show-off-ready tally of the number of albums and acts you listened to throughout 2022.
What is Apple Music Replay?
Apple Music Replay, which was launched in 2019 in the form of custom playlists, is accessible through its dedicated website. It does not, at present, show up as an overlay in the Apple Music app.
However, what Music Replay produces, does. This is the Replay 2022 playlist, accessible through the home screen of the Apple Music app.
As you might expect, this collates some of your most-played tracks. It is a quick way to relive the year’s highlights and heartbreaks — assuming you haven’t spent the entire year listening to only Taylor Swift.
There’s a strange element to the Apple Music Replay story, though. Apple originally launched Replay 2022 in February, starting the process of making you feel nostalgic about the year when it had barely started.
Music Replay vs Spotify Wrapped
The Music Replay revamp seems to be for people who subscribe to Apple Music — and will find themselves looking on jealously as their friends post their Spotify Wrapped results on social media.
Spotify Wrapped started in December 2016 and was an instant viral hit. An annual event, it adds character and specificity to what could be fairly rudimentary listening statistics. The number of minutes spent listening turns into a braggy calling card. In 2021, subscribers were given an “Audio Aura” showing the top moods in songs played over the year.
Apple’s reworking of Music Replay doesn’t add this squirt of emotive sauce, but does make the read-out look better on a phone screen.
The main event, bar the scrolling feed of listening stats, is the Highlight Reel. This part, presented like Instagram Stories, shows your most-replayed albums and top genres.
Not impressed? Spotify currently offers a three-month free trial for people who have not tried Spotify Premium before.
