Spotify unveils new social distancing trends 27 May 2020
- Home-school hysteria: It seems parents and students are turning to music to get through the challenges of home-schooling. Spotify have seen a more than 1,000% increase in the creation of home-school-themed playlists.
- Popular tracks added to these playlists include: “Supalonely” by BENEE and Gus Dapperton, “Sucker” by Jonas Brothers, “Circles” by Post Malone, and “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa.
- It’s not all work and no play, though; Spotify have seen a more than 1000% jump in playlists being created around Nintendo’s popular Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a family-friendly life simulation video game that’s providing an escape.
- Hair gone wild: Spotify have seen about a 50% increase in the creation of playlists to inspire people while dealing (struggling?) with hair maintenance. Spotify determined this by looking at key words in playlist titles, including “haircut” “dying hair” and “hair dye.”
- Some popular song additions to all these hair-themed playlists include: “Complicated” by Avril Lavigne, “Sugar, We're Goin Down” by Fall Out Boy, “The Middle” By Jimmy Eat World, “High Hopes” by Panic! At The Disco, “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots, and “Hair Cutter” by Animal Collective.
- It seems Germans are particularly fastidious about their hair: Germany has seen the highest rate of plays of hair-themed playlists from April 17-May 17.
- People are exploring their creativity:
- Spotify have seen an increase of about 40% in coloring-themed playlists being created globally.
- And a more than 90% increase in painting-themed playlists being created. Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” is a popular song pick in these; shoutout to those painting nude portraits!
- Listeners have been turning to podcasts to get the arts and crafts juices flowing; Spotify have seen a more than 125% increase in streaming of “Just Wanna Quilt” and a more than 60% increase in “WeCrochet.”
- Working from Home is better with music: Spotify have seen a more than 1,400% increase in working-from-home-themed playlists created between April 17-May 17 (compared to the first ten days in March).
- The most added track to these playlists is “Work From Home” by Fifth Harmony (feat. Ty Dolla $ign).
- Other popular songs added to these playlists include: “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton, “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, “Light On” by Maggie Rogers, “10,000 hours” by Dan + Shay (with Justin Bieber), “Boss Bitch” by Doja Cat, “Delicate” by Taylor Swift and “The Less I Know the Better” by Tame Impala.
- Sonatas from Beethoven and Bach are also popular additions, with pianist Lang Lang’s version of “Für Elise” a top classical pick.
- Baking is the new “Ommmm…”: Spotify have seen a more than 120% increase in “baking”-themed playlists being created.
- Popular songs added include: “Sunday Best” by Surfaces, “Banana Pancakes” by Jack Johnson, “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles, “Sugar” by Maroon 5, and “everything i wanted” by Billie Eilish.
- Listeners created approximately 225% more banana bread-themed playlists between April 17 and May 17. There are now more than 2,750 banana bread playlists on Spotify.
- People are tending to their homes and gardens: Spotify have seen a more than 430% increase in the creation of gardening-themed playlists on Spotify.
- Popular song picks in these playlists include: “Gardening At Night” by R.E.M, “Avant Gardener” by Courtney Barnett, “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra, and “Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee.
- Podcasts are providing inspo, too: the most popular gardening-themed podcasts on Spotify over the past month are: “The Joe Gardener Show”, “Epic Gardening: Daily Growing Tips and Advice” and “The RHS Gardening Podcast”
- Listeners have been busy cleaning: Yes, cleaning. Spotify have seen about a 40% increase in cleaning-themed playlists being created, and a more than 65% increase in streaming of those playlists in the past month.
- On Spotify, users have created more than 940,000 cleaning playlists. Popular song choices include “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson, “No Scrubs” by TLC, “Roar” by Katy Perry, “Toxic” by Britney Spears, “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers, and “Work” by Drake and Rihanna.
- Spotify’s popular “Cleaning Kit” playlist has seen about a 30% increase in streaming.
- People want summer and they want it now: As the weather warms up in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, listeners are investing time in creating a soundtrack with the right summer vibes. Spotify have seen an increase of about 245% in summer-themed playlists being created, globally.
Unless otherwise stated, all data was collected between April 17-May 17, 2020. Where percentage increases are shown, Spotify compared data from April 17-May 17 to the last week in February, 2020. Data is global unless otherwise stated.
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THE HEADLINES
BPI CEO calls on music industry and government to unite around 5 key priorities to support human artistry and sustainably promote British music (see News)
Hipgnosis Song Management fires back at Songs Fund board (see Business)
Blackstone bid for Hipgnosis receives backing from board (see Business)
Taylor Swift’s new album breaks Spotify records (see News)
Independence - what’s up with that BPI press release about 2023 music consumption? (see Comment)
Creator Remuneration Working Group meet for the first time (see News)
Concord's takeover of Hipgnosis (see Analysis)
Concord set to acquire Hipgnosis Songs Fund (see Business)
Is the music industry gaslighting artists? (see Comment)
BPI’s new Yearbook highlights an independent sector growing for a sixth consecutive year (see Reports)
Can’t cross the moat? Walk around it. (see Comment)
The conversation around Fandom needs to change (see Opinion)
Viagogo: Carrying on ticketing, despite the controversy (see News)
Taylor Swift songs return to TikTok (see Digital)
Spotify plans new remixing tools for the TikTok generation (see Digital)
Is Spotify plotting a largescale push into short-form video? (see Digital)