Lets Decode The Spotify Algorithm Together... Again
Understanding Spotify’s algorithm requires ongoing data collection as its factors evolve. Recent insights highlight the importance of streams in the past 28 days and the growing role of radio and Discovery Mode in playlist placements.
By Andrew Southworth
Hey friends!
Three years ago we ran a study to try and learn how the Spotify algorithm worked. The results of this study lead to us learning that:
The most important factor for algorithmic playlists on Spotify was the number of streams in the past 28 days.
Engagement was still important, and having only streams with bad save rates, streams per listener etc won’t get you algorithmic playlists a lot of the time.
It takes about 2,500 streams in the first 1-3 weeks of a release to get an algorithmic push on Release Radar.
It takes about 10k streams in any 28 day period to get on Discover Weekly.
However, things change. Over time Radio has become more prominent for many artists, and Discovery Mode is part of that as well. Additionally Spotify has adjusted their popularity index a couple times since.
So, we’re running the study again! Watch this video below to learn more about this, and see how you can help contribute:
Multiple entries are encouraged, and a diversity of newer songs / older songs are also encouraged. If you can enter multiple data points with at least 7 day gaps in between, that is also very helpful. Whether you have 20 monthly listeners or 2 million monthly listeners, your data is helpful here!
If you’ve already watched the video, you can also click here to fill out the form and submit your data.
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