How I Boost My Spotify Listening Hours to Win Spotify Wrapped

One of the best aspects of using Spotify is the annual Wrapped roundup that shows you stats related to your listening habits. As well as determining your most-played songs, favorite genres, and preferred artists, Spotify Wrapped also tracks your listening time.

If your total listening time matters to you and you want to rack up more minutes to beat your fellow Spotify-using friends, employ these simple but effective techniques to boost your Spotify listening hours. I do all of the following and always end up with an impressive listening time.

1 Use Spotify’s Smart Shuffle Function to Make Playlists Longer

A great way to increase listening time is to use Spotify’s Smart Shuffle function. For the uninitiated, this clever little feature adds extra songs to playlists when you play them on Shuffle. And thanks to Spotify’s stellar algorithms, the songs are usually great additions.

With Smart Shuffle enabled, rather than just shuffling the finite number of songs in the selected playlist, Spotify adds extra songs it thinks fit the bill. And all you need to do is tap the Shuffle button twice.

2 Listen to Music/Podcasts While Doing Other Activities

One of the simplest ways to boost Spotify listening time is to listen to music and/or podcasts while doing other things. While you may enjoy being fully involved in whatever you’re listening to, listening passively can be fun.

Suggestions for activities to do while listening to Spotify in the background include cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, going for a hike, and even gaming (if you opt for a game where the sound isn’t important). I basically listen to Spotify at every given opportunity, even if I’m doing other things.

3 Use Spotify’s Radio Feature to Create Personalized Playlists

Spotify’s Radio feature is a fantastic way to rack up extra minutes of listening time ahead of Spotify Wrapped. It feels like it’s a function that most Spotify users aren’t making use of, but it’s a great way to relive days past when real radio was king.

You can create a radio station based on any artist, album, or song on Spotify. Just go to the one you want to use as inspiration for your radio station, tap the three vertical dots to open the contextual menu, then select the option to “Go to [artist/album/song] radio.”

Spotify will create a playlist based on your choice. And not only will it give you that nostalgic hit and rack up your listening hours, you may discover some hidden gems you hadn’t previously heard.

4 Listen Passively Through Smart Speakers

If doing other activities while listening to Spotify feels like too much effort, you can listen even more passively through a smart speaker. If you own a smart speaker such as an Amazon Echo or Sonos, you can ask Alexa to play something on Spotify and then go about your business.

By playing Spotify through a smart speaker, you can listen in the background while doing other activities. However, nothing is stopping you from leaving the house while it’s playing away. I’m sure your pet(s) would appreciate the audio entertainment.

5 Use Spotify As Your Podcast Player of Choice

At a time when everyone seems to have a podcast, there are countless podcast players available. Even if you regularly use Spotify to listen to music, you may currently use a different app to listen to podcasts.

However, if you switch to using Spotify as your podcast player of choice, you can rack up more listening hours over the course of the year. After all, the best podcasts can while away many hours without you even realizing it.

While you probably shouldn’t worry too much about your listening time, if it’s important to you to “win Spotify Wrapped,” these tricks will let you boost your time on the music streaming service. But be aware that Spotify stops tracking your listening habits on October 31st.