How Spotify Wrapped determines your listening age and its significance

Spotify Wrapped launched on Wednesday, offering users a personalized recap of their music habits throughout 2025. This year-end feature highlights top artists, songs, and albums, and has become a popular tradition, with many sharing their results on social media. In its 10th edition, Wrapped introduced several new elements, including the intriguing concept of a "listening age."

Spotify describes listening age as a reflection of the "reminiscence bump," which is the tendency to feel a strong connection to music from one's youth. But how is this number calculated?

Spotify explains the process as follows:

1. First, the release years of every song you streamed this year are analyzed.
2. Next, the platform identifies a five-year range of music you listened to more than peers of the same age.
3. This five-year range is assumed to coincide with your "reminiscence bump," typically from ages 16 to 21.

For instance, if a user streams more tracks from the late 1970s compared to others their age, Spotify estimates their listening age as 63, the age of someone who would have been in their late teens during that era. In my case, my preference for music from the late 1960s resulted in a listening age of 74, earning the playful label of "old soul" from Spotify.

Author: Caleb Jennings