The Spotify algorithm explained: what it uses, and what artists can do

The short answer

The Spotify algorithm is not one secret formula. Spotify says its recommendations mix editors, who place music in editorial playlists, with algorithms that select and order songs for each listener from a taste profile: what they search, listen to, skip and save. Spotify also says services that guarantee playlist placement for money break its terms. What an artist controls is the groundwork below, and our music marketing work sits outside Spotify, on YouTube.

What the algorithm uses

Spotify's recommendations page, last updated 12 March 2026, says a listener's own taste profile is the most important input. It names four inputs:

• Taste profile: searching, listening, skipping and saving to Your Library all shape Spotify's reading of what a person likes.
• What the listener shares: general location, device, language, age and who they follow.
• Trends: when many users take similar actions on a song, the algorithms learn how others might respond to it.
• The music itself: details such as genre and release date, which help match a song to similar listeners.

A 2021 interview with Spotify's vice president of personalization put the volume at half a trillion events a day, counting searches, listens and likes. The pages we read do not say how the inputs are weighted, so treat any exact formula you see online as a guess.

Release Radar and Discover Weekly

Both are personalised playlists, made by algorithms for each listener. Spotify's playlist types page says editors sometimes pick the pool of songs the algorithms choose from. A Spotify Engineering post adds that the algorithms look at the audio attributes of music and at which songs are often listened to together.

• Release Radar updates every Friday with new releases from artists a listener follows, listens to or might like. Your followers get a song from your new release, and if you pitch one at least 7 days ahead, that is the song. Each listener gets one song per artist per week, and Spotify can keep showing a song for up to 4 weeks if the listener has not heard it.
• Discover Weekly gives each listener 30 songs every Monday, according to a 2019 Spotify post. Hearting a song, following an artist and adding songs to playlists all steer it. Listening to a song once without replaying or hearting it does not change the selection.

What artists can do, and what to avoid

Spotify's own advice is short. Pitch an unreleased song in Spotify for Artists at least 7 days before release, one song at a time. Spotify says pitching does not guarantee placement, and that if a song is not picked it may still be discovered later. Followers matter because Release Radar is delivered to them.

Do not buy shortcuts. Spotify says paid services that guarantee streams are not legitimate and could get your music removed. Confirmed artificial streaming can also mean withheld royalties, corrected public numbers and removal from playlists. Discovery Mode is Spotify's own option: it charges a commission on streams where it is active, and Spotify says it raises the likelihood of a recommendation but does not guarantee it.

How the options compare

How the ways of getting discovered compare:

We do not sell streams or playlist placement, so Spotify is the place for those. If you want a video campaign and a page about you running alongside your release, contact us.