Editorial playlists don't generate streams like they used to

December 10, 2022

Not long ago, a placement on Apple Music’s Today’s Hits or Spotify’s RapCaviar playlists could ignite a single’s streaming numbers overnight.

Today’s Top Hits [32.4M followers] used to be the holy grail or even Pop Rising [2.76M]. If a song got on Pop Rising, it would get to Today’s Top Hits and do 5M streams a week.

But in 2022, the Spotify and Apple editorial playlists don’t have as much punch as they did.
An unknown artist would get the cover of Spotify’s Fresh Finds playlist and they would get between 60k and 100k streams a week. Now around 15k to 20k streams a week.
Today’s Top Hits doesn't move the needle as much as it did 4 years ago and the difference is especially stark, if the song isn't near the top of the playlist.

Label executives say the change in firepower of marquee editorial playlists is caused in part by the increased emphasis on personalization.
Spotify encourages users to play music similar to what they’ve streamed — in essence, burrow deeper into their own tastes — rather than pushing all their listeners to play the same tracks.

The shift is also a reflection of the growing power of apps like TikTok in music discovery.

TikTok embraced personalization from the beginning. Users marvel at how well the app seems to anticipate their tastes: “Everything on TikTok feels like it was meant especially for you,” says one music executive. User-generated content is what’s driving TikTok and driving the charts.

Gen Z does want to actively participate in music — not just listen and consume passively, but make their own remixes, videos, create their own content.
The major streaming services don’t offer that.

https://www.billboard.com/pro/spotify-apple-playlists-dont-break-hit-songs/