Someone used this Spotify tool to cheat and preview their Wrapped 2026 summary, and I tried it out and it works — but there’s no way I’d do it again

Spotify Wrapped is roughly two to three months away (I know, I almost threw up in my mouth just at the thought of it), but not only does it show how fast the year flies by, but it also keeps you guessing which artists and songs will come out on top.

<![CDATA[ <article> <p><a href="https://www.techradar.com/uk/audio/audio-streaming/spotify">Spotify </a>Wrapped is roughly two to three months away (I know, I almost threw up in my mouth just at the thought of it), but not only does it show how fast the year flies by, but it also keeps you guessing which artists and songs will come out on top. </p><p>While pretty much all the<a href="https://www.techradar.com/audio/audio-streaming/the-best-music-streaming-services"> best music streaming services</a> have their own iterations of Wrapped — there’s Apple Music Replay and YouTube Music Recap — Spotify Wrapped is by far the one with the firmest cultural grip</p><p>It’s the surprise element that keeps us on our toes at the dawn of every year, but what if I told you there was a way for you to get a peek at your top songs early right within the Spotify app? Well, one user tried it, and the results are interesting. </p><h2 id="a-39-3d-chess-move-39">A '3D chess move' </h2><p>At the end of 2025 <a href="https://www.techradar.com/audio/spotify/spotify-just-launched-its-most-powerful-playlist-creator-yet-here-are-3-things-you-should-know-about-prompted-playlists">Spotify launched one of its most powerful playlist-making tools</a>, Prompted Playlists, a feature that allows you to enter prompts to generate a hyper-specific playlist. You can also amend the settings so that the playlist updates daily, or on certain days of the week, sort of like Discover Weekly. </p><p>One of Prompted Playlists’ smarts is that it can compile a playlist of your most-streamed songs of all time, and you can even ask it to create playlists that reflect your Wrapped summaries from the past. Clever right? Well, one user has used the tool to get ahead of the upcoming Wrapped 2026 launch. </p><p>Redditor u/thosememes took to the platform to share images of a Prompted Playlist they created (see below), where they asked the tool to compile a list of their most-streamed songs between January 1 and September 17. <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/truespotify/comments/1wl57t3/comment/paw0jfx/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button" target="_blank">One of the replies</a> called it a '3D chess move' while others denied its performance, so I tested it out for myself — and I can confirm that it works. </p><figure><blockquote class="reddit-card" ><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/truespotify/comments/1wl57t3/you_can_use_the_prompted_playlist_feature_to_get">You can use the prompted playlist feature to get an exact preview of your Wrapped</a><figcaption><cite> from <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/truespotify">r/truespotify</a></cite></figcaption></blockquote></figure><script async src="//embed.redditmedia.com/widgets/platform.js" charset="UTF-8"></script><p>My prompt was simple: "Create a playlist of my most-streamed songs between January 1 and September 21 this year, and present them in a Wrapped-style summary". It didn’t take long for it to birth a fresh list of tracks, and it even provided in-playlist notes telling me exactly how many times I’ve streamed my top songs this year so far. </p><p>It was almost too good to be true, but after refreshing the playlist and amending the prompt, the order of the songs in the playlist stayed the same, with each update showing that it does have some credibility. Though I respect the tool for its intelligence, I can’t say I’ll be using it much from now on. </p><h2 id="does-no-one-enjoy-surprises-any-more">Does no one enjoy surprises any more?</h2><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:2000px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.25%;"><img id="qr4AgscfvjwZPfDiYe8Z37" name="SpotifyPromptedWrapped2" alt="Two iPhones with a Prompted Playlist in the Spotify app" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/qr4AgscfvjwZPfDiYe8Z37-1920-80.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="2000" height="1125" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: Future)</span></figcaption></figure><p>Now, this isn’t the only way for you to extract your music streaming data. Sites such as <a href="http://last.fm" target="_blank">last.fm</a> and <a href="http://stats.fm" target="_blank">stats.fm</a> are leading third-party platforms for reviewing your most-streamed songs, artists, and albums, but having data features within the Spotify app is oh so convenient. </p><p>As well as Prompted Playlists, <a href="https://www.techradar.com/audio/spotify/spotify-launches-listening-stats-every-24-hours-plus-a-weekly-wrapped-and-its-a-sure-fire-way-to-beat-apple-music-replay">Spotify’s ‘Listening stats’ tab</a> gives you a comprehensive overview of your most listened-to songs and artists over the last four weeks. It’s a fun way to see how your taste changes and listening behaviors shift, but it doesn’t give away who will be featured in your Wrapped results. </p><p>This is where my biggest concern with using Prompted Playlists like this lies: the surprise element is completely removed, which is the very backbone of these types of end-of-year recaps. If you remove the thrill of the unexpected, do you <em>really </em>have Spotify Wrapped? And yes, Wrapped is so much more than the artists and songs you stream, but at the end of the day, this is what the average user is most excited for. </p><p>Not only this, but there’s the risk of tarnishing how you stream music. What I mean by this is that having Prompted Playlists give you this information essentially ignites that urge to ‘fine-tune’ your Wrapped, which sits in your subconscious as you listen to music and brings out that inner saboteur that tells you, "your Wrapped <em>must </em>be perfect or else!"</p><p>It invites a listening regime that’s far more focused on aesthetics and creating false appearances rather than one that’s purely centered around enjoyment and discovery. The best Wrapped summaries are the ones that are varied and unhinged, because that’s when you know music fans are truly listening with the intent of being themselves. </p> </article> ]]>