Most Listened To Songs Lists Reveal Insights Into Student Lives

Music has been a part of the human experience for millennia. We define it as vocal or instrumental sounds combined to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. It plays such a big part in our everyday life; music accompanies us in our best moments and in our harder moments. Every year, Spotify and Apple Music come out with a personalized listening summary (Wrapped) of your year. It shows us our favorite songs, artists, and genres. Renaud Lalancette ‘24 referred to it as a reflection of us; people get to see and compare their favorite songs with friends, and it’s a nice way to see what you have in common. So, I asked Northwood students their thoughts about their Wrapped of 2023, and here’s what they had to say:

Mathis Baril’s ‘24 most-played song was “Red Room” by Offset, Teegan Wardlaw’s ‘25 most-played song was “July” by Noah Cyrus, Luke Smith’s ‘26 was “Privileged Rappers” by Drake and 21 Savage (played 236 times), Jack Kroll’s ‘25 was “Growing Sideways” by Noah Kahan.

When these students compared their most-played songs, they realized that some of them had quite different music tastes and others enjoyed listening to the same type of music.

When I asked them how music reflected their life, half of the group described music as an effective way to set a vibe and help them get in the zone where they can focus and be more productive. The other half said it amplifies the emotions they are in at the precise moment. Elleanore Pelletier ‘25 said music can change her mood just by hearing the first couple notes of a song. Arielle Haccoun-Choquette ‘24 said music puts her in a better mood because music evokes memories of people she loves, and remembering them makes her feel good.

What people appreciate the most about the yearly Wrapped is the minutes of listening. This tells you how many minutes you spent on the app playing music. Luke Smith ‘25 had 78,000 minutes of listening, which equated to 51 days. That staggering statistic made Smith realize that he couldn’t live without music.