TL;DR
- Spotify upgrades its Discover Weekly playlist for Premium users after ten years of algorithmic curation.
- New genre filters now let users influence their weekly music recommendations.
- Over 100 billion tracks have been streamed from Discover Weekly since launch.
- 77% of streams from Discover Weekly come from emerging artists, aiding artist discovery.
- This follows Spotify’s recent trend of giving users more control over recommendations.
Spotify Adds Genre Filters to Discover Weekly for Premium Users
A decade after it launched the feature, Spotify has overhauled its Discover Weekly playlist to offer Premium users more personalized control. The update introduces genre-based filters at the top of the playlist, allowing listeners to nudge their recommendations in the direction of specific music styles.
For instance, if a user primarily listens to 80s rock but is interested in branching into K-pop or jazz, the genre filters enable the Discover Weekly algorithm to adjust accordingly.
The move represents a continued shift in Spotify’s strategy to blend AI-driven recommendations with user-guided feedback, ensuring personalization doesn’t feel entirely passive.
A Decade of Discovery: Discover Weekly’s Milestones
Since its release in 2015, Discover Weekly has become one of Spotify’s signature features, with users streaming more than 100 billion tracks through the playlist. According to Spotify’s newsroom, 77% of those listens have come from emerging artists, showing the playlist’s impact on music discovery.
Spotify Premium users can access the new feature by visiting the “Made for You” hub inside the app. Once inside the Discover Weekly playlist, those with the latest version installed will see new genre control options at the top.
The Data
| Metric | Detail |
| Discover Weekly Launch Year | 2015 |
| Total Tracks Streamed | 100 billion+ via Discover Weekly |
| Emerging Artist Stream Share | 77% of Discover Weekly listens |
| Feature Access | Spotify Premium → Made for You hub → Discover Weekly |
| Other Recent Spotify Features | Snooze, Queue revamp |
| Platform Goal | Blend user input with algorithmic suggestions |
New Control Features Reflect Spotify’s Changing Strategy
This update follows a series of Spotify feature rollouts aimed at improving user control. In recent months, the platform has introduced:
- A redesigned queue showing upcoming Spotify-generated tracks with easy skip or selection tools.
- A “snooze” function, allowing listeners to temporarily remove overplayed songs without deleting them from the algorithm.
These enhancements reflect a recognition that purely algorithmic listening can become stale or misaligned with a user’s evolving taste — particularly as Spotify seeks to maintain engagement across its 602 million users.
Conclusion
Spotify’s refresh of Discover Weekly shows its commitment to interactive personalization, combining its algorithmic strengths with user-directed tuning. For Premium users, these new genre filters offer a more tailored experience — and for emerging artists, the playlist remains one of the most powerful global discovery tools available today.
