Whatever your reasoning, if you wish to delete your Recently Played list on Spotify, clearing it out so that you can start afresh (provided you wish to do so on the Desktop app), then this is the tutorial for you.
Unfortunately, there is no one-click way of doing this, and no way to completely clear the Recently Played list on the Desktop app, and no way whatsoever of deleting it on the mobile app. However, by following the simple steps detailed below, you’ll learn how to remove unwanted items from your Recently Played on the Desktop app in no time. For all other information, see our FAQs at the end of the article.
Table of Contents
How to delete Recently Played items on the Spotify Desktop app
- Open up the Spotify app on your computer, and if prompted sign in
- Click on the Now Playing icon in the right corner
- In the left-hand sidebar, click on Recently Played
- Now, right-click any and all of the songs, albums, playlists and podcast you wish to remove from Recently Played, and from the pop-up menu, select ‘Remove from your Liked Songs’
- The selected item(s) are now removed from your Recently played list
- Unfortunately, any items you remove on the Desktop app from Recently Played will not also be removed from the mobile apps
And there you have it: the closest we can get to help you delete your Recently Played. You can try deleting your cache on the Spotify mobile app by going to Settings > Storage > Delete cache, but we have not found this to be an effective solution.
Frequently asked questions
What is Spotify?
Spotify is the world’s largest and most popular streaming service for music, though it also caters to podcast listeners, too. Available as an app for the PC, Apple, and Android mobile phones and tablets, it attracts millions and millions of unique users every day, from all around the world.
What is the Spotify ‘Recently Played’?
Spotify keeps a track of all of the music you’ve recently been listening to – super handy if you’ve just opened up the app and want to dive right back into the album you didn’t finish yesterday, or the playlist you just can’t stop listening to. However, it can also be a bit of nuisance at times, especially if you find you’re beginning to get stuck in a loop of listening to the same music over and over, and the ever-present ‘Recently Played’ list is to blame! In such an instance, you’ll want to know how to delete you Recently Played on Spotify
Can I recover an accidentally deleted ‘Recently Played’ list?
No, once you’ve cleared the data kept regarding your Recently Played, this list will be permanently deleted, but only on the Desktop app. However, as soon as you start listening to new music, Spotify will begin populating the list again.
