Spotify keeps track of your historic listening habits, meaning that you can quickly access your recently played and recently added tracks, albums, playlists, and podcasts at the press of a button. This makes the whole Spotify listening experience smoother and ultimately more enjoyable.
To learn how to view your Spotify history, simply follow our tutorials below. For all other information, or if you have further questions, please see our FAQ section at the end of this page.
Table of Contents
How to view ‘Recently Played’ on Spotify (desktop)
- Open up the desktop Spotify app and sign into your Spotify account if necessary
- From the homepage, scroll down until you locate the ‘Recently played’ banner
- Click on SEE ALL to the right of the banner
- You can now see up to 50 items which you have most recently played, ranked from most recent to least recent
- Similarly, you can rank your playlists, albums, artists etc by most ‘recently played’
- To do so, first click on ‘Your Library’ in the sidebar
- Next, select which you’d like to rank: playlists, podcasts, artists, albums (up top)
- Lastly, click the drop-down menu to the right of the search tool, and select ‘Recently played’ as the sort function
- Your playlists/artists/podcasts/albums will now be ranked in full from most recently played to least recently played
- To do so, first click on ‘Your Library’ in the sidebar
How to view ‘Recently Added’ on Spotify (desktop)
- Open up the desktop Spotify app and sign into your Spotify account if necessary
- Since there is no homepage banner for this, instead click on ‘Your Library’ in the sidebar
- Next, select which you’d like to rank: playlists, podcasts, artists, albums (up top)
- Lastly, click the drop-down menu to the right of the search tool, and select ‘Recently added’ as the sort function
- Your playlists/artists/podcasts/albums will now be ranked in full from most recently played to least recently added
How to view ‘Recently Played’ on Spotify (mobile/tablet)
- Open up the Spotify app on your mobile or tablet device, and sign in if necessary
- Scroll down to the ‘Recently played’ banner on the Homepage, and scroll left-to-right through it to see up to 12 items which you have most recently listened to.
- Similarly, you can rank your playlists, albums, artists etc by most ‘recently played’
- To do so, first tap on ‘Your Library’ in the bottom-right
- Next, select which you’d like to rank: playlists, podcasts, artists, albums (up top)
- Lastly, tap the current sort function located above the first item on the list, and select ‘Recently played’ as the sort function
- Your playlists/artists/podcasts/albums will now be ranked in full from most recently played to least recently played
- To do so, first tap on ‘Your Library’ in the bottom-right
How to view ‘Recently Added’ on Spotify (mobile/tablet)
- Open up the Spotify app on your mobile or tablet device, and sign in if necessary
- Since there is no homepage banner for this, instead click on ‘Your Library’ in the bottom-right
- Next, select which you’d like to rank: playlists, podcasts, artists, albums (up top)
- Lastly, tap the current sort function located above the first item on the list, and select ‘Recently added’ as the sort function
- Your playlists/artists/podcasts/albums will now be ranked in full from most recently played to least recently added
And there you have it! Whichever part of your Spotify history you’d like to access, you can do so easily on desktop, mobile, or tablet just by following our step-by-step instructions. For all other help and information, see the FAQs below.
Frequently asked questions
What is my Spotify history and why would I want to view it?
By Spotify history what we mean is your ‘Recently Played’ and ‘Recently Added’ music. In other words, Spotify keeps a track (a ‘history’) of all of the music you’ve listened to most recently, and all of the music you’ve most recently added to your library. It’s this music that comprises your ‘Spotify history’.
And as for why you’d want to view it, there are many reasons. Perhaps the most obvious, though, is that you’ve been listening to something recently and yet have forgotten what it was. By checking your Spotify history you can quickly ascertain exactly who the music was made by, and what its name is. Similarly, it’s just handy to have quick access to all of the stuff you’ve recently been enjoying, just as it’s handy to have quick access to albums, artists, playlists, and podcasts that you’ve recently added to your library.
Can I delete my Spotify history?
It used to be that you could effectively delete your Spotify history from your smartphone’s Spotify app by deleting your stored ‘cache’ from the Settings menu. However, this method no longer works. There is in fact no way to delete your Spotify history. We’re afraid, if you’re embarrassed by the Spice Girls album you listened to yesterday and want to hide it from others who use your device or account, you simply can’t. (But then, why are you embarrassed? The Spice Girls are great!)
How long is music stored on my Spotify history?
Spotify keeps track of your listening habits to the same degree across all devices. However, depending on the device the amount of your ‘history’ you can see differs. On a smartphone, for example, only about 12 albums/playlists/podcasts will be displayed under the ‘Recently played’ banner on the Homepage. Whereas, on the desktop Spotify app, up to 50 items will be displayed under the ‘Recently played’ banner.
On the desktop app, you can also choose to ‘sort’ your playlists, albums, artists, etc. by ‘Recently played’ or ‘Recently added’, as you might alphabetically.
