Spotify posts a cryptic video ahead of Spotify Wrapped – as fans claim they know the artist it refers to

The moment music fans have been waiting for is almost finally here: the release of Spotify Wrapped is scheduled for today.

The steamy giant’s annual feature reveals the songs and artists you’ve played the most over the past year, regardless of whether they’re cool or weird.

Wrapped also reveals the most streamed musician in its global user base of over 640 million users.

Now, a cryptic teaser video appears to provide a major clue as to which artist has taken the crown.

The clip, posted by Spotify on its Instagram Stories, appears to show friendship bracelet beads, which fans believe is a reference to Taylor Swift.

Swapping friendship bracelets has become something of a trend among Swift fans during the singer’s concerts.

So the new teaser is the biggest hint yet that Swift will be crowned the most streamed artist for the second year in a row.

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Another wrote: ‘Nice nod to Taylor Swift’s dominance in 2024!’

Spotify’s new clip shows a variety of beads in different shapes and colors, including hearts, butterflies, leaves and the Spotify logo.

There are also several letters, including most of the letters that make up Taylor Swift’s name, such as T, A, Y, L, R, S, W, I, and T.

Fans won’t have to wait long for everything to be known, as Spotify Wrapped 2024 is rumored to arrive around lunchtime today (December 4).

Spotify Wrapped is described by the Swedish streaming giant as ‘a deep dive into the music and podcasts that defined your year’.

Tailored to each user, it provides users with visual overviews of the music and podcasts they listened to the most each year, while also revealing global listening habits.

Spotify Wrapped started in December 2016 and has been promoted by Spotify every year since.

Wrapped is actually a marketing campaign intended to promote Spotify, but has gained popularity among users who like to show off their fashionable music tastes.

However, critics have suggested that Spotify users are deliberately listening to certain artists so they appear in Wrapped, making the whole experience contrived.

Taylor Swift fans or ‘Swifties’ have even been accused of streaming her on Spotify when they’re not listening, which has propelled her to the top of the Spotify Wrapped charts.

Last year, a Spotify user named in the top 0.001 percent of Taylor Swift listeners streamed her for a whopping 409,169 minutes, or 284 days.

A Reddit user said: ‘The device obviously leaves its catalog on mute. Taylor Swift fans are big supporters of Swift when it comes to streaming.”

Unsurprisingly, Spotify Wrapped 2023 named Taylor Swift as the most streamed artist in the world, beating the likes of Bad Bunny, The Weeknd and Drake.

This year, it’s the latest Spotify has released Wrapped since 2018 (December 6).

Spotify Wrapped is released on a different day every year, which keeps fans guessing and ultimately builds hype on social media.

Its release in early December each year is tied to a rise in Spotify’s app store rankings, so the Swedish streaming giant is doing everything it can to stoke the hype in advance.

Last week, Spotify dropped another teaser video with the caption: “This year it featured loads. This also applies to your Wrapped. Available soon.’

It shows nine versions of the Spotify logo in different designs, which fans interpreted as references to certain artists, including Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Charli XCX.

Spotify Wrapped tracks users’ listening habits from early January to late October or sometime in November, meaning it omits the last few weeks of the year.

Therefore, Wrapped doesn’t really represent an entire year’s worth of statistics, despite being touted as the “story of your year.”

It also means you can listen to embarrassing artists to your heart’s content this December, safe in the knowledge that it won’t affect your Wrapped results.

MailOnline will bring you all the news when Spotify Wrapped 2024 finally comes out.