Do Playlists Really Boost Streams? The Data Behind Playlist Placements

Key takeaways before we dive in:

• Playlist placements can deliver dramatic stream boosts, but only under the right conditions.

• Not all playlist exposure converts to long-term fans or followers.

• How you use a playlist spot — via positioning, promotion, and follow-up — often determines whether it’s momentary or enduring.

• Understanding what factors influence success lets you plan smarter, not just hope for luck.

In today’s streaming era, playlists aren’t just a listening option — they’re a significant part of the culture. Platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer have transformed from music players into powerful discovery engines, where curated playlists often determine what millions of listeners hear every day.

Although exact global figures are hard to pin down, research highlights just how central playlists have become. A 2020 Deezer study found that approximately 40% of all listeners preferred playlists to albums. In 2022, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) reported that approximately 20% of streams across platforms came directly from platform playlists, with another ~11% from algorithm-driven radio or autoplay features.

Together, that’s nearly one-third of all streams influenced by curated or platform-directed sources. That’s a massive shift in how music is discovered and consumed.

Spotify alone hosts over 8 billion user-generated playlists, but only a fraction carries the weight of editorial curation. Spotify’s editorial team maintains around 3,000 playlists across various genres, moods, and activities, with flagship playlists like "Today's Top Hits" boasting over 34 million followers. Other major platforms, including Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music, maintain their own curated collections, though they don’t disclose exact numbers.

What sets editorial playlists apart from user-generated ones is visibility and authority. While anyone can create a playlist, editorial playlists benefit from prime in-app promotion and the implicit endorsement of the platform itself. When Spotify features a song on New Music Friday, it's not just filling a slot — it's making a statement about the track's quality and commercial potential.

The growth of playlist culture has created new gatekeepers in the music industry. Playlist curators now wield influence comparable to radio programmers of previous decades, but with the ability to expose tracks to millions of listeners with a single addition. Instead of broad demographics, curators can place songs into playlists that target specific moods, moments, and micro-genres, connecting music to listeners in highly tailored ways.

Each platform has approached curation differently:

• Spotify blends data-driven curation with editorial playlists, using listener behavior analytics to guide playlist decisions while maintaining editorial oversight.

• Apple Music positions itself as the champion of human curation, relying on genre specialists and celebrity tastemakers. (see Apple Music vs Spotify playlists article for more knowledge)

• Amazon Music leverages voice activation data from Alexa voice commands to understand listening patterns and shape playlists.

• YouTube Music factors in video engagement and viewing patterns into playlist decisions.

The playlist ecosystem also varies significantly by genre. Hip-hop and pop dominate major editorial playlists, often generating the largest streaming boosts. Electronic music thrives on mood-based and workout playlists, while indie and alternative genres often find success in discovery-focused editorial collections. Country and rock music, traditionally strong in radio play, have had more mixed results in the playlist era.

The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated playlist culture. As people spent more time at home, mood-based playlists for focus, relaxation, or emotional comfort grew rapidly, both in follower numbers and in curator attention.

The impact of playlist placement has been demonstrated in multiple studies and artist case reports, though results can vary widely. For example, some case studies show artists seeing stream increases of around 160% in the first week of being added to high-visibility editorial playlists. Another example involves a track getting ~70,000 streams during its placement in an editorial playlist and then over 700,000 more through algorithmic streams afterward. These cases highlight how big the uplift can be under favorable conditions.

That said, the phrase “under favorable conditions” is the one that really needs careful consideration. Playlists are undeniably powerful discovery tools, which can boost streams and skyrocket your music to new listeners, but their influence is not uniform. That’s not because one artist is more talented than another, but simply because there are often external factors at play, many of which are beyond the artist’s control.

Here are the key variables that determine how much a playlist placement can move the needle:

• Playlist’s reach & size — Generally, the more followers a playlist has, the larger spikes it can generate, and therefore, the greater impact it can have. A placement in Today’s Top Hits (34M+ followers) won’t likely compare to a niche user-generated playlist with 50k followers.

• Time spent on an editorial playlist — Getting featured on an editorial playlist is already a great milestone, but the time your track spends there can make a big difference. Unfortunately, it’s not always the case that a track stays in one playlist for weeks. In fact, Spotify editorial playlists often feature songs for only about a week, limiting long-term impact. The longer your track stays, the greater the cumulative effect.

• Track position — The truth is that the higher your track is on an editorial playlist, the more likely the placement will affect your overall performance. Songs ranked in the top 5 slots usually see far more streams than those near the bottom of a playlist.

• Save rates — Save rates are crucial for discoverability. Unfortunately, your listeners may not always save your track to their library, add it to their own playlists, or give you a follow. This doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t like the track enough — it’s often because people tend to listen to playlists for the activity or mood they’re in, rather than with the intention of rediscovering the song later. Sadly, low save rates can lead to less engagement and less repeat listening, which in turn can reduce the chances of the track appearing on algorithm-driven playlists. Overall, this can weaken the track's long-term impact.

• Promotional effort around a release — Some might say this is a factor that one can control or influence. While a clear strategy or marketing plan for a song is something anyone can develop, not all efforts carry the same weight. Some artists have larger budgets, which can significantly impact how a track is promoted.

• Track baseline performance& engagement — Tracks that are already generating steady daily streams and listener engagement tend to see stronger, more sustainable gains from playlist placement.

• Seasonality – Releases aligned with trends, cultural moments, or holidays can see higher engagement. This can include tracks tied to Christmas, summer vibes, back-to-school season, Valentine’s Day, or even major sporting events.

In short, playlists can significantly boost growth, but results aren’t guaranteed — and every artist should approach editorial playlist pitching with this understanding. Often, the true benefit of playlists comes from how well they complement the artist’s existing momentum and marketing efforts.

This raises two key questions: How exactly can a successful playlist affect one’s streams and followers, and what numbers do we have to back it up?

One of the most immediate benefits of playlist placement is an increase in streams.

Many articles and guides mention “significant boosts,” “dramatic increases,” or “large uplift” from playlist placements, but these are often qualitative or anecdotal and not supported by large-scale data. However, there are some concrete examples that illustrate how impactful playlist placements can be for both emerging and established artists.

For instance, in 2022, French artist Mathieu Saïkaly promoted his track Neptune through third-party playlists via Groover Obsessions. Within a single month, his monthly listenership rose by 33 percent, with Neptune earning 10,961 Spotify streams across several playlists. By comparison, his earlier track Respirations #1 had reached only 6,582 streams over the course of nine months, showing the dramatic difference that playlist support can make.

Indie-folk artist Elkvilla offers an even more striking example. His track Sink was featured for an extended period on the editorial playlist Acoustic Pilates, generating an impressive 486,561 streams directly from that placement. That editorial playlist placement also triggered a feature in algorithm-driven playlists, resulting in an additional 160,000+ streams.

On the other hand, his track The Cold Will Keep You Here was featured on Indie Brandneu for only two weeks, producing just 3,816 additional streams. Yet the same track gained far more traction when placed in the personalized editorial playlist Sommergefühle, where it stayed for three months and accumulated 646,228 streams. The contrast highlights the importance of both playlist longevity and playlist context in shaping outcomes.

For Bram Stalker, a stoner rock band, editorial support produced more modest gains. Their track Dormant was featured in Spotify’s All New Rock playlist for one week, generating 9,114 streams. Although less dramatic than Elkvilla’s results, it still represented a meaningful increase in exposure for an emerging act.

Meanwhile, the Christian music band Mass Anthem demonstrates the power of long-term consistency. After a lukewarm initial reception to their Waymaker Worship album in 2020, they pursued a sustained playlist strategy, pitching to 30–50 worship playlists over one to two years. This approach helped them grow from 50,000 to 250,000 monthly album streams — a 5x increase achieved not through a single placement, but through persistent playlist marketing.

Finally, a case study from Syntax Creative sheds light on how playlist positioning can outweigh even an artist’s existing popularity. In this study, two artists released tracks in the same genre on the same day, both earning placements on high-traction playlists. Artist B, a new duo with just 3,150 monthly listeners, landed in the #3 slot and stayed there for four weeks. Artist A, a more established act with 184,000 monthly listeners, was placed at #31 and stayed for three weeks. Despite the disparity in audience size, Artist B ultimately generated 160% more streams than Artist A, primarily because of the higher playlist position.

These case studies underscore a few key realities. Playlist placements can drive anything from modest bumps to exponential growth, but outcomes depend on multiple factors mentioned before, like the playlist’s size and audience, the duration and position of the placement, and the marketing strategy surrounding the release. Interestingly, even newer artists with smaller fanbases can outperform more established peers if the playlist context works in their favor.

But while streams may spike, the bigger question for most artists is: do playlists actually help build a loyal fanbase?

Getting featured on a playlist — especially an editorial one — can feel like a game-changer. And it is. But it’s not a magic bullet that will instantly transform your music career.

What playlists can do well:

1. Boost streams. Any playlist placement puts your track in front of new listeners, which usually results in a noticeable jump in plays.

2. Expand your reach. Playlists expose your music to audiences who likely never would have discovered you otherwise.

3. Act as a social proof. A placement on a respected editorial or curated playlist signals credibility. It shows fans, labels, and industry professionals that your music has momentum and value.

However — and this is key — playlist streams don’t always turn into long-term fans or followers. We’ve already touched upon this, but many listeners treat playlists as background music. So, while they enjoy your track at the moment, helping you generate more streams, they won’t necessarily save it, follow you, or come back later.

And the data that’s available backs this up. Take the previously-mentioned indie-folk artist Elkvilla: through editorial and algorithmic playlists, his music reached roughly 580,000 listeners. Yet at the time, he had only 537 followers on Spotify. Even if all of the followers came from those placements (an optimistic assumption), that’s just 0.09% conversion — meaning 99.91% of listeners didn’t stick around. Similarly, the rock band Bram Stalker saw a spike in streams from their editorial feature, but not a comparable jump in follower numbers.

In many observed cases, playlist placements lead to significant increases in streams, but conversion to new followers or long-term fans often lags behind. Artists might see thousands of plays without a corresponding growth in followers — this indicates that listener behavior often remains passive unless additional engagement actions like saves, shares, or profile visits are encouraged.

This is essentially the difference between short-term gains and long-term growth. A playlist placement can open the door, but it won’t pull you through. To turn casual listeners into lasting fans, you need follow-up strategies — whether through engaging content, direct fan interaction, live shows, or consistent marketing efforts.

Landing on a playlist is a milestone — but the real work starts afterward. How you leverage that placement often determines whether it’s just a temporary spike or a stepping stone toward lasting growth.

1. Promote your playlist placement with intention

Getting featured in a reputable playlist is definitely newsworthy! Promote it across your social channels, email list, and even during live shows. Don’t just post once — build a short campaign around it. Use stories, behind-the-scenes content, and direct links to the playlist to boost streams and saves. The more activity your track gets, the stronger the signal it sends to algorithmic playlists, increasing your reach. Plus, the more saves and follows it earns, the better you will perform in the long run!

2. Turn social proof into collaboration

As mentioned before, playlist features can boost your reputation, credibility, and overall value. Use that momentum to open doors: reach out to other artists for collaborations, pitch yourself to other curators or press, and cross-promote with peers who share a similar audience. A playlist placement isn’t just exposure — it’s leverage for networking and creating new opportunities.

3. Be Patient and Persistent

Playlisting is rarely an overnight career-changer. Treat it as part of a broader strategy. Track your analytics to see which playlists drive meaningful engagement, and use that insight to refine future pitches. Stay consistent with releases and promotion, because momentum compounds over time. Patience and persistence are what turn one playlist feature into lasting growth.

Editorial playlists are powerful — they can put your music in front of hundreds of thousands of new listeners overnight and spike your streams to new heights. But they’re not a guaranteed career-launcher. The real takeaway is this: playlists accelerate growth when paired with momentum, but they don’t replace the need for a broader strategy.

For artists, the smartest approach is to view playlist placement as one piece of the puzzle, not the whole picture. Playlists can spark discovery, but it’s your job to turn that spark into something lasting — connection, loyalty, and true fans who stick around long after the playlist spotlight fades.