How to get YouTube Music Recap

For those who love nothing more than seeing their music recap at the end of the year – but wish they didn't have to wait so long – Free Your Music has something for you!

With Free Your Music, you can see your YouTube Music listening stats any time of the year – you don't need to wait until recap season to see what you've been obsessed with!

What is the YouTube Music Recap?

The yearly music recap has been a big trend across streaming platforms for years now, with Spotify Wrapped the most famous of the bunch. YouTube Music has its own version, and it has quietly become one of the most feature-packed recaps out there.

Listeners get insight into what they've been obsessed with, how many hours of listening they've done – and who their favorite artist really is (are you a secret Swifty?)!

And unlike most platforms, YouTube Music doesn't make you wait for December: it also releases four seasonal recaps through the year, so you get a fresh round-up roughly every quarter. The end-of-year Recap usually lands in late November, before Wrapped drops.

How can I see my YouTube Music Recap?

When your Recap is ready, you'll usually see a banner on the app's home screen or get a notification – but if you're not seeing that, here's the direct route:

• Open the YouTube Music app and make sure you are logged in.
• Tap your profile picture, then look for Your Recap.
• Tap Get your Recap, and you'll see your Recap stories and Playlists.

For those who use both Google Photos and YouTube Music, there's a cool feature that links your photos to the music you listened to throughout the year. If it's not showing, look for the "Connect to Google Photos" banner on your Recap page (and if you'd rather keep your photos out of it, you can opt out via Manage Photos on the same page).

Recap not showing up? YouTube Music has a few eligibility rules worth knowing:

• You need at least 10 hours of music listening between January 1 and mid-November for the yearly Recap (4 hours per season for seasonal recaps), plus at least 5 songs with repeat listens.
• If your watch history was paused during the year, that listening doesn't count.
• Auto-delete set to remove activity older than 3 months will also block your Recap.
• Rollouts are gradual, so if you're early, check back in a day or two.

More interested in your overall YouTube recap instead of the Music one? YouTube now has its own site-wide YouTube Recap covering your watching habits too. Head to the YouTube app, tap the You tab, and look for the YouTube Recap banner – the last card links straight through to your full Music Recap.

What is included in the YouTube Music Recap?

The YouTube Music wrapped has a whole heap of great stats for you to check out, so you can really get to know how you listen to music.

Here are some of the things you'll find:

• The artist that you loved the most for the year, plus your top five artists.
• How many hours of music you enjoyed.
• The songs that you had on repeat, and your top genres and moods.
• A day-by-day calendar showing when you binged your top artist.
• A Musical Passport mapping which countries your most-played artists come from.
• Your podcast stats, if you listened to at least a couple of hours of podcasts.
• An AI-powered "Ask Music" chat where you can ask questions about your year, like "what animal matches my music taste?"

You'll also get a Recap playlist of your top songs for the year. It doesn't automatically save to your library, so do that manually: look for the three dots on the Recap screen, tap them, then tap Add to playlist, find New Playlist, name it, and tap Create – and you're done!

Just like with Spotify Wrapped, everything is built for sharing. Each Recap story card has a Share button (and a Download button if you'd rather save the card and post it elsewhere), all sized for Instagram and TikTok stories without cropping.

How can I get my YouTube Music Recap faster?

You can get your YouTube Music stats anytime with the Free Your Music app – no waiting for November, no eligibility rules.

• First, you'll need the Free Your Music app.
• Then, you can connect your music streaming service – YouTube Music in this case.
• The Free Your Music app will start gathering your music-listening data.
• Once the data is ready, you'll get a handy link to your stats!

And that's the fastest way to get your hands on any end-of-year music listening stats.

Transfer your playlists from one service to another fuss-free!

There is nothing worse than moving music streaming services only to find that you have to recreate all of your playlists manually. It is a nightmare that no one should go through, and luckily – you don't have to!

With the Free Your Music app, you can transfer your playlists from the streaming service it is stuck on to the one you're using – and you can get started for free (scroll down and look for the Start Free button)!