Each December, music lovers patiently wait for one of the most exciting days of the year: Spotify Wrapped, an annual roundup of each user’s most-listened-to songs, albums, and artists on the streaming giant, which is followed by an entertaining combination of comparison, judgment, and, dare we say, enlightenment.

On Tuesday, December 3, Spotify rolled out its 2025 music breakdown for each user, and fans (including Houstonia editors) rushed to share their annual streaming data recap and fun “listening personality types.” Turns out, the city has its own Wrapped list. This year Spotify shared a city-level listener report. Here’s the rundown Houston's favorites, plus, some insight on what and who Houstonia staff are listening to. Houston, we have thoughts.

The artists the city listened to the most in 2025:

1. Drake
2. Bad Bunny
3. Taylor Swift
4. The Weeknd
5. Morgan Wallen 

Color us surprised—but not shocked. We know that Houston loves its hip-hop, pop, country, and Latino artists, so this list mostly makes sense. All of these artists have performed at highly attended concerts in the city. Some of them even have roots here: Toronto-born rapper and “certified lover boy” Drake has famously professed his love for Houston in his music and moved to the area some years ago, and Taylor Swift’s parents got married in Clutch City.

Still, something about this list doesn’t feel very Houston, which has us asking the critical questions. Does Drake’s no. 1 ranking mean we took his side in the Kendrick/Drake beef? Are we really into country music like that? Have we forgiven Morgan Wallen for his problematic and allegedly racist past? And, most important, WHERE IS BEYONCÉ?

Spotify’s list of our city's top songs and top albums is also void of local artists and a Houston-centric sound. Locals streamed Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS album the most (this was no. 1 for Houstonia food and travel editor Sofia Gonzalez, too), followed by Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem, SZA’s SOS Deluxe: LANA, the soundtrack to Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters (honestly, who wasn’t listening to this?), and, finally, GNX by Kendrick Lamar.

For the songs that Space City listened to the most, Spotify crowned “Luther” by Kendrick Lamar and SZA as the top single, followed by “DtMF” by Bad Bunny, “Die With a Smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, “Loco” by Neton Vega, and “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish. It’s an interesting ranking, considering none of Drake’s tracks are in the top five most streamed, despite his being the top artist of the year. Again, we ask: Does Houston stan Drake over Kendrick?

Regardless, we get it. Whether from Houston or not, each person has their own listening preferences, and some of those don’t always jive with what everyone else has on their playlist. The diversity—and sometimes the sonic curveballs—are part of the beauty of seeing others' Wrapped data. 

Like a true Houstonian, news and city life editor Erica Cheng definitely had hometown hero Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter among her top artists. Bey was her fourth-most-streamed artist, which she blames mostly on the entire Cowboy Carter album and Queen B’s catchy cover of “Before I Let Go.” Sugar Land indie-alt-pop rising star Keshi also made her most-played artists this year (Cheng points the finger at the super-catchy and dreamy song “Soft Spot” and the entire Requiem album for their crimes). Other spots went to various K-pop and Mandopop (Mandarin-Chinese pop) artists.

For editor in chief Brittany Britto Garley, 2025 was all about alternative R&B, Afrobeats, genre-bending soulful house and electronic music (Kaytranada), soothing tunes from Nigerian songstress Tems and Willow Smith, and kiddie lullabies (because toddlers). It’s no secret that children’s preferences tend to take over their parents’ Spotify accounts. Fortunately, she and her sons can fully agree on some tunes, including the “Mamushi” collab by Houston hottie Megan Thee Stallion and Yuki Chiba along with “Million Dollar Baby” by Tommy Richman, both of which made it into her top three most-streamed songs of the year.