How does the Play Queue work?

Rorey — Wed, 06 May 2026 14:41:35 GMT

In this article you can get more info on how the Play Queue works and how to add and remove songs, depending on the platform you're using.

Click on each section to expand it.

► Mobile

⚠️ Heads up: editing the Play Queue on mobile is reserved to Premium users at the moment.

The Play Queue can be accessed via the button, located in the Now Playing view.

Adding songs

There are a couple of ways to do this:

1.) Swipe right ➡️ on any track to add it to the queue.

2.) Tap the three dots menu next to the track you want to add and select 'Add to Queue'.

⚠️ Note: The content you manually add to the queue has priority, meaning the app will play them first before moving on to the rest.

Removing songs

1.) Swipe left ⬅️ on any track to remove it from the queue.

2.) Use the 'Clear' button to instantly remove all tracks you've manually queued.

3.) 🌟 New: Tap 'Edit' then tick the songs you'd like to delete via the button on the left and select 'Remove'.

2.) 'Clear' button located at the top of the menu.

3.) New:'Remove' button accessed via the 'Edit' option.

⚠️ Note: the Clear button does not clear the entire queue. If that's what you were looking for, try one of the methods below instead:

1.) Manually clear all other songs by swiping left.

2.) Scroll down to the bottom of the queue > play the last song, then skip it.

3.) Play a new song from the Search tab. This will update the queue and only add that particular song to it.

In order for options #2 and #3 to work, you'd first have to turn off Autoplay in the app's settings. With Autoplay deactivated, when the last song in the queue ends (or if it's skipped), the playback will stop.

Rearranging songs

#1. The drag-and-drop method

Open the Play queue from the Now Playing view.
Use the button on the right of each item to drag it and drop it in the desired location.

🌟 New: #2. Moving songs to the top of the queue

We've recently added an 'Edit' button to the queue on mobile which allows you to multi-select items for quick and easy edits! You can for example remove several items with one press of a button (as showcased a bit above) or move specific songs from their current position to the very top of the queue so that they would be played next!

Open the Play queue from the Now Playing view.
Tap the 'Edit' button located in the top right corner.
Tick the songs you'd like to be played next and press 'Move up' at the bottom.

'Move up' button places the selected songs at the top of the queue so that they'd be played next.

The selected songs are now placed at the top of the queue.

► Desktop and Web Player

The Play Queue can be accessed via the button, located in the Now Playing Bar.

Now Playing Bar

It is separated into the following sections:

Now playing
Next from
Next in queue
Next up

Now playing

The content that's currently playing will show here.

Next from

This is the main section of the queue. When you play an artist, album, podcast or playlist, the songs/episodes will show up here.

Next in queue

This is where the items you've manually queued are placed in. You can manually queue songs, albums, playlists and episodes from the three dots menu > Add to queue.

⚠️ Note: The stuff that's under Next in queue has priority, meaning the app will play them first before moving on to the Next from section.

Next up

If you have Autoplay similar content toggled on, the automatically generated songs will appear here.

Removing songs

Click the button in the Now Playing Bar, located in the bottom-right of corner to open the Play Queue.
For songs/episodes under the Next in queue section, press Clear queue to remove all items instantly.
For songs/episodes under Next from or Next up, right-click an item and select Remove from queue.

💡 Tip: You can also remove tracks via the Backspace key on your keyboard. You can multi-select with the help of the Ctrl / Shift keys too.

Note that if your app continues to play songs after your album/playlist/podcast ends, you might have Autoplay toggled on. More info on how it works + how to turn it off here.

Rearranging songs

Open the queue via the button in the Now Playing Bar.
Click on an item, then drag it and drop it in the desired location.

FAQ:

This section will answer your frequently asked questions and will be updated with the latest answers.

Why won't my queue reshuffle when I play another song?

Back in July 2025, we introduced some changes to how the queue and Shuffle interact with each other. At the moment, you can reshuffle the queue by turning Shuffle off and on again. More info on the topic can be found here.

How can I play an artist's entire discography?

The desktop app is ideal for this: while on the discography page of an artist, select your preferred view from the button on the right:

List view: Click on either the Play button of the album at the top or double-click on the first song - this will add the rest of the artist's discography to the queue.
Grid view: Hover over the album that's at the top and press the big green Play button - the remaining albums will be queued as well.

💡 Tip: Some artists compile their entire discography in a single playlist under the Artist Playlists section on the artist page, so it's worth checking in there as well. Alternatively, you also check out the "This is: [artist name]" playlist (if available) for an overview of their most popular tracks.

How can I play a single song?

The easiest way to do so is to play the song from the Search bar. That way, the app creates a new queue that consists of just that one track, so when it finishes playing, the playback should stop. On desktop, this works in playlists too.

If the track has been released as a single (and can be found under "Singles and EPs" on the artist's discography page), you can open the single and play it from there - no other songs will be added to the queue that way.

💡Tip for desktop: make sure you aren't clicking on the big green Play button as that would queue the rest of the artist's discography as well (the Next from section will be populated with songs from other albums).

Alternatively, you can start a playlist or an album and manually remove the rest of the tracks/episodes you don't want to listen to from the queue. Refer to one the sections above for more info on how to do that.

(Desktop) My queue gets overwritten when I search for a song in my playlist and play it. How can I avoid that?

If you'd like to listen to a specific song from your playlist next without completely overwriting your queue on the desktop app, you can try the following:

Press Ctrl + F to initiate searching in your playlist.
Type in your search query.
Left-click on the song in question and press Esc - this should remove your search query and take you to the song's position in the playlist.
Play the song from its current position in the playlist.

An alternative method would be to right-click on the song and add it to the queue instead (assuming you haven't manually added any other songs to the queue).

Why won't the playback stop after my current playlist/album ends?

You might have Autoplay activated: When you reach the end of an album, playlist, or selection of songs, Spotify automatically plays similar songs so the music never stops. You can turn this feature off in the app's settings.

Something else that's worth checking is if Repeat is toggled on. Cycle through the available options (Repeat All > Repeat One > Disable Repeat) to turn it off.

Why do I see songs in the queue I haven't personally added?

Here are a couple of common scenarios where you may encounter the app playing songs you haven't personally added to the queue or your playlists:

Smart Shuffle - Smart Shuffle adds similar song recommendations to the queue which you if you like can save in your playlist. You might have accidentally toggled it on, so try cycling between the different Shuffle modes until the button becomes greyed out both in "Playlist" view and in the Now Playing view. If the playlist was downloaded with Smart Shuffle activated, it'd be best to remove the downloads and try again.
Autoplay - When the current queue ends, the feature automatically generates a new one with similar content so that the playback doesn't stop. You can toggle it off in the app's settings > Playback.
Leftover songs in the queue - Most likely from a previous listening session. You can remove those with the Clear queue button.
Check 3rd-party apps - Third-party services linked to your Spotify account may be adding songs to your playlists. It's recommended you remove any apps you don't recognize to keep your account secure.
Active Jam session - You might have an active Jam session running. You can end it either from the Spotify Connect menu or from the queue.
Collaborative playlists - Someone else whom you shared the playlist with could've added the song. You can double-check this by opening the playlist's contents - you'll find the collaborator person who added the song next to its title.

⚠️ Note: If you're using the free version of Spotify on your phone, you can pick and play any track you want, but the rest of the queue will continue in Shuffle mode with similar songs. You can play songs in any order with Premium.

Didn't help? Search for more Spotify Answers, or create a new thread and ask the Community.

article How does the Play Queue work? in FAQs

How does the Play Queue work?

Adding songs

Removing songs

Rearranging songs

#1. The drag-and-drop method

🌟 New: #2. Moving songs to the top of the queue

Now playing

Next from

Next in queue

Next up

Removing songs

Rearranging songs