Shuffle mode playing the same songs all the time

[Tom7777777]

I have a playlist with 10,000 songs and use shuffle to listen to them. What I realized the past weeks is that the same songs are played over and over again - and not because I listen to this playlist 24/7 but because the shuffle mode seems to not pick songs just randomly but has some kind of algorythm behind to pick certain songs all the time again and again. This is quiet annoying because the reason I use shuffle in a playlist with 10,000 is not to listen to the same songs all the time but to have variety!

[Tom7777777]

Hi @Tom7777777,

Thanks for posting in the Spotify Community!

Unfortunately, in large playlists (over 150 songs), the shuffle option prioritizes the songs that Spotify perceives you enjoy the most; this is why you might notice that some songs are repeated while listening on shuffle.

However, there is currently a Live Idea to have an option for a “true” shuffle, which would play all the songs in a playlist in a random order, and once they’re all played, reshuffle them and play them again. If this is something you’re interested in, I’d recommend adding your +VOTE to this idea; the more votes an idea gets, the likelier it is that Spotify will implement it, and you can read more about how feedback on ideas reaches Spotify here.

It will also be useful for you to Subscribe to the idea by clicking the three dots next to its title; that way, you can be sure to be informed of any relevant updates.

Let me know if you have any other questions, and have a good day!

[TheGorf]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

Pixel 7 pro, Roku,

Operating System

Android, Roku OS

My Question or Issue

I have a couple playlists that are kinda hefty. Especially my liked songs. So exain to me why, in a playlist with 400+ songs, during a 3 hour drive I GET REPEAT SONG PLAYS. That is absurd, unacceptable, and down right pants on head STUPID.  What the **bleep** is wrong with you people? Try hiring develops with more than a high school education. Play through my damn list before repeating. A list with 20+ hours of music should not play repeats in the first 2 - 3 hours. You want to know WHY I am back to pirating music? This. You refuse to let me playy music the way I want. Winamp never had this problem. Plexamp doesn't have this problem. VLC doesn't have this problem. So why do you??

[_Vly_]

Oh, ok.

So why call it shuffle when it doesn't shuffle properly?

What a joke, spotify can't do what 10 years old devices could do just fine.

[_Vly_]

Ain't that beautiful?

The way spotify handles customer's feedback (as if they did) makes my blood boil ngl.

[BF12]

OK, your response was over 2 years ago.  What has Spotify done to fix this?  

[ErikInTheBronx]

The capabilities of the device have zero impact on the ability to preform shuffle, even for large lists, and even including a history of the songs played.  The algorithm is trivial, and the ability to record history and sequences in optimal space and time is one of the longest and best studied aspects of programming.  So to say it is a "technical problem" is nonsense.  Rather, it is a business problem.  Or rather, it is a business opportunity for Spotify profit from the promotion of certain artists and songs.  Simple as.

[n00b]

as a developer myself, i just want to say myself in highschool could implement a randomizer much more effectively than this

[TheGorf]

Thanks Spotify. Instead of addressing my thread directly, you added it to a 4-year-old conversation as a reply. God you are a terrible company. And your customer support is awful.

[Elbeavarino]

I'm having a similar issue with the songs played after a one-song/one-album selection. 

For example, if I listen to the album "Highway to **bleep**", Spotify's next song will also be a classic rock (reasonable assumption). 

However, in the last couple weeks, Spotify has served up "Rock and Roll Band" by Boston at least 6 times. 

That song sucks. 

I can't find any way to stop its serving me a song I hate. Skip it, tap the minus button, nothing works. 

seems to be getting worse lately. (It's also served up Love her Madly and Next to you a lot, but I'm neutral on those...at least I was the first 3 times I heard them).

anyway, my guess is that the royalties for those crappy songs are less than those for AC/DC, so  that's why they're served. 

great profit maximizing theory...until it pisses me off enough to cancel 

[zx6dude]

A live idea that is 4 years old, has over 3290 votes and 120 pages of users complaining? Your own post is from 2021, fast forward to 2024 and nothing happened.

I can't imagine that Spotify is actively working on this after 4 years of zero progress. From what I understand of programming, it should not be that difficult to implement - 3rd parties have done it.

150 songs is not a large playlist, it really isn't.

I don't want to leave Spotify, but this is making me consider going to Amazon or Apple.

[ErikInTheBronx]

I'm finding that I really am not enjoying Spotify much at this point.

Trying to use my "big bucket" playlist sequentially, remembering where I was is bad enough.  But because I dumped music into it in blocks, without randomness, I might as well just be listening to a single artist's "best of" playlist.

Random skipping obviously is denied me, so I wind up skipping forward manually, for example, while driving.  Not only a distraction, but an unpleasant annoyance that often results in spending half my time trying to find a good song out of the "genre block" in my playlist.

[Undeterred]

1) Use a 3rd party site to shuffle your large playlists, e.g.: https://stevenaleong.com/tools/spotifyplaylistrandomizer
2) Open Spotify (desktop)
3) Choose the just shuffled playlist.
4) Make sure that Shuffle/Smart Shuffle are OFF.
5) Choose 'Sort by' as 'Custom Order' (desktop only).
6) Play, groove out to your tunes
7) Playlist will play all songs in the random order selected, with each song only playing once.
😎 Repeat from step 1) as required

[TheGorf]

You've got to be kidding me. Use a third party tool? Desktop site?

[Undeterred]

Hey man, it's a work around.  And it works.
Either that or wait for Spotify to fix their ship, don't hold your breath...

[Peanut99]

They won't have a reason to fix it if everyone is going to be using workarounds anyway.

But now that you mentioned it, I am 80% sure that Spotify had a 'randomize list' option somewhere. Did they take this out or am I imagining things?

[taj1994]

"2) Open Spotify (desktop)"

Using the desktop version isn't required. Mobile works just fine (I use both)

"They won't have a reason to fix it if everyone is going to be using workarounds anyway"

We wouldn't need to use workarounds if Spotify actually fixed their shuffle function

[imposs]

im just trying to listen to my playlist which is only 332 songs, however it just refuses to play certain ones. i just refreshed my queue 6 times and im just seeing the same variety of songs and still didnt happen to see the ones i wanted to see and the ones im looking for arent hidden/removed.

[imposs]

also to add, ive seen this other article already talking about the same thing. however, someone responded to it saying it was based on how spotify perceives your most listened to songs, but one of the songs included that *dont* play are part of my #1 all time listened songs. 

[totalwankah]

Years later and still the shuffle is total garbage. Time to switch to other streaming services when you start to take all of spotifys problems into account.
(recently played not syncing between computer app and mobile device, downloaded files not being actually available and realizing this on a +10h long flight, suggestions being recommended more according to Spotifys business monetary gains than user pereference)

[hector0]

Hey, just came here to say that a billion dollar company should probably be able to find a way to randomize more than 150 numbers. You'll figure it out spotify i believe in you

[hinkybinky]

Beep boop it's 2024 and the devs at Spotify still can't figure out how to make an ACTUAL shuffle feature. Good job, really earning that paycheck.