[All Platforms] Option to have a true shuffle

[jonathanleyerle]

So I’ve been noticing more and more recently that Spotify’s default shuffle feature doesn’t fully shuffle your songs. It does some sort of grouping to try to get similar songs together based off of what I’m sure is dozens of factors. Every time I shuffle a playlist (the one I noticed this with the most is ~100 songs and 6 hours of mostly full albums) it will group the songs mostly or completely together by album/artist, and given the number of times I’ve re-shuffled and checked the order there’s no way it’s just a coincidence. They also generally seem to be in the same order as well. If I hit shuffle play on a playlist it’ll generally put the same artists at the beginning every time.

With larger playlists of albums I am really not a fan of this shuffling method. If I have 6 hours of music on a playlist I will hardly ever have 6 hours to actually listen through the whole thing, but when I do listen to it I would like to hear all of the music on it equally, and not just the artist or two your algorithm likes to shuffle to first.

Anyways, I’m a reasonable man, all I’m asking for is an option to have a true shuffle (take all songs in the list, put them in a random order, and once they’re all played reshuffle them and play them again). Make it premium only if you want. I don’t think you should scrap the current shuffle algorithm because it sucks. Looking at some of the suggestions on here it seems like some people lobbied hard to have it that way. Just add an option for a true shuffle for those of us that don’t care about potentially getting the same song twice in a row.

[novadopa1979]

Perfect analysis of @majogl. Spotify's two new shuffle options ("fewer repeats" and "standard") aren't working properly. I tested it for a week on 2 cell phones and 1 PC and they keep playing the same selection of songs, even after clearing the cache and reinstalling the app before each use.

[scanthetears]

if being able to disable smart shuffle is a premium feature, then it only makes sense that paying would get us an ACTUAL shuffle instead of what is still just an algorithm.

[Ditlefsen]

If I only manage to listen to half of my playlist on my commute to university then it will always be the same songs playing. It would be nice to have a shuffle to mix things up a bit, so it's a new combination every morning (or whenever I feel like it). I'll code it myself if it's not interesting to the spotify team. 

Thanks ^^

[baasman73]

playlist playback to have memory so no repeat of songs

eg when i reopen spotify and play desired playlist it feels like it only plays 10% of the list

Song to be added to back of the list and not played again until all others have been played

Also if you have 5 artist (for example) make sure you are cycling thru the 5

eg song 1 is from artist 1, 2 from 2, 3 from 3, 4 from 4, 5 from 5, 6 from 1 and so on

[b5kk1waxqlhpehs]

Pure random shuffle is not an acceptable solution, IMO, and this new "fewer repeats" doesn't seem to be either. Maybe Spotify isn't implementing a true shuffle because it would result in them having to pay more royalties to more artists? The fact that they haven't done it yet makes me think they must have such an ulterior motive. So, to banish such thoughts just do it already, please! Or must I cancel my Spotify premium family account and upgrade my wife's Apple Music account to a family plan again? Apple's shuffle is a true(r) shuffle, and it shows when we stream from her account.

[majogl]

@b5kk1waxqlhpehs 
No. As it's been said many times in this thread, the most likely culprit is the money, spotify gets from the artists, that pay "to be seen". In other words, pay spotify to cram them down people's throat. For example:
Spotify algorithm: "Oh, I see you like Tarja Turunen based on recent plays and likes... Here is some related music... taylor swift, she is also a female singer... Oh you dislike every song from her that comes up? Surely that will change if you just give her another chance. She must be popular since she can afford to pay us so much money to "suggest" her to people..."

[rozeboosje]

Artists barely get paid enough to half starve by Spotify.

But it's definitely money. I bet the real pressure is coming from the record companies. "Spotify can have the rights to stream OUR catalog but ONLY if it prioritises our cash cows. If it doesn't, we will pull our entire catalog."

Spotify cannot afford to lose entire catalogs from major record labels.

This is the curse of being the first. Spotify needed to legally stream music, and the record labels put them over a barrel and rogered them HARD. They are still stuck in whatever agreements they made back then.

The newer kids on the block don't have that albatross hanging around their neck. And if Spotify (read: Daniel Ek) had any guts they would turn around to the record labels and go "okay, you want to play hard ball, pull your catalog. See how THAT works out for you". But Daniel doesn't care or doesn't dare. Or he is too busy selling weapons to aggressors. Take your pick.

[jesuslivesinme]

FWIW,

I have posted here a few times and expressed my opinions about the overabundance/UNREASONABLE amount of repeats. I have been on the bandwagon and dispaired of anything being done about it because, as stated before, it HAS to be about money.

I posted the first message recently about the "new" fewer repeats shuffle setting, and the short story is that now, a few weeks after reinstalling and choosing that option, I am pleasantly surprised. I didn't notice a change right away for some reason, but now, after a couple of weeks, I am seeing tons of songs that I haven't heard in a minute. There are still a small number of repeats (of the songs that Spotify was repeating before), but I have to say it is way better for me. I only have about 2500 songs in my main playlist; maybe that is a factor.

I am now content to stay with Spotify because I am firmly entrenched in the software and how it works, as well as dozens of curated playlists and audiobooks. So at this point, the repeats are not enough to run me off anymore. 

A "no repeats" option would really be nice, but I can wait, or I can live with the way it is for now.

[MihailY]

Updated on 2025-12-02

Hey everyone,

Thanks for coming to the Spotify Idea Exchange and sharing your feedback.

We're setting this idea to Implemented with the introduction of the Fewer Repeats shuffling option which takes your recent listening history into account and can be found in Settings - Playback - Shuffle mode. Check out this For the Record post for more info.

Once again, thanks for helping us make Spotify better, by participating here on the Community!

[restaurant_boy]

Imagine considering this implemented