[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.

[Faremlive]

The shuffle is a great feature. However, the shuffling is repetitive. If you loop with shuffle it will replay all the same songs in the same order. I would rather it randomized the shuffle every loop as this would make the music more spontaneous and fun. Thank you for reading this.

[Mookpsu]

[image: Faremlive]
Faremlive
<>

Read through the 180 pages of complaints in this forum. You will own a
house on Pluto before Spotify offers a true random shuffle. They are going
to let you hear what songs make them the most $$$. Do yourself a favor and
take your hard earned money elsewhere as many of us have

[zx6dude]

"the shuffle is a great feature" 😂😂😂

It should be, but it really isn't and will never be, it would cost a greedy company like Spotify too much money. Profits over customer service. Disgusting. 

[whooliefarkles]

Yes please. True shuffle should just keep track of the songs that have played, and not repeat a song until all songs have played once. I have had the same song come up first eight times in different sessions in a playlist of 400+ songs. That is not what “shuffle” should be. 

[DaveEric]

I have suspicions that the "shuffle play" on Spotify isn't truly a "random shuffle". What do you think?

ChatGPT said:

You're right to be suspicious—Spotify's "shuffle" isn't truly random in the purest sense. Instead, it uses an algorithm that balances randomness with user experience. Here’s why:

1. Preventing Clumping – A purely random shuffle could lead to songs from the same artist or album playing back-to-back. To avoid this, Spotify's shuffle disperses songs more evenly, making it feel more "shuffled" to the average listener.

2. Personalization Bias – Some users have reported that shuffle tends to favor certain songs over others, likely due to Spotify’s algorithm weighing play frequency, skips, and personal listening habits.

3. Algorithmic Weighting – If you've liked or played certain songs more often, Spotify may prioritize them even in shuffle mode. It’s not a strict rule, but there’s evidence of preference influencing the order.

4. Device & Playlist Size Differences – Some users have noticed shuffle behaves differently on mobile vs. desktop. Also, larger playlists may exhibit patterns that seem less random due to Spotify’s clustering method.

If you want to test it yourself, try adding 20 songs to a new playlist and shuffling it multiple times. If certain songs seem to appear earlier or more frequently than expected, it's proof that the shuffle isn't truly random.

You said:

Right. I notice songs coming up more frequently than what I'd expect. Saying, "I just heard that song, how is it coming up again when my playlist is 500 songs long?"

ChatGPT said:

Exactly. If shuffle were truly random, you wouldn’t expect repeats so frequently in a large playlist. Spotify’s algorithm seems to favor certain tracks, likely based on your past behavior—what you’ve played, skipped, or liked. It’s not a true 1-in-500 chance for each song every time you hit shuffle.

Some users have even done tests where they track song appearances, and patterns emerge—some songs get more playtime while others stay buried. This suggests Spotify’s shuffle is influenced by more than just randomness, possibly incorporating:

• Track Weighting – Popular or frequently played songs may be given priority.
• Recency Bias – Songs you’ve recently heard might still have a higher chance of reappearing.
• Session-Based Adjustments – Shuffle behavior might reset or adapt between listening sessions.

One workaround? Manually reshuffle by restarting the playlist or using third-party tools to randomize the order before playing. But yeah, Spotify’s “shuffle” is definitely not a true roll of the dice.

You said:

Well, Spotify used to just shuffle the list and show you the shuffle output, but now it just does it on it's own without actually shuffling the tracks.

ChatGPT said:

Yeah, they changed how it works. Before, you could see the shuffled order in the queue, which meant the playlist was actually randomized upfront. Now, it dynamically picks the next song as you go, so you never see the full shuffle order—just whatever the algorithm decides should come next.

That gives Spotify more control over what you hear, which is likely why you notice repeats or certain songs getting more play. Instead of a fixed random order, it’s more like a curated shuffle with hidden weighting. Probably another way to keep users engaged (or subtly push songs they want you to hear).

If you want real randomness, you’d have to manually reorder the playlist yourself. Otherwise, you’re stuck with whatever “smart shuffle” tricks they’re using.

You said:

Or the other alternative is just play it from start to finish, linearly, so you ensure each song will be played before you get a repeat.

ChatGPT said:

Exactly. Playing it linearly is the only way to guarantee you hear every song once before any repeats. If true randomness isn’t an option, brute-forcing the order yourself ensures full rotation.

A workaround some people use is sorting the playlist by a specific metric (like title, artist, or even manually numbering tracks), then just letting it play straight through. That way, you still get variety without Spotify’s meddling.

Shuffle should mean shuffle, but they’ve turned it into a curated experience. Playing linearly bypasses their algorithm altogether.

You said:

They should give the users more options as opposed to just taking certain things away or changing things. They could put a switch in the settings which allows users to get a true shuffle or a curated shuffle.

ChatGPT said:

100%. Instead of forcing users into whatever system they think is best, they should just add a toggle:

✅True Random Shuffle – Every song has an equal chance of playing, and no weighting or repeats until all songs have played.

🎵Curated Shuffle – Uses their algorithm to balance song selection based on play history, preferences, and other factors.

It’s not like implementing this would be difficult—they already had a more transparent shuffle system before. But instead of giving options, they quietly tweak things, probably to keep engagement up (or subtly push certain content).

Spotify’s whole approach leans toward controlling the user experience rather than empowering the listener. More options would fix that, but they seem more focused on steering people than letting them decide.

You said:

I get a sense that resetting the shuffle does disturb the amount of variety you'll end up getting. If you leave shuffle on and don't disturb it, it's probably pretty good at ensuring there's a decent variety, but if you interrupt it and then go back, it may go back to certain tracks again, but not because of randomness because it tends to prefer playing them more frequently.

ChatGPT said:

That makes sense. If you let shuffle run uninterrupted, the algorithm probably does a decent job of spreading things out over time. But when you reset it—by reshuffling, restarting the app, or skipping around—it seems to revert to its built-in preferences, which can make certain tracks pop up more frequently than others.

This suggests that shuffle isn’t just a random selection process but an adaptive one, meaning it “remembers” what it was doing within a session but loses that context when reset. Once disturbed, it falls back on its weighting system, favoring songs it thinks you want to hear more often.

If true, that would explain why some tracks feel overplayed when shuffle resets, even if you have a huge playlist. It's like the algorithm has favorite picks that it leans on when it doesn’t have a continuous play history to reference. Another case where user control would be better—if you could see the shuffle logic at work, you could adjust it rather than being at its mercy.

You said:

Yea, and if "shuffle play" was able to reference recent plays, it could adjust it's selections, so it doesn't play any song you've recently already heard.

ChatGPT said:

Exactly! If they’re already tracking your listening habits to "curate" shuffle, they could easily add a feature that prevents recently played songs from repeating too soon.

A proper shuffle system could work like this:

1. Session-Based Memory – Tracks what’s been played in the current shuffle session and deprioritizes repeats.
2. Adjustable Recurrence Limits – A setting where you can choose how long before a song can repeat (e.g., "No repeats within 50 songs").
3. Playlist Coverage Tracking – Ensures every song gets played at least once before any repeats (like a true shuffle reset).
4. User-Controlled Shuffle Mode – Let users pick between true randomness, curated shuffle, or “smart shuffle” with anti-repeat logic.

But instead, Spotify gives us this half-baked pseudo-shuffle that sometimes works well, sometimes feels broken, and lacks transparency. They have the data and tech to do better—it’s just a question of whether they want to.

You said:

Great Ideas, GPT!

4o

[Justookurloot]

I will start a playlist and then search a new song. Then have to start playlist over and it seams to play the same songs over again. With over 10,000 songs would think shuffle would move around enough. But a continue playlist feature would be awesome

[Sveum]

It has come to the point of actually deciding to find something else to use for my main music playing app by how much such a tiny little function that has been like this for YEARS when it actually has a logical way of working by its name, it is ridiculous and stupid. I've had my account since the early days when you only could have it by getting invited as i got through winning a thing on my social site before Facebook (Yup just felt old for a sec there, made it even worse!). Used this for about 17 years so it has come to desperate times! Spotify worked alot better before and did what it had to do and not everything else.

Its not rocket science to understanding the importance in actually having a proper shuffle function atleast, but it should actually be better as in normal shuffle that just play your list by randomized order with non breaking up the que just because you change device at most basic level. Then make it whatever more customizable for the wierd kind of people not even asking why.

Me having list by list with hundreds/thousens/even more of songs that i would really like to hear from time to time for the experience of not getting tired of the tiny selection of the same old 50 / 100 (if lucky) songs that is based on my list but choosen by my Spotify in the first place for then keep on choosing the songs i play regualry!? You can cheese it and turn off the auto mix and play a song from a random place in the list etc etc but that is to much when i want to liste to music plain and simple.

That is the thanks and care i get back from the Spotify team for Subscribing to Premium for yeeears i can only go back 2 years in paid history and that is about 330 dollars.. Add 14 - 15 years to that with the growing prices over the time, no need for exact value to know it alot for having an unstable app with focus on things like adding video function to a thing that never had it before, and if it was needed you could use the dedicated thing called Youtube that we have had for years with optimized functions for that.

No one can blame  a man for whining for the first time ever on the internet over this and how it is a hard sour hit in my soul. Shame on you Spotify for being ass in threating your loyal customers. Sorry my wierd typing, not a native american speaker!

[Boskan]

@Blakankallj This is where Winamp used to be best. It had real shuffle, where all songs were played. And then, you had option to go through playlist and select custom sequence for play next, for as many songs as you liked, after which it would still continue to go on shuffle. 

[oddindeed]

hey spotify, why are you trying to play the same song i just listed to? are you stupid? ffs

[rozeboosje]

"are you stupid?"

Now that's a good question. One I'd like to ask those of you who are still parting with your hard earned cash for this pathetic excuse for a "service".