Spotify deleting yearly recap playlists gratuitously

[3thereal_LynXX]

This is a feature that many of us await each year. Even though for some like me these playlists are often quite similar to the previous ones, because we listen to the same songs.
I like to have a little "history" of my listening and have held tight to these playlists since 2016 and was only disappointed that it was not a thing since I started using the app in 2013.

Anyways I just went to play my songs from 2018, and lo and behold, nada!

Turns out all these fabled playlists from 2015-2019 have just been erased without a warning. Nice.
All that remains "Your Top Songs" 2020-2015.

This paired with the many other issues, such as Spotify gradually creeping up its prices, "shuffle" struggling for dear life to play anything other than a ten 5-10 songs loop, and more - kind of starts to grate.

Is there a reason for doing this? And I doubt it, but is there a way to retrieve any of these cherished playlists?

Thanks