Search API Returns Irrelevant Track on Limit=1

[ooneoneo]

Plan

Premium

Country

Malaysia

Device

Mac Mini M2

Operating System

macOS 15.4.1

My Question or Issue

I’ve been experimenting with the Spotify Web API (v1) and noticed something odd with the /search endpoint that I’m not sure how to explain. I’m wondering if anyone else has encountered this or can shed some light.

Here are two specific examples:

1. Request:
   /v1/search?q=not%20like%20us&limit=1&type=track
   Expected: “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar
   Actual: “LUTHER (with SZA)” by Kendrick Lamar, SZA

2. Request:
   /v1/search?q=i%20gotta%20feeling&limit=1&type=track
   Expected: “I Gotta Feeling” by The Black Eyed Peas
   Actual: “We Hug Now” by Sydney Rose

In both cases, if I increase the limit to 2 or higher, the expected result appears correctly as one of the top items. This makes me wonder:

• Is this an issue with how the API handles ranking when limit=1?

• Could it be a token/authorization scope issue?

• Or am I structuring my query incorrectly?

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!