v1/search offset paremeter changes total results

[mercwrite]

Country

United States

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

When using the '/v1/search' API endpoint, it returns a total amount of search results relating to the query. However, when attempting to change the offset, this total amount of results changes when it is not supposed to.

Example query 1:

'https://api.spotify.com/v1/search?q=tame%2520impala&type=track&limit=20'

Response to query 1:

{
  "tracks": {
    "href": "https://api.spotify.com/v1/search?query=tame%2520impala&type=track&locale=en-US%2Cen%3Bq%3D0.9&offset=0&limit=20",
    "limit": 20,
    "next": "https://api.spotify.com/v1/search?query=tame%2520impala&type=track&locale=en-US%2Cen%3Bq%3D0.9&offset=20&limit=20",
    "offset": 0,
    "previous": null,
    "total": 870,
    "items": [...]
}

In this first response, the total results is 870

Example query 2:

'https://api.spotify.com/v1/search?q=tame%2520impala&type=track&limit=20&offset=80'

Only the offset parameter changes

Example response 2:

{
  "tracks": {
    "href": "https://api.spotify.com/v1/search?query=tame%2520impala&type=track&locale=en-US%2Cen%3Bq%3D0.9&offset=80&limit=20",
    "limit": 20,
    "next": "https://api.spotify.com/v1/search?query=tame%2520impala&type=track&locale=en-US%2Cen%3Bq%3D0.9&offset=100&limit=20",
    "offset": 80,
    "previous": "https://api.spotify.com/v1/search?query=tame%2520impala&type=track&locale=en-US%2Cen%3Bq%3D0.9&offset=60&limit=20",
    "total": 868,
    "items": [...]
}

The total has changed to 868 for an unknown reason.

This happens across many different queries, this is just one example. Is this a bug in the API? or is this the proper functionality?

Is there a way to make sure the total returned in the response is consistent? I have used the track tag, which seemed to work, but it limited the search results too much and I'd rather not use it.