shuffle playlist seems to play the same songs

[hypergreatthing]

Whenever i'm in the car, i turn on android auto and play a playlist that's already on shuffle, but on the way home i hear the same songs. I have 809 songs in the playlist, i don't think in a 15 minute drive i should be hearing the same sequence of songs.

[Fillinule]

Why do some songs on my playlist play more ofthen than others and how do I change this? I want all songs played as often.

[dcmrobin]

Please can we review this topic/problem again? It is now 2025, and my liked songs are playing the songs that I listen to most, instead of a true shuffle. It'd be nice to hear some of the ones that I haven't heard in a while, no? The smart shuffle was a nice addition, but the current normal shuffle option doesn't seem to be a true shuffle of one's playlist...

[Fillinule]

Anyone knows?

[Roadrunner54]

Well well Spotify you didn't like my post ? Instead of resolving this issue you just decided to delete my post (the truth hurts)? Well done Spotify, well done!

Instead of lying about this and saying this issue is solved maybe try to be transparant about the fact why people have to listen to the same songs over and over again. But I'm sure you won't and I wonder how long it will take before you delete this too.

[Joan · Accepted solution]

Hi there folks,

Thanks for all the replies.

We just wanted to reach out and inform you all of the intended behaviour of Shuffle and what to expect from it.

The default Spotify shuffle algorithm is designed to randomize playback order within a playlist or album and does not intentionally prioritize songs based on your listening history or perceived favorites. There are other options such as Smart Shuffle that can mix in recommendations or adjust sequencing, but even these do not explicitly prioritize your most-listened tracks.

If you notice certain songs coming up more often, it is usually due to the statistical quirks of randomness in large playlists, or because of specific playlist configurations—not because the shuffle algorithm is weighting songs by listening frequency.

Hope this clears things up. If you experience any anomalies or you believe shuffle isn't behaving as intended, don't hesitate to let us know so we can look into it and assist you. If the question you have is noticeably different from the discussion in this thread, please open a separate thread in the appropriate Help section.

Cheers!

[clownfragment]

Ok, the comedy of this is I'm literally a data scientist who has studied stochasticity (system randomness) across multiple domains, from number theory (emergent patterns in pi digit summations) to exoplanet signals to occurrences of medical malpractice. My whole professional life is dedicated to discerning causality from different types of correlated and "random" events.

I was so bothered by this spotify bullsh*t that I built multiple samples off of differing sizes of playlists. Short story, this mod response is just false. I don't know the "random" algorithm Spotify uses within playlists, but give me a couple months and some frustration and I suspect I could propose a hypothesis (I'll probably just cancel my subscription instead). In the meantime, please don't gaslight.

I miss Winamp

[Scottishvillain]

This can not be true. I have a playlist of 4822 songs, and I hear the same SEQUENCE of songs coming on across devices whilst all my devices are on shuffle.

So this is across different networks, on different devices and your "shuffle" manages to play the same sequence of songs across days? Quit the nonsense and fix the BASIC function

[KillerFangz]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

Google Pixel 9, Windows 11 Desktop, and Windows 10 Laptop

Operating System

See above section

My Question or Issue

This is more of a bug report than anything. I have a playlist that is over 1500 songs. However, when I hit shuffle, the shuffle gets like 30-50 songs, and just loops through them. If I manually select another song in the playlist, it plays the song, then goes back to where it was in the loop it made, and on a repeat through the loop does not include the "new" song in the loop. The loop is consistent across devices and time. The only "solution" I've found is playing another playlist then going back to the one I want and shuffling a new loop of 30-50 songs. I'm 99% sure this will get turned down, but if you want, I can fix this bug myself with access to the code.

[SirRoxas]

I looked this up to. Whenever I leave the app (not closing it) and let it run in the backround. It'll soon loop back to the same 10 - 30 sequenced song.

So my fix to it was to clear the cache. I just did it and then I shuffled the like song playlist a couple of time. So far the sequence has not appeared yet

[Vasil]

Hey folks! 

Some of you have reported that only a specific bracket of your playlists is being repeated.

While the expected behaviour here is that Shuffle is completely random and shouldn't prioritize any songs, we've noticed your feedback and we're eager to look into this for you, so we'd like to ask you for the following details:

• The URI of an affected playlist.
• How many songs it contains and roughly how many of them get played & repeated?
• Does this happen with only specific playlists or all of them?
• The device this occurs on & its OS version.
• Your Spotify app version.
• The time & date this has occurred on so that we can check your activity backstage.

Tip: Note that clearing your cached data has been reported to reset this behavior.

Cheers! We'll be on the lookout for new replies here 🙂

@SirRoxas @KillerFangz @Scottishvillain @clownfragment 

[Loneliest_Cabin]

Hi folks, also worth noting that the shuffle behaviour changed fairly recently so @KillerFangz when you shuffle a playlist, and then click another track in the playlist or queue, it will play that track, but preserve the original shuffle sequence, so will continue with that sequence. To get a fresh shuffle, you need to toggle the shuffle button on/off. 

If you are experiencing repetition when toggling the shuffle button on/off, then please provide the details as @Vasil noted above. 

[Monalicious]

Thank you for looking into this!

Requested Information:

- UTL: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0h1sw8kJx380Ycl87Sjho3
- 131 songs
- Repeats maybe 30-40% more often than others. I know that the system is
going by how frequently I listen to vs. skip a song. It would be nice if
that were a feature you could turn on/off.
- It affects all of my playlists, from what I can tell.
- Windows app on Windows 11 and my Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus
- App version 9.0.78.1116
- It's happened with all lists at all times, so there's no specific time
I can list.

Thank you again for considering this. I understand that it may not be
possible, but I still appreciate the examination. When I notice it more, I
do clear the cache.

[KillerFangz]

@Vasil

URI: spotify:playlist:50pmdoJy8lZ9FjCzJ1UMle

The playlist has 1552 songs. Roughly only 30-50 get played in a loop.

All of them.

All of my devices, so Pixel 9 Android 16, Laptop windows 10, Desktop windows 11. The loop persists across devices. So the same loop is present across all devices.

Spotify version on windows 11: Spotify for Windows (64 bit) 1.2.72.438.g8c88c31c

Version on pixel 9: 9.0.80.1343

Yes. It happens anytime I do a shuffle, so all the time.

[_XI]

Hello! I too am getting the same problem that was mentioned before by the other user. I understand that Smart Shuffle is now the default for the mobile free experience; however, whenever I click on the shuffle button to play my playlists, it keeps on playing the exact same song each time. Even when I decide to listen to the song that it initially puts on for when I shuffle my playlist, if I were to decide to temporarily close the app to take a break for a couple minutes before opening up the app again and pressing the shuffle button again, the same exact initial song plays again. Also, if I were to listen to the initial song then decide to press the shuffle button to another playlist of mine to see what comes up then decide to go right back to listening to the previous playlist, it plays the initial song for a second time, regardless of the fact that I quite literally just finished listening to that exact song in that exact playlist. I've also tried to skip the initial song so that it plays some other song other than just that one but if I decide to press the shuffle button again later, it will once again play that same initial song that I had to skip not too long ago.

I'm a daily user of Spotify and for these past few weeks, I've noticed that at least for me, the initial song that plays when you press the shuffle button will be the exact same for an entire day (meaning that almost every single time I press the shuffle button for that playlist during that day, the song that initially starts playing in the shuffle will be the exact same song every single time that button is pressed for that playlist until the day is over). Then the next day, it chooses another song to have as the initial song to play every single time the shuffle button is pressed.

Also, lets say that I decide to just play a specific playlist through instead of occasionally switching it up in the middle, like the other user lightly mentioned, the shuffle doesn't actually shuffle and instead plays around the same few songs in a shuffled order, despite the fact that the playlist I'm playing has hundreds of other songs to play other than those same few songs that plays every single time.

As a result, I'm being forced to listen to either completely random songs that pop up (which is a result of the Smart Shuffle feature) or I'm being forced to listen to the exact same songs in a playlist with the exact same initial song that plays every single time whenever the shuffle button is pressed that day for that playlist.

I've previously tried to force close the app, clear the cache, and reinstall the app by using those exact steps provided in the earlier link. I'm still getting these same problems of being forced to listening to the exact same song every time the shuffle button is being pressed that day and I'm still having to listen to a similar list of songs in the shuffle (despite the fact that the playlists I'm shuffling are full of a copious amount of songs other than those specific ones I’m hearing all of the time).

[Bookerj]

Absolute garbage, I've had this constant issue now for months, I've got a playlist of 1400 songs and it keeps going back to the same ones, shuffle feature is useless, may as well cap the playlists as the shuffle feature only plays around 50 or 60 and then repeats, whole idea is the randomness when having a large playlist, may as well have multiple playlists if you can't fix the issue.  Ive already cancelled my subscription,  not paying for a service I don't get.  Whoever designed the algorithm needs to understand the perception of the shuffle function 

[trishpage]

This is exactly how I feel!

[12138189748]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

Samsung S22 & Laptop (Spotify in web browser)

My Question or Issue

When listening to Spotify on my phone and then logging into Spotify while at work, the shuffled playlist I already listened to on my phone will replay. It's not just some of the same songs in a different order - it's all of the same songs in the exact same order.
Likewise, when I'm using the web browser at work and then transfer to my phone, the exact same thing occurs.
Yesterday, I was using the web browser and paused my music for a meeting and then went to lunch. When I came back to my laptop about 1.5 hours later, my browser refreshed and the exact same shuffled list of songs that I had listened to all morning started over. Again, all of the same songs in the exact same order.

Anyone have any insight or advice to fix this?

[Vasil]

Hey @12138189748, @trishpage, @Bookerj & @_XI,

As we're currently looking into this behaviour of Shuffle, could you share with us the requested details from my post above? Many thanks in advance!

[Blahamburger21_]

Plan

Free/Premium

Country

Device

(iPhone 8, Samsung Galaxy 9, Macbook Pro late 2016)

Operating System

(iOS 10, Android Oreo, Windows 10,etc.)

My Question or Issue

Songs being repeated on my 2000 song playlist even though I have auto play off

[Roadrunner54]

People don't be fooled, the only reason this happens is because this way they have to pay less royalties to the record companies. They are "looking into this" for more than five years now.