Songs play in different order when filtered by artist

[EmmanuelGC]

Hello there, I'm a IOS user and I've found an "issue" after I installed the new version, not sure if the change was intended or what happend but looking to get some feedback if there's a fix incoming for this or a workaround.

I made a playlist a while back and I've been adding new songs and artists, however I wanted to get them all sorted by artist. I found the filter and this worked wonders prior to the update, however, once the update rolled I have found out that my songs now play in a way different order than it shows in the list. I added a pair of images that show what I'm talking about.

I'm just curious if this was some sort of intended change or there's something that's making my playlist play the songs in a weird order, and also if there's a workaround for this. Also this only happends with artist filter, the custom order plays correctly in order.

Without further ado, thank you in advance for your comments and advice.

[musiccornercv]

Hey @EmmanuelGC!

Thanks for posting in Spotify Community! You have one of the most readable posts I've seen in ages. Thanks a million for that. 

From what I gather, it still sorts your playlist per artist, just in a different order than before. Is that right? I haven't heard of that one before. Let's try the basic stuff first. Try reinstalling Spotify. That way your settings all go back to original, and that solves 99% of the stuff.

Tell me if this works- if it doesn't we'll just continue troubleshooting. 😉

[EmmanuelGC]

Thank you for the response and for the compliments, was actually worried that my post wasn't clear!

Yeah, that's right, it sort of plays it by artist, just the order of the songs and albums from the artist is totally different from what is actually shown on the list, the "Next From" list however shows the songs that will play next in the random order accurately.

I've tried to make some sense from this random order but it follows no pattern like order alphabetically or even by album, it just plays whatever it wants from that artist.

I tried reinstalling the app but to no avail, the playlist was redownloaded and ordered by artist and still plays songs randomly, even with the shuffle option turned off, I'll check if there's any other options that I'm missing. Also when I use my PC (WINDOWS) the playlist ordered by artist plays in the correct order shown on the list, so this only happends on my phone.

Again, thank you for your advice! I'll see if I can figure something else as well.

[musiccornercv]

Hey!

Good to hear things are working on your PC. That makes it even stranger that it isn't working on your phone though...

Even stranger: I tried to reproduce the issue, but I can't find the 'sort by Artist' option on my iPhone at all. I never used it before the update, so I have no idea if that's new. I can only sort by 'Title' or 'Recently added'. Can you explain where you find the option?

[EmmanuelGC]

Surely, the option is at the top of my playlist where the Filter textbox is, the option is in the menu.

From there I have four options:

Custom

Title

Artist

Recently Added

I'll add a few images that show this.

Thank you for your time as well! Looking forward more comments on this.

[musiccornercv]

Right! Got it.

Those optios are only available in Playlists, not in Songs. Seems like I have the same problem when I sort on Artist. It's sorted on artist, but in random order.

I can't seem to find a fix anywhere. You could of course

1. sort on artist on your PC
2. then drag the song into a custom (alphabetical) order,
3. then select 'Custom' when playing the songs on your phone,

but that's only a workaround and a bit of a pain.

I'll tell you if I find a better solution!

[Chris91825]

It's a bug

https://community.spotify.com/t5/iOS-iPhone-iPad/Playing-in-different-order/td-p/1566322

[musiccornercv]

Hey @Chris91825!

Thanks for replying. I think both issue might indeed be caused by the same bug, although this one appears slightly differnt. I've left a reply to the thread you linked. 😉

[musiccornercv]

Hey @EmmanuelGC

It appears to be a bug. I've found some info on it too:

This seems to happen when users have a playlist that contains multiple songs from the same artists/albums. When the playlist is sorted by anything other than Custom (e.g. Recently Played, Title, Artist), it will not play in the same order that is shown in the playlist view.

We're working on it!