Spotify is shaking up its shuffle to make things less repetitive
The streaming giant is updating Shuffle with a new ‘Fewer Repeats’ mode to keep playlists fresh and cut down on tracks you’ve recently listened to.
Spotify refreshes shuffle
Spotify is rolling out a new shuffle mode designed to make your playlists feel a lot less predictable. Called Fewer Repeats, the feature looks at the songs you’ve recently listened to and actively tries to avoid playing them again too soon. The result is a fresher listening experience that feels more like a true shuffle.
“Instead of giving you one random order and calling it a day, we now generate hundreds of truly random versions of your playlist. Then we score each one for freshness, looking at how recently you’ve played certain songs, how much variety is packed into the opening stretch, and whether you’re getting repeats too soon.”
Lauren Saunders, Spotify’s Product Director for Personalization (via TechCrunch)
For artists, that means more opportunities to get rediscovered as older tracks resurface again, especially those that tend to get buried when listeners keep hearing the same handful of songs.
What else is changing?
Spotify is also updating Smart Shuffle, which adds recommendations into your queue based on your listening habits.
Now, Premium users can now toggle Smart Shuffle off for the first time, giving them more control when they want to listen without added suggestions. Plus, whether you’re a Free or Premium user, you can now tap any track while shuffling to play it next without reshuffling the entire queue.
How to change your Shuffle settings
For Premium users, Fewer Repeats is now the default shuffle option. But, if you prefer the older Standard Shuffle mode, switching back is simple:
- Head to your Spotify Settings.
- Tap playback.
- Choose your preferred Shuffle mode: Fewer Repeats or Standard
Why it matters
The update might feel subtle, but it reinforces Spotify’s bigger push to give users more control over their listening experience. A less repetitive shuffle means: more variety for users, better visibility for artists across a wider range of tracks, and a healthier spread of plays across playlists.
Spotify has launched several features recently that follow this same theme of greater control over their listening. This year, Spotify has introduced the ability to exclude tracks from your Taste Profile, Smart Filters for your library, and you can now Snooze tracks you don’t want to hear for a while.
Wrapping up
A Fewer Repeats shuffle option might feel like a small tweak, but it could have a real impact on how people listen to and rediscover music. For users, that means a more fresh listening experience without everything sounding too familiar. Meanwhile for artists, that means more chances for older tracks to pop back up in listeners’ rotations.
Either way, it’s a testament to Spotify’s continued push to enhance the user listening experience.
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