how to get your listening data

what's a scrobble?

a scrobble is one play of a song, saved to your Last.fm profile: the artist, the song, and when you played it.

every play adds one more, so over months and years your scrobbles turn into a complete diary of your listening. it keeps growing no matter which app you use, and it stays yours even if you switch apps.

why bother?

• see your top artists, albums, and songs for any week, month, year, or all time
• one history for everything, even if you listen on more than one app
• spot patterns, like the album that got you through a hard month
• use tools that read your history, like top labels on this site
• it's free

how to set up scrobbling

step 1: make a free Last.fm account

sign up at last.fm/join. your username is what you'll type into tools like top labels.

step 2: connect the app you listen on

if you use spotify

1. on Last.fm, go to Settings
2. open the Applications tab
3. click Connect next to Spotify and say yes on Spotify's screen

that's it. it scrobbles from your phone, computer, and the web player. a song counts once you've played about half of it, and it shows up on Last.fm within a couple of minutes.

if you use apple music

apple doesn't have a built-in Last.fm connection, so you add a small scrobbler app:

• iPhone or iPad: my pick is Marvis Pro. it plays your Apple Music library, scrobbles to Last.fm, and it's a better app than Apple Music itself. it's a one-time $9.99 on the App Store. connect Last.fm in its settings and just listen in Marvis instead of the Music app.
• Mac or Windows: a desktop scrobbler that watches the Music app, or a browser extension if you use the web player
• Android: a scrobbler app that you give notification access, so it can see what's playing

✦ scrobbling starts from the day you connect. it can't go back and add songs you played before.

✦ if scrobbles ever stop showing up, disconnect the app in Last.fm settings and connect it again. that fixes it almost every time.

don't want to scrobble? get your data straight from the app

spotify

• Wrapped: your year in music, released every December in the Spotify app
• download your full history: in Spotify, go to Account, then Privacy settings. request your account data (recent listening, arrives in a few days) and, separately, your extended streaming history (every song since you joined, can take up to 30 days). both are free.

apple music

• Replay: your top songs, artists, and albums, updated through the year. find it in the Home tab of the Apple Music app or at replay.music.apple.com. it shows up once you've listened enough.
• request a copy of your data: at privacy.apple.com, sign in and request a copy of your Apple Media Services information, which includes your Apple Music play activity.

what i listen with

and on my phone, i listen in Marvis Pro so everything scrobbles.

what you need for each tool here

• push my tastes: nothing, just type the artists you love
• top labels: a Last.fm username
• themed playlists and girls to know: nothing, just listen