Spotify started this whole thing. Then Apple Music copied it. Then, literally every streaming service scrambled to build its own version of the year-end recap because, apparently, we all love being told what we already listened to. Now YouTube’s joining in.
YouTube Recap is rolling out starting today in North America. Everyone else gets it by the end of the week.
Where to Find It
Check your YouTube homepage or tap the You tab. That’s it. No hunting through settings or waiting for an email notification.
What You Actually Get
The recap shows up to 12 cards covering your 2025 viewing habits. Your top channels, what topics you kept coming back to, how your watching patterns shifted throughout the year. There’s also a personality type thing based on your video preferences – YouTube’s attempt at the “what kind of listener are you” format that Spotify perfected.
If you’ve been using YouTube for music (and plenty of people have – it’s still the biggest music streaming platform by raw numbers), you’ll see top artists and songs mixed in. The YouTube Music app goes deeper with genre breakdowns, podcast stats, and international listening data.
The Spotify Effect
Worth noting why this exists at all. Spotify Wrapped became a genuine cultural moment. Every December, social feeds flood with those colorful cards showing people’s listening habits. Free marketing, massive engagement, and users doing the promotion work themselves.
YouTube sat out that party for years. Strange choice given they have more watch data on people than almost anyone. They know what you watched at 2 am when you couldn’t sleep. They know your rabbit holes. They know the tutorial videos you replayed six times.
Now they’re packaging all of that into shareable cards. Expect your feeds to get even more crowded come December.
