Instagram and Spotify have partnered to create ‘Reels Charts’ playlists featuring the namesake short-form offering’s top-50 songs. Photo Credit: Alexander Shatov
Spotify has officially partnered with Instagram to create Reels Charts, or playlists featuring the 50 most popular songs on Instagram’s namesake short-form offering.
The Stockholm-headquartered streaming service and the Meta-owned social platform just recently detailed their tie-up, which has entered the media spotlight as TikTok continues to extend the reach of its own music streaming app. Additionally, ByteDance-owned TikTok earlier this week unveiled an artist-discovery program called Elevate and touted its perceived role as the “ultimate platform for music discovery.”
Not to be outdone, Spotify – which says it’s “constantly looking to expand how fans around the world discover music” – has already integrated Reels Charts in Brazil and Mexico, where streaming is decidedly popular, according to the IFPI. Though the playlist-centered union will presumably reach additional markets down the line, Spotify hasn’t yet disclosed plans to bring Reels Charts to other nations.
The streaming giant has however specified that the playlist charts will account for “several variables,” among them the number of times that songs are used in Reels, tracks boasting “the biggest growth in views,” “levels of engagement” with the appropriate videos, and “overall consumption.”
Reels Charts will receive a weekly update moving forward, per the Spanish-language description of the Mexico playlist, which had about 84,000 likes at the time of this writing. Said playlist’s top-five songs were Myke Towers’ “LALA,” Laurindo Almeida’s “The Lamp Is Low,” Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World,” Enzo’s “Smooth Operator,” and NewJeans’ “Super Shy,” respectively.
Longer term, it’ll be worth keeping an eye out for further joint initiatives from Instagram and Spotify, both of which are (given the ongoing global arrival of TikTok Music in the latter case) rather directly competing with TikTok. About one month back, Instagram finalized the worldwide launch of its “broadcast channels,” and earlier this week, the service revealed a series of Reels templates upgrades.
And beyond TikTok’s aforementioned TikTok Music expansion and Elevate rollout, it’s worth noting in conclusion that the highly controversial app this week announced an enhanced partnership deal with Warner Music Group (WMG).
According to the involved parties, this bolstered agreement has (among other things) licensed the major label’s repertoire for TikTok itself as well as its Commercial Music Library, and the entities are now coordinating to develop “alternative economic models” against the backdrop of a rapidly evolving AI landscape.