Your Year in Music and Video: YouTube Rolls Out Annual Recap

Following the success of Spotify’s year-end recap, YouTube is joining the trend with a new feature designed to celebrate users’ personal viewing and listening habits. The YouTube Recap officially rolled out on the 2nd of December, first for users in North America, with the rest of the world set to get access over the week.

Accessible exclusively through the YouTube Music app, the Recap feature highlights the music, podcasts, and channels that defined your year. For heavy listeners, Recap shows your top artists and songs, top genres, and even snapshots of your international music listening.

This mirrors Spotify’s popular approach, giving users a chance to reflect on their year in music while also encouraging sharing and social engagement.

But YouTube Recap goes beyond the songs. The feature uses up to 12 cards to showcase not only what you watched and listened to, but also your evolving interests and viewing patterns throughout the year.

Users can even see which personality type they most resemble, based on their content choices, from Adventurer and Skill Builder to Creative Spirit. Among YouTube users, the most common personalities are the Sunshiner, Wonder Seeker, and Connector, while Philosopher and Dreamer remain rare.

According to YouTube, the feature was built through extensive testing and user feedback: nine rounds of user testing and over 50 concept tests helped shape the final experience. The company emphasises that Recap is meant to be personal, reflecting individual habits and preferences rather than simply providing data points. It’s an attempt to make the end-of-year review a more engaging, interactive experience, rather than just a static list of top songs or channels.

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Recap is accessible directly on the homepage or under the “You” tab on mobile and desktop devices. Users are encouraged to explore, save, and share their highlights with friends, making it both a reflection of their 2025 habits and a social experience. The integration with YouTube Music is particularly strategic, signalling the platform’s efforts to keep users engaged within its ecosystem and encourage longer listening sessions.

The feature also reflects YouTube’s broader strategy to compete in the music space. By offering personalised insights and year-end summaries, the company can attract more users to the YouTube Music app, encourage app loyalty, and position itself as a platform that celebrates both video and music culture.

Personalised recaps have proven effective at driving user interaction, and this new rollout positions YouTube to leverage that momentum.

So, whether you’re revisiting top artists, favourite videos, or discovering how your tastes evolved over the year, YouTube Recap offers an organised and visually engaging view of your year in content.

The feature promises to make looking back at 2025 not only fun but also social, giving users new ways to connect over shared interests and musical journeys.