Spotify has had a jam-packed first half of 2021. Beyond celebrating its 15th birthday, the company also introduced various new features related to podcasts. Its owner, Daniel Ek, even said that he's interested in buying Premier League side Arsenal.

Another exciting update for users was its new in-app facelift. On both desktop and smartphone, Spotify now looks a lot more modern.

But the update wasn’t only about aesthetics. The music streaming platform also introduced some interesting new features. Here's the best and how to use them.

How to See Your Top Monthly Songs and Artists

One of the main reasons Spotify has become so popular is because of its personalization capabilities. Now, seeing how your music taste evolves over time is easier thanks to its new updates.

You can now see an overview of your favorite artists and songs for each month on the Spotify desktop app. If you choose to expand the respective tabs, you’ll see your top 10 artists and the 50 songs you’ve listened to the most. Both your top artists and songs are only visible to you.

Finding out which artists and songs you're enjoying at the moment is simple. All you need to do is follow the steps below.

screenshot featuring top artists and songs on spotify
  1. Open the Spotify desktop app.
  2. Click on your name in the top right-hand corner.
  3. Click on Profile.
  4. Scroll down and you'll see your top artists and tracks.

How to See How Many Streams Each Song Has

Have you ever been curious to discover how many plays your favorite song has, but couldn’t because it wasn’t popular at that moment? Well, now you can.

Before Spotify's spring makeover, you could see the five songs that were hottest with an artist's listeners on your smartphone. On your desktop, you could see 10.

Now, however, you can see how many streams an artist has on all of their songs.

spotify number of streams per song

To see how many plays a specific song has, you'll need to use your desktop app. After opening, either search for or click through to the album the song is on.

Related: How to Navigate the Spotify Desktop App

Once there, you’ll see how many plays each song on the album has.

How to Organize Your Library and Pin Tracks

If you found that your Spotify library was stressful to navigate before, the chances are that you'll now change your mind. As part of its app updates, the place you store your music and podcasts has received a significant overhaul.

Related: Spotify Updates "Your Library" to Make Music and Podcasts Easier to Find

On both the computer and mobile apps, your music, podcasts, artists, and albums have separate tabs at the top of the page. Though this was the case before, the new design is much cleaner.

You can also choose to see all of your music and podcasts in the same place compared to before. Moreover, you can pin your favorite playlists and podcasts to the top of your page.

To pin a playlist or podcast:

  1. Open the Spotify mobile app.
  2. Scroll down to the playlist or podcast you want to pin.
  3. Hold on the artwork until the Pin podcast tab comes up.
  4. Tap on Pin podcast. The changes will take effect immediately.

How to Get The Spotify App Update

To update your Spotify app, go to your phone's app store, navigate to wherever you usually view your downloaded apps, and you should be prompted to download an update.

On your computer, you can update Spotify in your device's app store. Alternatively, the app may automatically refresh the next time you open it. However, if that doesn't work, you can open the app and follow the steps below.

  1. Go to your name in the top right-hand corner.
  2. On the dropdown menu, click on Update Spotify Now.
  3. The app will shut down and then reopen after updating.

Listen With a More Organized Library

Spotify's facelift may have seemed like nothing more than a trendy new look at first. But if you look a little deeper, you’ve now got a few handy new features to play with.

With the new Spotify app, you can see how popular your favorite song is on the platform without running a Google search. Moreover, managing your library and filtering to the content you want to see is a lot simpler.

That said, some people aren't happy with Spotify's design change, and are considering jumping ship to Apple Music.