In the old days, when people listened to the radio, no one really knew anyone's taste in music unless they told them. Then, we started buying singles and albums, on vinyl and CD, and people could rifle through our record collections to build up a picture of our listening habits.

Now, unless you're a vinyl-buying hipster, you probably stream all of your music. And that is allowing the companies responsible to build detailed profiles of our musical likes and dislikes. They know what we listen to, when we listen to it, and what it reveals about our personalities.

This enables companies such as Spotify to recommend content to you as an individual in a way that has never been possible before. It explains the power of those automagic playlists that help you discover new music when you're blindly tapping through the app looking for inspiration.

If you have ever wondered what kind of profile Spotify is building on you, you're in luck. Because the streaming service has built Spotify.Me, a website which reveals your music listening habits based on the songs, artists, and genres you've listened to on Spotify.

Your Favorite Music

You may think you know who you're favorite artists are, but Spotify knows different. Perhaps you are in denial about your fascination with Nickelback or your unrequited love for Justin Bieber. After all, everyone has guilty pleasures they listen to when no one is around. Unfortunately for you, Spotify is always watching.

Spotify.Me listed my favorite artist over the lifetime of my subscription as Slipknot. Which really doesn't surprise me. They're actually not my favorite band (they're not even in my Top 3). However, they're my go-to when I need to listen to some music to blow the cobwebs away. And only loud, hard, shouty metal will do that.

Your Listening Habits

You probably didn't need Spotify to tell you what music you listen to regularly. However, Spotify also knows what time of the day you listen to music, what trends that music follows, and how diverse your tastes are.

When Do You Listen to Music?

We all have our own routines, whether because of work, eating habits, or our preference for late nights or early mornings. These routines will also affect when we listen to music.

My results show that I tend to have particular times of the day when I listen to music. The first small peak is at 9am, after I've got out of bed, made myself a coffee, and sat down to start work. There's another peak at 4pm, which is just before my girlfriend gets home from work.

The biggest peak is at 9pm, which is, by some standards, quite late to be listening to music. For me though, it's after I've finished work for the day but before it gets too late to blast music out of my Amazon Echo speaker. In other words, I take advantage of this small window of opportunity.

How Do You Listen to Music?

Music can be the perfect antidote to sadness, the perfect background noise for a party, or the perfect way to tell someone you love them. But the tracks you choose are all-important. To cure sadness, you need happy songs, for parties you need something to dance to, and to romance your significant other you need love songs.

Spotify.Me knows what kind of songs you listen to regularly, and has rated them for Energy, Danceability, and Valence. The first two are self-explanatory, but valence, in psychological terms, refers to the inherent positive or negative nature of things. Including music.

My results show that I listen to mostly positive songs, which Spotify describes as "good vibes only." That doesn't mean I'm happy all of the time, but when I'm up I'll listen to positive songs, and when I'm feeling down I'll also listen to positive songs in an attempt to rouse me from that funk.

Do You Have Diverse Tastes?

There are countless songs by countless artists that Spotify groups into 1,500 genres. We all like to think we have diverse tastes in music, but do we really? Spotify knows the truth based on the genres to which all of your songs belong. And your Spotify.Me results may surprise you.

My results suggest my tastes are less diverse than I thought. Sure, my top artists and tracks cover six different genres, but those genres are Rock, Modern Rock, Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal, Indie Rock, and Post-Grunge. Which are all from the same family of heavy guitar music.

Your Music Personality

Finally, Spotify makes some assumptions about your music personality based on your recent listening habits. I am not privy to all of the different results available here, as I can only see the ones Spotify has ascribed to me personally. So only you will know how accurate these are.

Spotify thinks I am "high energy" and "live life at a 10". This is because there is no "chill music" in my recent listening history. Spotify also believes that I'm a "partier" based on the number of party playlists I stream. But that may be more about convenience than anything else.

A Playlist Made Just for You

Spotify would be pointless without playlists, and the streaming service has served up another one based on your Spotify.Me results. This playlist is comprised of songs Spotify recommends based on your recent streaming history. So some artists and tracks may be familiar, while others will be completely new to you.

How Well Does Spotify.Me Know You?

You now know more about my taste in music than I feel comfortable sharing. But I've let you take a sneaky peak into my world in order to help you dissect your own Spotify.Me results. And I hope you'll now return the favor by sharing any insights you've gained from Spotify's deep-dive into your listening habits.

Were you surprised by any of your results? Do you listen to certain artists more than you thought? Please let us know in the comments below, or share your Spotify.Me playlist for us all to enjoy!