Spotify appears to have axed 'Viral 50' charts globally

Spotify’s Viral Charts were a viral set of daily/weekly rankings that highlighted songs getting the most “buzz” on the platform, which have now reportedly been discontinued.

Posts from reputable pop news accounts on X shared this news, such as Pop Base, Pop Crave, and chart data. It’s worth noting that the Viral Charts were completely different from the “Top 50/ Top 200” charts.

The “Top” charts are determined objectively, based on the raw and eligible number of streams per song. Songs taken into account are pre-adjusted for fraud. The “Viral” charts were probably based on engagement, shares, and “buzz” in general. 

They were titled as “Viral 50 – USA,” or “Viral 50 – India,” and sometimes also included specific cities. It was basically a method of determining which songs were going viral at a particular time, outside of conventional streaming numbers as a metric.

A recent increase in plays, how often the song was shared, and “new listener discovery” were apparently used as the main metrics, but most people felt that the Viral Charts didn’t make much sense.

It’s not just posts on X sharing the news, but Spotify’s charts website no longer shows the “Viral” section. Opening the usual link to the Global Viral 50 playlist displays a “Playlist is unavailable” error, also indicating that it’s no longer available.

Spotify hasn’t disclosed the exact reasons for the discontinuation, and while the company has yet to issue an official statement, it’s possible that the move could be an effort to combat stream manipulation and AI-generated “spam” tracks that have recently cluttered engagement-based rankings.

Spotify might find a way to bring the Viral Charts back under a different name with other metrics, but this is mere speculation at the moment.

Since there’s no proper announcement on social media pages or the Spotify Newsroom, the main source of information at the moment is posts on X, the broken links, and the absence of the charts in general.

Users have mixed feelings about this, with some calling the chart pointless anyway. Others feel it was done because too many of the spots on the chart were just occupied by songs that were momentarily viral on TikTok. A few were disappointed because it was apparently a way of discovering niche music, spawning several unexpected hits.

We’ll keep this article updated with more information, as and when Spotify announces the replacement for Viral Charts.

Disclaimer: The Featured Image was generated with AI.

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