Streams are the most discussed metric on Spotify, but they are hardly the driving force behind unlocking algorithmic discovery on the platform.

No, that honor is reserved for a far less visible number: popularity score.

Every artist, every album, and every track is assigned a popularity score by Spotify’s algorithm.

And it is this little number that is the best gauge for understanding precisely how our music is performing.

But how can we read this? (Hint: use the Artist X-Ray)

How can we understand what this number means and use it to our benefit?

And most importantly, how high does a song’s popularity score need to be to appear on algorithmic playlists like Radio, Release Radar, Discover Weekly, and even Spotify’s coveted editorial playlists?

Let’s find out.

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Radio & Autoplay

Spotify’s Radio and Autoplay features are the lowest-hanging fruit on the algorithmic “tree” if you will.

But just because these two systems are the easiest to unlock doesn’t make them any less powerful.

In fact, these two discovery avenues are the core of Spotify’s recommendation engine.

Generally speaking, it takes a popularity score of 10% or more for your song to appear alongside similar music in various Radio playlists and autoplay features across Spotify.

But you can expect to start seeing Spotify “test” your track around the 5% mark.

I’ve even seen outlier events where it happens around 2-3%.

So it doesn’t take a ton of work to start pushing your music to new audiences on Spotify.

And if you have a better-than-average song, then your newfound listeners are more likely to engage with the track further and send it up through the ranks to even bigger opportunities very quickly.

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Release Radar

Out of all of Spotify’s algorithmic opportunities, Release Radar is the only one with a time limit on it.

The first four Fridays of release, to be exact.

Release Radar refreshes every Friday and is only for new material, which means you have four weeks to get it right for every new song you put out.

It usually takes a popularity score of 20% or more to end up on Release Radar, but much like Radio and Autoplay, I’ve seen Spotify’s algorithm begin to test this at the 15% mark on more than one occasion.

And depending on the volume of traffic (and the window of time), there may be even bigger outlier events as the popularity score of your track struggles to catch up over the first few days of release.

But the coolest part of Release Radar is that, as long as you pitch your next release to Spotify’s editorial team (read: algorithm), your music will end up on the Release Radar playlist of everyone who follows your artist profile on day one, by default.

A great reason to build that long-term fanbase.

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Discover Weekly

I’ve said it before.

I’ll say it again.

Discover Weekly is the most powerful playlist on Spotify.

Viewed in context, Radio, Autoplay, and Release Radar are all pathways to ultimately unlocking Discover Weekly for your track.

Of course, Discover Weekly is a tougher nut to crack, requiring a popularity score of 30% or more to achieve (I’ve seen it begin to test at 25% though, sometimes even lower than that).

But if you can make it happen, this one playlist can drive a boatload of discovery for your music, triggering the algorithm over and over again, every Monday the playlist refreshes.

And what’s more is that you can get on Discover Weekly any time, no matter the age of your song.

It really is just a matter of driving enough traffic to your song within a short enough window of time to push this score up high enough.

If you can pull it off, this is the playlist to beat all playlists on Spotify.

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Editorial

There are two types of Spotify editorial playlists: personalized and, we’ll call it, real-deal editorials.

Spotify’s personalized editorial playlists are essentially a different kind of algorithmic playlist in disguise.

But the real secret is that the regular, “big boy” editorials are too.

Outside of pulling strings via label deals or similar, songs are not likely to get on any editorial playlist without achieving the requisite popularity score of 50% or more.

Every time I have seen a song end up on one of Spotify’s editorial playlists—personalized or otherwise—it has begun to test at around 45%.

This usually takes the form of the song being auto-played after the end of the listed tracks on multiple “This Is” playlists and a smaller percentage of genre-focused editorials.

Only once a song has exceeded that 50% mark have I ever seen it actually listed as an option on the front-facing playlist.

Now, for most independent artists doing everything themselves, it’s a climb to get to this point.

You either need an undeniable song, a larger-than-average marketing budget or both.

But it is achievable.

And you don’t need any recognition from any playlist curators—Spotify’s, independent, or otherwise—to get there.

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