Playlists are a pivotal part of the experience on Spotify. Reminder: it’s an audio platform with over 172 million paid subscribers around the world as of the second quarter of 2021. To illustrate how massive the growth has been, we’ll tell you they only had 59 million during the same period in 2017. While interesting to learn, we know it doesn’t play a big part. Having lost your Spotify playlists means you’re a regular user and perhaps one of the paying ones by default. Therefore, we shouldn’t twiddle our thumbs a moment more and get straight into the matter. These are detailed instructions on how to recover a Spotify playlist.
Important reminder
Spotify is all about suggesting incredibly accurate playlists and individual songs you’ll enjoy listening to. Though you can play a playlist for hours upon end, the algorithm tends to switch them up regularly to recommend fresh content or better-suited one. Unfortunately, unless you remember the name, the URL, the creator, or some of the songs, you’ll have to search for it manually.
To clarify, the steps below can only help with your version of the playlist, not auto-suggested Weekly Playlists and such. That is the playlist you generated by clicking or tapping the heart (♡) icon on an audio entry, whether a song, album, or podcast.
1. Recover deleted Spotify playlist
With what we noted acknowledged, it’s time to get to work. Here are two ways to restore an erased playlist from Spotify:
1. Playlists you just deleted
If you have a mishap and accidentally click or tap to delete playlists on Spotify, fear might overtake you. You’ll be relieved to find out that mobile and Smart TV apps may offer you an “Undo” button to tap to revert the process. However, no such thing exists on computer apps or within a browser. Luckily, you can still get the equivalent of Undo by pressing this key combination:
- Cmd (Command) + Z on Mac
- Ctrl (Control) + Shift + Z for Windows
2. Playlists you erased in the last 90 days
Don’t panic if you failed to get Spotify playlists back immediately. The audio streaming service has a backup system that will save erased playlists for 90 days from the time you got rid of them. However, it seems only accessible via an internet browser, not applications for desktop, mobile, and smart TV. With that said, follow these steps to recover your playlist on Spotify removed within the last 90 days:
- Head over to the Spotify Account page.
- Log in with username or e-mail address and password.
- Navigate to the option titled Recover playlists in the menu on the left-hand side.
- You’ll now see a list of all playlists you removed within the aforementioned period. Click on RESTORE next to one or more.
- The playlist you restored will now be positioned on the bottom of the rundown of playlists.
Note. If you want to see it on another device, don’t forget to enable the Internet and let it sync.
2. Can’t find my erased Spotify playlist. What now?
Though you can start building it up again, don’t rush. There are 3 more avenues to explore regarding Spotify playlist recovery:
1. Check you’ve used the correct account
Are you sure the playlist you created was tied to the account you signed in with? It’s not uncommon to log in to the wrong one, especially if it’s been 3 months, and you used a free trial that lasts between 30 and 90 days. Spotify also permits creating accounts via Google and Facebook. You may have to log in to any other accounts to double-check, even if it only makes you conclude the first one was right.
2. Inspect other devices
The syncing with mentioned will make sure your data is up-to-date on all devices simultaneously. Therefore, if you haven’t enabled the Internet on one device, there’s a chance the playlist is still present—at least the audio information. Moreover, you might find playlists cached on other apps. For instance, you may discover the playlist you seek was the last thing you listened to on smart TV and is still present in the bottom left corner. You may get one or multiple audio file names that way.
3. Contact Spotify Customer Care
No results? Don’t fret. Spotify has thought of that too, regardless of how rare the occurrence is. Though the data becomes inaccessible to you after 90 days through the aforementioned backup system, it may be available to Spotify Customer Service for some time. Some posts on Community forums suggest the time could be 6 months. Of course, that’s no excuse to slack off and wait months on end, thinking you’re safe. Contact Spotify Customer Support by:
- Twitter: Their team is available on Twitter @SpotifyCares.
- Online Contact Form: Visit the Contact Spotify Support page and log in. Now:
- Go to Technical Issues.
- Tap or click on Missing playlists.
- Select I still need help.
- Fill out the requested details and submit the message.
- Wait for a reply to the e-mail address linked to the link. If you get an automated reply seeking further details, reply to it, although it may be listed as “no-reply”.
