It’s great to switch things up and put your playlists on shuffle, but when it comes to playing an entire album it’s a different story. To each their own, of course — if you really want to shuffle everything then that’s not really a bad thing, but some artists put a lot of work into their albums, from the songs themselves right down to the order in which they play.
This is a concern that Adele brought up when she released her new album 30. The 33-year-old singer tweeted on Saturday that playing her new album’s songs in the order she intended was “the only request [she] had in our ever changing industry.”
And it looks like Spotify heard the singer, because after her request, the music streaming platform made a change to one of its features — the option to play album tracks on shuffle has been removed on all album pages, so listeners would have to listen to the album tracks in the order that the artists arranged them in. Spotify also dropped a reply on Adele’s tweet: “Anything for you.”
Anything for you 🙏✨
— Spotify (@Spotify) November 21, 2021
A lot of listeners immediately noticed the change on album pages, and fans of the singer took to Twitter to express their awe at the power move. Some also thanked her for convincing Spotify to get rid of the default shuffling option for playing albums because they recognize that many artists put effort not only in writing their songs, but also in the order they’re played.
Adele came back and is whipping the industry back into shape. Physical sales are soaring, Spotify taking the shuffle button off of albums… I love it.
— Mel Smith (@iamMelsmith) November 21, 2021
This is so interesting. One of Spotify's "pay us" pain points is that they shuffle everything if you don't pay for the service. Adele got them to remove that selling point for all albums, not just her own. Incredible use of power and privilege. https://t.co/yaCyCm4JR0
— Leslie Mac (@LeslieMac) November 21, 2021
! This is so important !
I'm a firm believer that albums and EPs should be listed to chronologically kaya I find it weird that Spotify's default button is for shuffle.
There is storytelling in how you arrange songs in an EP so please listen chronologically for your first time. https://t.co/5bUReLB9al
— max 🦸♂️ (@guanzoned) November 22, 2021
woah.. no more shuffle option on spotify albums anymore! gotta listen the way they were designed to be heard 😌🎧
— KeilahGraceOfficial (@keilahgrace_) November 21, 2021
This is the best news I've heard all year. Thank you, Adele and Spotify. #albums #streaming #shuffle pic.twitter.com/G3R3tkWAPK
— James Main (@j2imrat) November 21, 2021
Shuffle in Spotify albums is not a thing anymore!!! I can finally listen to an album in the right order!!! pic.twitter.com/APB2BfKWIk
— Piper☄️ (@piscesicy) November 21, 2021
Adele making Spotify remove the shuffle function on her albums is a boss level move 👏
— Streetwise (@willstreetwise) November 21, 2021
I just noticed that Spotify removed the shuffle button in every albums! Thank you 🥺💖 pic.twitter.com/BpqkiOfPBw
— marco ✨ (@mrdw_on) November 21, 2021
Spotify getting rid of the shuffle option for albums finally. Good lads. pic.twitter.com/zzxA5l5U8O
— Ciarán Buggle (@CiaranBuggle) November 21, 2021
Huge props to Spotify for removing shuffle play as the default option on albums. You wouldn’t read a book by choosing a random chapter at a time!
— Marshall Verbsky (@MarshallVerbsky) November 21, 2021
For those who still want to shuffle album tracks, you can still do that. Spotify only removed shuffle as the default option for playing album tracks. When you click or tap to view one of the tracks, you can still turn on the shuffle option.
Thanks to Adele, listeners can automatically play album tracks in the order the artists intended. What a queen!
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