How to Crack the Spotify Algorithm (And Get on Discover Weekly)
Want to know the secret to getting your music discovered on Spotify week after week?
It’s not about going viral.
It’s not about getting lucky with a playlist curator.
It’s about cracking the Spotify algorithm.
The Spotify algorithm isn’t some mysterious force working against you. It’s actually there to help your music reach the right listeners.
You just need to know how to trigger it.
In this guide, we’ll show you exactly how one artist got a new song picked up by Discover Weekly, Release Radar, and Spotify Radio.
Even better? This is a repeatable strategy you can start using today.
What Does “Cracking the Spotify Algorithm” Mean?
When we talk about cracking the Spotify algorithm, we’re talking about getting your music featured on Spotify’s algorithmic playlists. These are the playlists Spotify creates automatically based on listener behavior.
The big three algorithmic playlists are:
Release Radar – Updates every Friday with new music. When someone follows you on Spotify, your new releases have a chance to appear in their Release Radar during the first four weeks after release. It’s not guaranteed – Spotify selects songs based on engagement likelihood and listening behavior.
Discover Weekly – Updates every Monday with personalized recommendations. This is what every artist wants because songs can stay on Discover Weekly for months or even years if they perform well.
Spotify Radio – Plays when someone starts a radio station based on a song or artist. This can generate consistent streams over time.
Algorithmic playlists matter because they represent free, ongoing promotion. Once you crack the algorithm, you’re not paying for every stream. The algorithm does the heavy lifting for you.
The Results: 10,000 Streams in 28 Days
Let’s look at actual numbers from a real campaign.
John from Hypeddit released a new song. In less than a month, it generated over 10,000 streams from about 4,700 listeners.
The most exciting part? Where those streams came from.
The Stream Breakdown:
62% from algorithmic playlists and organic sources – This means the majority of streams were completely free. This includes:
- 2,000 streams from Release Radar (typical for the first four weeks)
- 1,500 streams from Spotify Radio (already building momentum)
- Picked up by Discover Weekly
The song was never placed on any editorial playlists. No playlist curators were paid. No PR agency was hired.
This is what cracking the Spotify algorithm looks like.
Why the Spotify Algorithm Picks Up Some Songs (And Ignores Others)
The Spotify algorithm has two main requirements before it will feature your song:
1. Your Song Needs a Popularity Score of 20-30
Spotify assigns every song on their platform a popularity score from 0 to 100. This score measures the relative popularity of your music compared to everything else on Spotify.
When a song hits a popularity score between 20 and 30, you’re usually in a safe spot to trigger the algorithm.
The timing varies depending on your song quality and budget invested. For this particular song, here’s what it looked like:
- Day 1: Popularity score is 0 (brand new song, no listening history)
- Week 1-2: Streams come in, popularity starts to rise
- Week 3: Popularity hits 23-24 and stays there
- Week 4: Spotify notices and starts testing the song on Discover Weekly
That consistent popularity score sends a signal to Spotify: “Hey, there’s something happening with this song.”
The popularity score is calculated on a 28-day moving time window, which means your promotional activities are most effective when focused within that timeframe. It’s not just about being consistent – it’s about being consistent with enough intensity to actually move the needle above that 20-30 threshold.
2. Spotify Needs to Understand Your Audience
The second requirement is even more important.
Spotify needs to have a clear picture of who your listeners are. What do they have in common? What other music do they like? What’s their listening behavior?
This is where most artists fail.
If your listeners are all over the place – some like rock, some like hip-hop, some like country – Spotify has a hard time figuring out where to recommend your music.
But if your listeners are highly targeted and have clear listening patterns, Spotify can confidently place your song in the right Discover Weekly playlists.
Targeted Ads to Build Algorithm Signals
This is the strategy that got a new song on Discover Weekly:
Run Facebook and Instagram Ads to a Spotify Playlist
Instead of sending people directly to a single song, create a playlist with your music and promote that playlist with ads.
Why this works:
You control who sees your ad. Target diehard fans of your particular genre and style of music. This creates a highly targeted audience of listeners who already like music similar to yours.
Every listener who clicks through is there specifically for your music. This is very different from playlist promotion, where a curator adds your song to a mixed playlist with dozens of other artists. With ads, everyone coming to your playlist is coming for YOU.
Spotify can easily identify patterns in your audience. When all your listeners are passionate fans of your genre, Spotify quickly understands where to recommend your music.
The Technical Setup:
The key is setting up your ad campaigns very carefully so they do exactly what you want them to do. This usually takes a significant learning curve and can be technically complicated – which is exactly why Hypeddit puts the entire process on autopilot. Here’s what’s happening behind the scenes:
- Create a playlist with only your own songs
- Add your latest release to the top of that playlist
- Set up Facebook/Instagram ads that attract genre-specific fans
- Drive traffic to your Spotify playlist
- Monitor your popularity score
- Watch the algorithm pick up your song
Why a Playlist (Not Just a Single Song)?
When you promote a playlist instead of a single track, you get way more streams per listener.
Think about it: if someone clicks your ad and listens to one song, that’s one stream. But if they land on your playlist and it starts autoplaying song after song, that’s 5, 10, even 17 streams per listener.
One artist using this playlist strategy gets an average of 17 streams for every single listener. That’s massive leverage.
This benefits you as an artist overall by building your total stream count and strengthening your presence on Spotify, even though the additional playlist streams aren’t directly counted toward the promoted song’s performance.
Want to set up your first campaign? Hypeddit simplifies the entire process – from creating your smart link to launching Facebook ads that target the right listeners. Start your 7-day free trial.
What Happens After You Crack the Algorithm
Once Spotify picks up your song, something amazing happens: the algorithm starts working for you 24/7.
The typical progression looks like this:
Week 1-3: You’re running ads and building your popularity score
Week 4: Spotify tests your song on a small number of Discover Weekly playlists
Week 5-8: If your song performs well on those test playlists, Spotify adds it to more Discover Weekly playlists
Month 2-6: Your song continues appearing on Discover Weekly every Monday, reaching new listeners
Long-term: Some songs stay on Discover Weekly for literally years, generating thousands of free streams month after month
The key is performance. If listeners save your song, add it to their playlists, or come back to listen again, Spotify keeps pushing it. If they skip it immediately, Spotify pulls back.
Why This Gets Easier Over Time
Most artists don’t realize this: every campaign you run makes the next one more effective.
Your first campaign might take longer to crack the algorithm. But your fifth campaign? It might hit Discover Weekly much faster.
Why? Because you’re building:
- A larger listener base that increases your reach with each release
- A clearer audience profile that Spotify understands better
- Historical performance data that proves your music resonates
- Momentum that carries from release to release
This is why artists who stick with this strategy see exponential growth. It’s not about one viral moment. It’s about consistent, compounding growth that builds month after month.
This is also why we show the popularity score inside of Hypeddit alongside your campaign results – so you can monitor how your campaign moves the popularity score in real-time.
Common Mistakes That Prevent You from Cracking the Algorithm
Mistake #1: Stopping Too Soon
Most artists run ads for 1-2 weeks, don’t see immediate results, and give up.
The algorithm needs time. You need to build your popularity score. You need to accumulate enough listening data for Spotify to make confident recommendations.
Commit to at least 30 days. That’s when things start clicking.
Remember: it’s not just about running ads consistently for 90 days at a low level. If you promote a little bit consistently for 90 days but never push the popularity score above 20, you won’t crack the algorithm. But if you take the same effort and condense it into 30 days with enough intensity, you might have a real chance.
Mistake #2: Only Promoting Single Tracks
Promote playlists, not single songs. The 10-17x multiplier on streams per listener is too valuable to ignore. This benefits you as an artist overall by building your total presence and helping Spotify understand your audience better.
Does This Guarantee Discover Weekly Placement?
No. Let’s be completely transparent about this.
There’s no guarantee that every song will hit Discover Weekly, especially if this is your first time running this strategy.
John from Hypeddit has run campaigns in the past. He’s built an audience over time. He’s proven to Spotify that his music resonates with listeners.
But one thing IS certain: if you don’t build your popularity score and give Spotify clear audience signals, you will never crack the algorithm.
This strategy gives you the best possible chance of getting algorithmic placements. And with each campaign you run, your odds get better.
Ready to Crack the Spotify Algorithm?
You now know exactly how to crack the Spotify algorithm:
- Build your popularity score to 20-30 through targeted ad traffic
- Give Spotify clear audience signals by targeting genre-specific fans
- Use playlists to maximize streams per listener
- Monitor your results and optimize over time
- Stay consistent for at least 30-90 days with enough intensity to move the needle
Hypeddit makes it easy to set up ads, track your popularity score, and grow your monthly listeners – even if you’ve never run an ad before. The platform automates the technically complicated setup process, so you don’t have to navigate the steep learning curve of running effective music promotion campaigns on your own.
Start with a 7-day free trial and see how the Spotify algorithm responds to your music.
The algorithm is waiting. Are you ready to crack it?