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Arts & EntertainmentAdele

Adele wants everyone to listen to her album in the correct order, and Spotify agrees

By
Felicia Hou
Felicia Hou
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By
Felicia Hou
Felicia Hou
Down Arrow Button Icon
November 22, 2021, 1:17 PM ET

International singing sensation Adele has been through a divorce, written an entire album about it, and she would like for her songs about heartache and grief to be played in the correct order. 

It seems that Spotify agrees with her. The music streaming company has removed its default shuffle feature for all albums for premium users, something that has “been long requested by both users and artists,” Spotify service told news outlets over the weekend. 

In a tweet responding to Spotify’s shuffle announcement, Adele said removing the shuffle button was the “only request I had in our ever changing industry.” The singer released her fourth studio album “30” on Nov. 19, which reached an incredible 60.7 million global streams on its first day on Spotify. 

“We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended,” Adele tweeted on Nov. 20.

“Anything for you,” Spotify quickly replied, adding a praying hands emoji. 

Anything for you 🙏✨

— Spotify (@Spotify) November 21, 2021

Before the change, the original setting for albums on Spotify meant that songs within an album would be auto-shuffle rather than played in their original order. Now, users still have the ability to shuffle songs, but the main play button will stick to the artists’ original track sequence. 

“As Adele mentioned, we are excited to share that we have begun rolling out a new Premium feature that has been long requested by both users and artists to make play the default button on all albums,” Spotify said in a statement. 

However, for users who don’t have Spotify Premium, the shuffle feature will still be the default. That means that over 40 million U.S. listeners will still have “30” on shuffle upon first play, according to eMarketer, a digital marketing research company. 

Over the years, other artists have advocated for a no-shuffle listening experience—in May 2020 following the release of Chromatica, Lady Gaga told her fans that there was “no need to shuffle.”

Please listen from the beginning to the end, no need to shuffle, it’s my true story. https://t.co/GjJUC3PRWz

— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) May 29, 2020

“Please listen from the beginning to the end, no need to shuffle,” the pop star wrote on Twitter. “It’s my true story.”

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About the Author
By Felicia Hou
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