Apple Music is Apple’s subscription-based music streaming service, launched in 2015. It gives users access to over 90 million songs that can be streamed on demand. Apple Music also offers playlists curated by music experts, radio stations, music videos, and more. One of the key features of Apple Music is its ability to learn users’ music taste and recommend songs based on their listening history and preferences.
Listening history allows Apple Music users to see their recently played songs and most listened to music over various time frames. Accessing listening history can be useful for finding forgotten songs or rediscovering music you haven’t heard in awhile. Users may also want to view their top artists and albums to get recommendations for similar music. Overall, listening history gives insight into your Apple Music habits and helps personalize the service.
Viewing Your Recent Listening History
To view your most recent listening history in Apple Music, you can use the Up Next queue. The Up Next queue shows the last 25 songs you’ve listened to in the Music app (Make Use Of, 2022). Here’s how to view your recent Apple Music listening history:
1. Open the Music app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
2. Tap the Up Next icon in the top right corner (it looks like a list).
3. On iPhone and iPad, swipe down to view your recent listening history. On Mac, click the History tab.
This will show you a list of the last 25 tracks you’ve played in Apple Music. It’s useful for quickly seeing your recent listening activity. However, it only shows a limited history, so you’ll need other methods to view longer-term listening trends.
Using Play Activity Playlist
Apple Music automatically generates a playlist called Play Activity that shows your recent listening history. This playlist updates frequently to include the songs, albums, and artists you’ve listened to most over the past 6 months.
To find your Play Activity playlist, open the Apple Music app and tap on ‘Library’. Under the ‘Playlists’ section, you’ll see the Play Activity playlist with the listening data from the past 6 months. Tap on it to view the full playlist.
The Play Activity playlist provides a snapshot of your listening patterns, highlighting tracks you play the most or listen to repeatedly. It’s a useful way to rediscover music you’ve enjoyed over time but may have forgotten about. The playlist updates at least once a day, so it’s a living record of your ongoing Apple Music listening behavior.
Viewing Play Counts
One way to see your Apple Music listening history is by viewing the play counts for songs, albums, and artists. This allows you to see exactly how many times you’ve played each item in your library.
On iOS devices, unfortunately there is currently no way to see play counts. This feature is only available on Mac computers using the Music app.
To view play counts on Mac:
- Open the Music app and select a song, album, artist, or playlist.
- Right-click on the name and choose “Get Info.”
- In the info window that opens, you will see the play count listed under the Plays heading.
This will display the exact number of times you’ve listened to that song, album, or artist in Apple Music. It provides a simple way to quantify your listening history for different items in your library.
One limitation is that it only shows your personal play counts, not those of other listeners. But it’s still a useful metric for understanding your own Apple Music habits over time.
For more information, see this Apple forum discussion on viewing play counts in the Music app.
Using Listening Reports
Listening reports provide insights into your Apple Music listening activity. They show an overview of your top songs, artists, albums, and genres for different time ranges. Listening reports also reveal fun facts like your top song from the 1990s or most streamed genre on Sundays.
To view your listening reports in the Apple Music app, go to Listen Now and scroll down to the Made For You section. Tap on ‘See Your Listening Stats’ under the My Charts module. This will open up your listening reports and insights. You can swipe to change the date range from the past 4 weeks to all-time listening stats. The listening reports refresh each Sunday to show your latest activity.
Listening reports make it easy to see your Apple Music listening patterns over time. You can discover your current most played songs, reminisce over old favorites, and explore music you may have forgotten. While Apple Music doesn’t store your full playback history, the listening reports offer a useful snapshot of your recent and long-term listening trends.
Seeing Recently Played on iTunes
Users can view their recent listening history directly within the iTunes desktop app. The app displays the last 25 songs played in the sidebar under “Recently Played”. This provides a quick snapshot of your recent Apple Music activity.
The “Recently Played” section shows songs played within the last month or so. There is no way to adjust the date range shown. To clear the listing, you can right click on “Recently Played” and select “Clear”. This will remove all tracks from the recent history view.
Checking Listening History on Devices
Apple Music users can view their recent listening history directly on their iPhone, iPad, or other Apple devices. This allows you to see your playback information from the Apple Music app on that specific device.
To find your listening history on an iOS device like an iPhone or iPad, open the Apple Music app and tap on the “Listen Now” tab at the bottom. Then scroll down and tap on “Recently Played”. This will show your listening history for the past few weeks.
The listening history shown here is limited to tracks played through the Music app on that device. It does not aggregate playback information from all of your devices. Additionally, Apple only stores a few weeks’ worth of listening history per device. So you can view your recent playback, but not your full long-term listening trends.
This device-specific listening history can still be useful to jog your memory about music you’ve played on that iPhone or iPad recently. But for a comprehensive long-term view of your Apple Music listening, you’ll need to use some of the other methods covered here.
Using Last.fm
Last.fm is a third-party service that lets you track your full listening history across different music platforms. By connecting your Apple Music account to Last.fm, you can see your complete play activity in one place.
To integrate Apple Music with Last.fm:
- Download the Last.fm desktop app for Mac or PC from https://www.last.fm/download. Once installed, the app will automatically begin tracking your iTunes play activity.
- On iPhone, install a third-party app like Soor, Marvis Pro or Album Tracks that supports Last.fm scrobbling. Connect to your Last.fm account in the app settings.
- Visit your profile page on the Last.fm website to view listening reports, top artists, track play counts and more.
With full Apple Music integration in place, your Last.fm profile provides a comprehensive historical record of everything you’ve played within Apple’s streaming service. You’ll be able to look back on your top tracks from any date range.
Limits of Apple Music History
Apple Music has some limitations when it comes to viewing your full long-term listening history. By default, Apple Music only keeps track of your recent listening activity from the past few weeks or months.
For example, the “Recently Played” section only shows songs played in the last month. The “Play Activity” playlist also only includes tracks from the past 6 months. And listening reports like Apple Music Replay are limited to each calendar year.
There is no native ability within Apple Music to see your complete lifetime listening data since you first started using the service. This is a common frustration expressed by users on forums like Reddit and Apple’s discussions boards [1].
If you want to capture your full Apple Music listening history long-term, you’ll need to use a third-party app or service. Some popular options include:
- Connecting your Apple Music account to Last.fm, which will record your full listening data externally.
- Using a iOS listening tracker like SongsInfo to log your plays.
- Manually recording playlists of your most listened to songs each year.
While Apple Music has great analytics for recent activity, relying on external apps is currently the only way to get a complete lifetime view of your music listening history.
Conclusion
In summary, there are a few ways to view your Apple Music listening history. The Play Activity playlist shows your recently played tracks. You can also view play counts for songs, albums, and artists in your library. Listening reports provide more detailed insights into your listening habits over time. On iTunes you can see your recently played tracks. And on iOS devices, you can view listening history under Settings. While Apple Music does not provide unlimited historical data, services like Last.fm give you more options for long-term listening tracking.
Going forward, make sure to enable listening history options wherever possible, such as in iOS settings and the Mac Music app. Check your playback statistics and playlists regularly to get snapshots of your recent Apple Music activity. Consider linking your account to Last.fm or a similar platform to supplement the data Apple Music itself provides. With various tools and consistent effort, you can compile a thorough archive of your Apple Music listening history.
