Spotify Wrapped hacked

Photo Credit: Thibault Penin

Spotify Wrapped is a great way to discover your favorite artist of the year—unless your account has been hacked. Lots of people found the rapper at the top of their Wrapped list, despite not being a fan.

Several posts on the Spotify Community forum highlight the issue started in May 2023, but the release of Wrapped has brought renewed attention. “I have zero recollection of ever listening to Lil Durk and I have only ever seen him in memes,” reads the original poster. “I changed my password and logged out of all devices, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is everywhere.”

So what’s going on? Have these people had their Spotify account hacked? While that could be the case, what’s more likely is that they’ve given a third-party app access to their Spotify API. So how do you fix this problem if you’re having it? You’ll need to visit the Spotify website on a laptop or desktop computer to get started—mobile won’t cut it.

Spotify Wrapped Hacked—How to Restrict API Access from Third-Party Apps

Stopping unauthorized streaming like this means you need to restrict access to your Spotify account. Once you’re logged in to the main Spotify website on your account page, click the ‘Apps’ button link on the left-hand column.

On this page, a section titled ‘Apps with Access to your Spotify Information’ os what you’re looking for. This is a list of applications that have been granted permission to access your Spotify account. You can remove an app’s permissions by clicking ‘Remove Access’ next to the right of that app.

One common denominator from these reports seems to be a third-party Spotify data processing app called ‘Receiptify.’ Most people complaining about Lil Durk showing up unexpectedly in their Spotify Wrapped are also complaining about him in their Receiptify reports.

“This happened not only to me, but to four of my other friends. Anyone else doing a deep dive into Lil Durk’s stream numbers and revenue specifically for the month of May 2023? Something wants me to feel like there is some sort of fraud being committed,” reads one of the comments discussing the issue.

What makes this feel like a targeted campaign is that everyone with this issue ended up listening to Lil Durk. These accounts weren’t hacked and batch-sold on dark-net sites for pennies on the dollar. Instead, they were used to stream Lil Durk albums repeatedly.