How to Get on Spotify Playlists
There are three kinds of playlist on Spotify, and each has its own door. Only one of them has a form, it takes one song at a time, and it closes seven days before your release.
How to get on Spotify playlists depends on the type. Editorial playlists take a pitch from Spotify for Artists: one unreleased song, sent at least 7 days before release. Algorithmic playlists such as Release Radar and Discover Weekly have no form; they follow listening data. Listener and curator playlists mean contacting the curator directly.
A timely pitch also puts the new release in your followers' Release Radar. What doesn't work is paying. As of September 2026, Spotify's own guidance for artists says that services promising guaranteed playlist placement or guaranteed streams in exchange for money break its terms, and that music associated with them can be removed.
The seven-day rule is the detail that changes how you plan a release. Spotify for Artists lets you pitch a song only while it's unreleased and delivered to Spotify by your distributor. It lets you pitch one song at a time; once that song goes live, you can pitch another. Spotify says editors need at least 7 days to consider a pitch, and it ties a second benefit to the same deadline: a song pitched at least 7 days before release is added to the Release Radar playlist of everyone who follows you.
That second benefit is the one every artist can count on. An editorial placement is a decision by a person at Spotify, and most pitches aren't picked. Release Radar is automatic: pitch on time, and your followers get the song in their personalized playlist on release week. Miss the deadline and you lose both chances for that release.
So the practical order is backwards from what many artists do. Deliver the release to your distributor weeks ahead, so that it appears in Spotify for Artists early, then pitch with time to spare. The creative work of the pitch matters less than having a pitch in at all. What an editor or curator sees on the track page in those weeks, including its play count, is covered further down, along with where Spotify plays fit and where they don't.
How to get on Spotify editorial playlists
Editorial playlists are the ones Spotify's own editors curate, listed as made by Spotify. As of September 2026, the route in is:
- Deliver your release to Spotify through your distributor or label, ideally several weeks before release day.
- Log in to Spotify for Artists and open Music, then Upcoming. Your release appears there once Spotify has received it.
- Choose one eligible song and open the pitch form. Songs on compilations and songs where you're only a featured artist aren't eligible.
- Fill in the details: genre, mood, style, instruments, the story behind the song and your marketing plans. More detail gives the editors more to work with.
- Submit at least 7 days before the release date. You can edit the pitch up to release day, but Spotify notes editors may not see late changes.
- After the song goes live, pitch the next one. Only one song can be pitched at a time.
Can you pitch music videos too?
Yes. Spotify for Artists also accepts pitches for official music videos and performance videos, separately from song pitches. Unlike songs, several eligible videos can be pitched at once, and a video can be pitched before release or within 7 days after it.
How to write a Spotify editorial playlist pitch
Think about what an editor can't learn from listening. They'll hear the song. What they don't know is where it fits, who it's for and what's happening around it. A good pitch answers those in a few plain sentences: the scene or playlist mood it belongs to, the artists your listeners also play, what the song is about, and what you're doing to promote it, such as a video, a tour date or press.
Keep it factual. Editors read a very large number of pitches, and claims like the best song of the year cost you credibility. Be accurate with the genre and mood tags, because they're how your pitch reaches the right editor.
Remember that editors might choose a different song from the release than the one you pitched, and that a song not picked at release can still be found later if listeners respond to it.
How to get on Spotify algorithmic playlists
Algorithmic playlists are built for each listener by Spotify's recommendation system: Release Radar, Discover Weekly, Daily Mix, Radio and others. You can't apply to them. You influence them through the behavior of real listeners.
Release Radar is the one you control most directly. It updates every Friday with new releases from artists the listener follows, and your on-time pitch is what places your new song there for your followers. That's why followers matter on Spotify: each one is a guaranteed slot on release week. Discover Weekly, updated on Mondays, draws on listening patterns across many users, so it rewards songs that people save, add to their own playlists and play again.
How to promote music on Spotify covers the wider plan around a release, and what counts as a stream on Spotify explains the 30-second threshold behind every play that shows up in your numbers.
How do you find out which playlists your song is on?
In Spotify for Artists, open a song's stats and look at the playlists section. It separates editorial, algorithmic and listener playlists and shows the streams that came from each. That's also the most reliable way to find Spotify editorial playlists in your genre: see which ones picked up songs by artists similar to you.
How to get on playlists made by listeners and curators
Most playlists on Spotify are made by listeners, from personal mixes to large independent playlists run by blogs, labels and enthusiasts. There's no Spotify form for these. You find the curator, usually through the playlist description or their social profiles, and send a short, personal note with a link.
Be selective. Pitch playlists whose recent additions sound like your song and whose followers look like listeners rather than numbers. A small playlist full of people who actually listen does more for you than a large one they've abandoned.
This is also where the warning applies. Some services charge for placement on user playlists or promise streams in return for a fee. Spotify says services that guarantee streams or placement break its terms, that many such services use bots, and that confirmed artificial streaming can lead to withheld royalties, corrected stream counts and removal from playlists or from the platform. Paying for consideration by a curator, with no guarantee, is a grey area; paying for a guaranteed spot is not.
What a curator or editor sees on your track
Before anyone at Spotify or a playlist curator adds a song, they usually look at it on Spotify: the play count on your popular tracks, your monthly listeners and the artist profile. A new song with almost no plays gives them nothing to go on. That is the public number Spotify plays change, and some artists use them on a release's first days.
Be clear-eyed about it, because Spotify's own guidance is clear. Spotify acts against streaming it considers artificial, and nobody outside Spotify can promise how it will classify any stream. Plays added to a track change the count people see; they don't make an editor pick the song, they don't feed Discover Weekly the way saves and repeat listening from real fans do, and they don't replace the 7-day pitch. How Spotify monthly listeners work is worth reading alongside this, because that's the other public number curators check.
For curators who run their own playlists, the follower count on the playlist is what other curators and listeners read, which is what Spotify playlist followers address. All Spotify guides and services on this site are on the Spotify hub.
Questions people ask about Spotify playlists
How far in advance do I need to pitch a song to Spotify?
At least 7 days before release, through Spotify for Artists. Pitching in time also adds the song to your followers' Release Radar. Delivering the release weeks earlier gives you more room.
How many songs can I pitch to Spotify editors?
One at a time. After the pitched song is released, you can pitch another unreleased song. Music videos are pitched separately, and several can be pitched at once.
Can you pay to get on a Spotify editorial playlist?
No. Editorial playlists are chosen by Spotify's editors from pitches and listening data. Spotify says any service guaranteeing playlist placement or streams for money breaks its terms.
How do I get on Release Radar?
Pitch the song in Spotify for Artists at least 7 days before release. It will then appear in the Release Radar of your followers, which updates every Friday.
How do I find Spotify editorial playlists?
Editorial playlists are listed as made by Spotify. In Spotify for Artists, a song's playlist stats show which editorial, algorithmic and listener playlists it's on, which also shows you the ones used in your genre.
What happens if my pitch isn't picked?
The song still reaches your followers through Release Radar if you pitched on time, and it can still be found later by editors or algorithms if listeners save and replay it.
Keep reading
- Spotify plays — The play count a curator reads on a new track before listening is what Spotify plays change; the pitch is still the route in.
- How to promote music on Spotify — The whole release plan around the pitch.
- What counts as a stream on Spotify — The 30-second rule behind every play in your stats.