Spotify finally lets parents exclude kids’ music from Wrapped and recommendations
Spotify finally lets parents exclude kids’ music from Wrapped and recommendations. 25% off tickets now Back by popular demand: Save up to $300 on Disrupt Close Image Credits:Spotify Media & Entertainment Spotify finally lets parents exclude kids’ music from Wrapped and recommendations Sarah Perez 6:00 AM PDT · September 15, 2026 At last, parents, your prayers have been answered!
What happened
Parents can finally get the kids' music out of Spotify Wrapped and other personalized playlists. On Tuesday, Spotify announced that it’s finally doing something to fix how your kids’ listening habits ruin your end-of-year Spotify Wrapped experience, and then some. Spotify says the new toggle will default to including the kids’ music in your taste profile, but once you switch it off, those tracks will no longer influence your taste recommendations. Image Credits:Spotify With this music excluded, those streams will no longer affect Spotify’s suggestions, including playlists like Discover Weekly or Daily Mix, as well as its popular year-end review of your listening, known as Wrapped.
The company said it’s introducing a new toggle that will allow you to exclude kids’ and family music from your taste profile. That means no more Kidz Bop or Disney tunes in your personalized playlists, and no more K-Pop Demon Hunters track “Golden” as your most-played song of the year. (Or whatever the kids are into! ) The feature is now rolling out globally on mobile devices for both Free and Premium users and will automatically exclude kids’ music from your taste profile when enabled.
Yes, we know the world has more pressing problems, but this is something Spotify users en masse — well, at least those with kids — have complained about yearly since Wrapped’s debut.
The wider picture
Image Credits:Spotify The problem stems from the fact that parents’ accounts are often used for their kids’ listening, even if the family has separate accounts for the children on a Spotify Family plan. What’s more, the change will apply retroactively, meaning the kids’ music you’ve already listened to won’t count toward your Wrapped top song or artist, for instance. Topics Apps, kids, Media & Entertainment, Music, Spotify, streaming When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission.
Kids also tend to demand control of the music while in the car. This includes tunes from animated movies, theme songs from family TV shows, nursery rhymes, and other music designed especially for kids. Previously, Spotify had offered users a way to exclude specific tracks or playlists from their taste profile, but the process was tedious and largely manual. That’s because home devices, like TVs and smart speakers, tend to be linked to a parent’s account so the family can stream music without restrictions.
These devices are often found in common areas of the home, like living rooms, dens, and playrooms, where kids have access.
What has been reported
Plus, many kids may have a speaker in their bedroom to stream things like bedtime tunes and lullabies. And parents acquiesce, as they’ll essentially do anything to get a moment’s peace — even if that requires listening to Jack Black’s “Steve’s Lava Chicken” from the Minecraft movie over and over. The end result of all this shared listening is that Spotify no longer knows what the account owner actually likes and what they’ve been forced to stream under duress.
The company also more recently introduced Managed Accounts for listeners under 13, allowing them to discover age-appropriate music with parental controls. Disrupt 2026: OpenAI, Anthropic, Replit, and more take over 6 industry stages. Now, after years of complaints, that can change. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence. Sarah Perez Consumer News Editor Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011.
What happens next
She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I. T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software. You can contact or verify outreach from Sarah by emailing sarahp@techcrunch. com or via encrypted message at sarahperez. View Bio October 13 – 15 San Francisco Last day to book an exhibit table is September 18. Don’t miss out on high-impact leads, investor access, and a brand spotlight in Disrupt’s Expo Hall.
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