What does the E mean on Spotify?

The E next to a song on Spotify means explicit. Spotify tags explicit content from the information it receives from rights-holders, the labels and distributors who deliver the music. With explicit content switched off, anything tagged E is grayed out: you can't play it, and Spotify skips it.

Source: Spotify's help article Explicit content settings.

Switch explicit content off or on

Mobile and tablet

1. Tap your profile picture at the top.
2. Tap Settings and privacy.
3. Under Content and display, switch Allow Explicit Content off, or on.

Desktop

1. Click your profile picture at the top and select Settings.
2. Under Explicit Content, switch Allow playback of explicit-rated content off, or on.

If you use Spotify Connect to control another device, the change applies to the next thing you play.

Find a clean version

Search the song title: the results show versions without the E tag when they exist. On desktop, the bottom of an album page also lists other releases of the same album. Some explicit releases have no clean version on Spotify.

Explicit content on a family plan

The manager of a Premium Family plan can allow or block explicit content for each member from the Premium Family page on Spotify's website. Managed accounts for young listeners have their own content settings.

Keep explicit songs out of a playlist with Playlistation

Spotify's setting grays explicit songs out everywhere on your account. To build a playlist without them instead, Playlistation's Explicit content filter reads the same E tag on your Liked Songs and keeps only the clean tracks, or only the explicit ones. It is available on every plan.

The filter reads the tag, never the lyrics: a song with explicit lyrics that its label did not tag counts as clean. It does not change Spotify's setting either, so a playlist of explicit songs stays grayed out on an account where explicit content is off.

Common questions