Organize your Spotify Liked Songs by genre
Turn the tracks you already liked into rock, rap, jazz or techno playlists, and let Playlistation keep every genre playlist up to date on Spotify.
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Playlistation sorts your Spotify Liked Songs into genre playlists. You pick one or more genre labels, and it gathers every liked track whose artist carries one of them into a real Spotify playlist, then keeps that playlist current as you like and unlike music. The Artist genre filter works on every plan, including the free one.
Genres belong to artists, not to tracks
This is the one thing worth knowing before you build anything. Spotify does not tag tracks with a genre. It tags artists, with labels that are often very specific: not "rap" but "french hip hop", not "electronic" but "melodic techno". Playlistation gathers the labels of every artist credited on a track and compares them with the ones you picked.
Two consequences follow, and neither is a bug:
- A quiet ballad by a metal band is still metal, because the label is the band's.
- A collaboration carries both artists' labels, so a pop and rap duet lands in either playlist.
Labels are matched exactly. "indie rock" does not include "rock", and "rock" does not include "indie rock", so a broad playlist needs several labels rather than one.
Building a genre playlist
- Create a playlist and name it after the genre.
- Add the Artist genre filter. Choose Is one of to keep those genres, or Is not one of to remove them.
- Pick the labels. The box searches two things at once: the genre labels Playlistation already knows, and Spotify artists. If you cannot think of the right label, type an artist you consider typical of the genre and click the labels shown under them.
- Create it. Playlistation fills the playlist from your Liked Songs and keeps it in step from then on.
Before you type anything, the box offers the strongest genres of your own library, taken from your library stats. That is usually the fastest way in: your library already knows what it is made of.
Genre playlists people build
| Playlist | Filter |
|---|---|
| Rock | The track artist is tagged with one of rock, alternative rock, indie rock |
| French rap | The track artist is tagged with one of rap, hip hop, french hip hop, and the track language is one of French |
| Techno, recent | The track artist is tagged with one of techno, and Release date: The 2020s (2020–2029) |
| Everything but Christmas | The track artist is tagged with none of christmas |
The second row shows why the Language filter is often the partner of this one: genre labels mix languages, so "rap" alone lets English-language rap into a French rap playlist. The third narrows a genre to a period, which is the same move as building a playlist by decade.
What it cannot do
- Some artists have no genres on Spotify at all. Their tracks never match "Is one of", whatever you pick, and always pass "Is not one of".
- You cannot separate one artist's styles. Every track by an artist carries the same labels, so a producer's ambient record and their club record are indistinguishable to this filter. Narrow with release date, tempo or energy instead.
- The label list is Spotify's, not ours, and it grows as artists are looked up. If a label you expect is missing, search the artist rather than the word.
The full reference, with both operators and the exact sentence each one writes, is on the Artist genre filter page.
The playlist keeps sorting itself
The genres are stored as a rule, so the playlist is never finished. Like a new techno track and it joins your techno playlist at the next update, about every six hours on the Free plan, every hour on Plus and every 30 minutes on Pro. Unlike it and it leaves. See how syncing works.
Questions about sorting Spotify Liked Songs by genre
Can I sort my Spotify Liked Songs by genre?
Yes, with Playlistation. Add the Artist genre filter to a smart playlist, pick the genre labels you want, and it collects every liked track whose artist carries one of them into a real Spotify playlist. The playlist then updates itself as you like and unlike music, so you sort the genre once rather than every month.
Does Spotify tag songs with a genre?
Spotify puts genres on artists, not on individual tracks, and the labels are specific: "french hip hop" and "melodic techno" rather than "rap" and "electronic". Playlistation reads the labels of every artist on a track, so a track counts as whatever its artists are tagged with. That is why a slow song by a metal band still counts as metal.
How do I find the right genre label?
Type an artist's name into the genre box instead of a genre. The picker lists that artist's labels and you add them with one click each, which is far quicker than guessing how Spotify spells a scene. Before you type anything it also offers the strongest genres of your own library.
Can I build one playlist for several genres?
Yes. The Artist genre filter takes as many labels as you want, and a track matches when its artist carries any of them, so "rock, alternative rock, indie rock" is one broad rock playlist. That is usually necessary rather than optional, because Spotify's labels are narrow.
Can I exclude a genre instead?
Yes. Switch the filter to Is not one of and it removes every track whose artist carries one of the labels, keeping the rest of your library. It is how you make a playlist of everything you liked except the Christmas songs.
Is the genre filter free?
Yes. Artist genre is one of the nine filters available on every plan, so a free account can build genre playlists. The Free plan limits you to five playlists with three filters each and watches your 1,000 most recent likes.