Nashville, Tennessee, residents — including those who are artists and musicians — got an early dose of joy this holiday season thanks to Spotify Wrapped, according to data from Middle Tennessee State University’s Social Media Insights Lab.

“Joy” was the top emotion expressed online following Spotify’s release of Wrapped, its year-end summary of user listening habits, far outpacing other tracked emotions such as sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise. Interestingly, though perhaps not surprising, these expressions of joy came both from Nashville’s residents who are music fans as well as Nashville’s many residents who create the music.

“It should come as no surprise that Music City enjoys discussing music online,” said Matthew Taylor, co-director of the Social Media Insights Lab in MTSU’s School of Journalism and Strategic Media and assistant journalism professor. “But Nashville is unique in that much of the online discussion was driven by the artists themselves thanking fans for streaming, saving and following their music.”

A post on X, formerly known as Twitter, by country musician Jon Pardi generated the most reach among Nashville artists with more than 13,000 views and 378,000 impressions. On Instagram, the same post had nearly 11,000 likes and more than 90 comments. 

The findings are based on a social media analysis of online conversation in Nashville on Wednesday, Nov. 29, using the Brandwatch social listening platform. Other key takeaways were as follows:

• Online discussion of Spotify Wrapped in Nashville peaked during the 10 o’clock hour on Wednesday morning.

• The top profession among Nashville residents discussing Spotify Wrapped online was artist.

• The most-shared link among Nashville residents was for Spotify’s video announcing Taylor Swift as the “Global Top Artist of the Year.” 

To view graphics of the key findings, go to https://bit.ly/SpotifyWrappedInsights.

About the Social Media Insights Lab

The MTSU Social Media Insights Lab conducts social media listening and data analysis of online discussions using open-source and subscription platforms. It is housed in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media and run by assistant journalism professors Matthew Taylor and Jun Zhang. For more information, visit https://mtsu.edu/insights.

The School of Journalism and Strategic Media is a part of the College of Media and Entertainment, and includes the Center for Innovation in Media, bringing together the University’s two campus radio stations, WMOT and WMTS, and the school newspaper, Sidelines, along with TV broadcasting facilities. The center enhances the School curriculum with further opportunities to acquire and use digital media skills.