Users agree that YouTube Music does one thing better than other streaming services

One of the benefits of using a music streaming service is discovering new artists, bands, and tracks while enjoying your old favorites. Services like Apple Music and Spotify can create personalized recommendations for you based on your listening history, taking into account factors like your downloaded and favorite tracks, playlists, searches, and genre tastes to suggest new music that their algorithms determine you’ll like. However, these recommendations are not always relevant.

As a result, some are abandoning these music streaming services in favor of YouTube Music, which Reddit users say offers a superior algorithm and therefore more accurate recommendations than its competitors. For example, Spotify users have reported that the platform’s recommended playlists and radio lineups consistently feature the same tracks and artists, largely based on recommendations from your perceived genre tastes rather than more nuanced factors. These recommendations often feature tracks that listeners simply don’t like and should skip. This repetitive algorithm is just one of many uncomfortable truths about using Spotify, although Apple Music also has drawbacks.

As a Spotify user, when I first opened the YouTube Music app, I was impressed to find that the platform had already created playlists for me based on my past YouTube viewing history. As a result, rather than just recommending the same rock tracks that Spotify tends to do, it created a “Supermix” of songs according to my tastes that included not only familiar favorites, but also tracks, artists, and deep cuts that I’d never heard before. These recommendations become more specific the more you listen, as this helps YouTube Music’s algorithm build your taste profile.

Like other music streaming platforms, YouTube Music takes into account factors like whether or not you click to like a song, which songs you repeat, and how long you listen to tracks to create your taste profile. YouTube Music’s algorithm places more emphasis on your interactions with recommended content, like its playlists, which helps refine the music it suggests. A successful recommendation is determined by signals such as whether the user finishes the song, saves or replays the track, and explicit feedback, such as liking or disliking, skipping a track with little weight. Additionally, YouTube Music will extract information from your YouTube and Google searches, viewing history, and third-party partners to better understand your preferences and make more appropriate recommendations.

Although the algorithm may take time to refine and improve its recommendations, many users agree that YouTube Music’s algorithm is much better than other music streaming services, including one Reddit user who said the service was “criminally underrated.” Another user said: “Just keep listening to music and it will eventually figure out what you like. I swear their algorithm is far ahead of other streaming services.” This user highlighted how the algorithm helped them discover artists or tracks they otherwise wouldn’t have listened to: “In my opinion, ytm is effective in introducing me to new songs or artists that I end up liking.” Other articles show support for YouTube Music due to its regularly updated “Supermix” playlists that incorporate various genres, the fact that its playlists are less repetitive than Spotify’s, the accuracy of many of its recommendations, and the convenience of its inclusion in YouTube’s Premium Individual subscription.

A 2025 Reddit poll shows that the majority of users are satisfied or very satisfied with their experience with this streaming service, but, as always, YouTube Music has drawbacks, including the lack of a desktop app and limitations on shuffling playlists. Some users have expressed frustration with the platform’s recommendation of AI-generated music, finding that the algorithm’s focus on recommending tracks based on recently listened to music and lack of options to exclude certain music from your taste profile can result in strange recommendations.