How to Clear Your Recently Played List on Spotify

Thanks to Spotify’s “Recently Played” section, there’s no hiding your secret music vices. If you want to keep your music habits secret, you’ll need to clear the entries from your Spotify “Recently Played” list by following these steps.

Update: An update in 2022 removed the ability to clear songs from your recently played list completely. There are still a few places where some of your recent listening data can be removed, and we’ll show you how to do that.

This is only possible for Spotify users using the Windows or Mac desktop app. Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to clear your “Recently Played” list using the mobile app or Spotify web player, but clearing the entries using the desktop app will also remove them from any linked apps (including on mobile).

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Remove Your Recently Played List on Windows

Modern versions of Spotify hide the “Recently Played” section with the song queue. However, you can also see the last few things you played by right-clicking the Spotify icon on your taskbar on both Windows 10 and Windows 11.

To remove a song from the taskbar recently played list, right-click the Spotify icon, right-click a song, then click “Remove From This List.”

That’s it — that is the only way you can remove part of your recently played history. (Unless you want to delete your Spotify account.) However, you may want to take some additional steps if you don’t want anyone to know your listening habits.

Hide Your Listening Activity from Friends on Spotify

To hide your listening activity from your friends on Spotify, click the account button near the upper right corner of the Spotify Window and select “Settings.”

Scroll down until you reach the section titled “Social.” Click the toggles next to “Show My Recently Played Artists On My Public Profile,” “Publish My New Playlists On My Profile,” and “Share My Listening Activity On Spotify” to the off positions. It’ll look like this:

Disabling those three options will ensure that none of your Spotify friends will be able to see what you’re listening to.

Older Versions: Remove Your Recently Played List on Spotify

Note: Unless you’re running an older version of Spotify, these instructions won’t work. The app has been updated, and the “Recently Played” section isn’t included in current releases of the Spotify desktop, mobile, or web client.

If you want to clear your “Recently Played” list, start by opening the Spotify app on your PC or Mac. In the left-hand menu, click the “Recently Played” option.

In the “Recently Played” menu, you’ll see a list of your previously played songs, albums, and artists.

Hover your mouse over one of the listed covers to view the available settings. You can play the music again, add it to your “Liked Songs” list, or remove the items completely.

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To remove the item from your “Recently Played” list, click the three-dot menu icon.

In the options menu that appears, click the “Remove From Recently Played” option.

Once the button is clicked, the item will disappear from the “Recently Played” list. This will also remove the item from other Spotify devices linked to your account, including on mobile devices.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to clear the “Recently Played” list in one go, so you’ll need to repeat these steps to erase each entry.

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