Decluttering your music streaming library seems like a good idea, but deleting playlists can later lead to regret and missed opportunities. There are a few reasons you should strongly consider keeping them—even if you haven’t listened to your playlist in a while.
1 Nostalgia
Sounds and smells can bring us back to a time we fondly remember. Even if I no longer listen to a specific playlist, I like sometimes going back to see how I was feeling at certain points in my life. For example, I have a playlist from a previous trip I took to New York City and I can remember vivid details when I listen to it.
I also used to play FIFA (now known as eFootball) as a youngster, and some of the earlier titles—such as FIFA 06—have soundtracks that take me back to happy times. You might want to delete playlists that remind you of bad times or a person you’d rather forget about, but most of the time, keeping them for nostalgic purposes is great.
2 Rediscovering Past Songs
I’ll sometimes go to playlists specifically to listen to old songs, but sometimes, I forget about tracks I once loved. So when going through my old playlists, it’s nice to know that I could potentially rediscover amazing tracks and artists.
If I don’t know the name of a song, referring to old playlists can sometimes help. And if it doesn’t, I can always try identifying songs by tune with music recognition apps.
3 You Might Start Liking a Genre Again
My music taste can be described as diverse, to say the least. I’ll happily listen to almost anything and I’ve always been like this. Sometimes, I’m obsessed with a particular genre for a while before moving on to something else—for example, I loved French and Dutch hip-hop from 2017 to 2019 in particular.
While I don’t listen to these genres as much as I used to, deleting my playlists would be pointless. I still like having easy access to my songs, and I sometimes go through phases where I’ll heavily listen to these genres once more. Deleting my playlists would result in needless extra work.
4 I Almost Always Regret Deleting Playlists
I cannot remember one occasion where I’ve deleted a playlist and thought: “This was a good idea” afterward. Most of the time, I just needed to go through and trim things down a little. You can sometimes recover lost or deleted Spotify playlists, but only for a specific period. The same goes for most other music streaming apps.
If you don’t recover your playlist within the designated timeframe for your chosen app, starting from scratch is very frustrating. It’s much smarter, in my opinion, to just move your playlists further down your library and refer to them when needed.
5 You Can Discover New Songs Off the Back of Old Favorites
Rediscovering old favorites is one thing, but one underrated benefit of not deleting playlists is that it’s easier to find new tracks. You can use the recommended option at the bottom of your playlists to find similar songs that you’ll probably like, for example.
It’s also possible that some of the artists on your playlists have released new albums and tracks since you last listened to them. So you’ll also have the option to expand your playlist with new favorites. Use this alongside apps that’ll help you find new music for a better-rounded experience.
6 You Won’t Need to Rebuild Old Libraries
I occasionally change music streaming services, but my decision isn’t always forever. For example, I left Spotify for Apple Music in 2024 but then returned; I did the same in 2016. On both occasions, I’m glad that I kept my old playlists.
Rebuilding your old libraries is time-consuming, and let’s be honest—most of us have better things to do. Archiving or exporting your playlists is a good idea, if possible. For example, you can use Apple’s Music Playlist Transfer tool to migrate from Apple Music to YouTube Music.
There are several alternatives to deleting playlists, and I strongly suggest exploring these before deciding to remove anything. The only time I suggest removing old playlists is if they have negative memories associated with them, such as an ex-partner. Otherwise, you’ll probably want to access them again at some point.
