One of the biggest challenges artists face when trying to get on Spotify playlists is determining whether a playlist is legit or botted and fake. With so many playlist promotion services like DistroKid Playlister or Boost Collective, offering placements, it’s crucial to ensure that the playlists you submit to have real listeners and fan engagement rather than artificial streams.
Spotify actively warns, flags, or even penalizes artists who gain streams from botted playlists, as fake streams violate Spotify’s terms of service. If an artist is associated with playlists that artificially inflate streams, their music could be removed from editorial consideration, their royalties could be affected, or, in extreme cases, their entire account could face restrictions.
This is why pitching only to legit playlists is crucial for artists taking their music promotion seriously. A Spotify playlist may look promising with a high follower count, but without knowing its history, there’s no way to tell if its audience is real. That’s where PlaylistSupply’s latest feature, the Follower History Chart, comes in.
PlaylistSupply has just released a feature that is already changing the way artists pitch to Spotify playlists with Follower History Charts that allow users to track a playlist’s follower growth over time. With this new feature, you can see the complete history of any Spotify playlist, including its day-to-day follower count changes, all displayed in an easy-to-read chart. Also PlaylistSupply expands its reach beyond Spotify. With the launch of its YouTube Playlist Search feature, artists and managers can discover YouTube playlist curators in real-time, access full playlist and channel stats, and obtain verified contact information all without leaving the same dashboard. This cross-platform support lets you vet and target playlists across both Spotify and YouTube, elevating your playlist strategy into a more holistic stream-discovery ecosystem.
This new functionality is designed to help users spot trends and identify sudden spikes or unusual changes in playlist followers, which are often indicators of inorganic growth.
If a playlist has steady, organic follower growth (like the screenshot above), it’s likely a safe playlist to pitch to. But if a playlist has unnatural vertical spikes or sudden follower drops, it could mean the playlist is botted or using artificial growth methods.
By using this Follower History Chart, PlaylistSupply users now have real-time data to determine if a playlist is high-quality and worth pitching to before investing time or money into a campaign.
With PlaylistSupply’s new Follower History Chart, it’s easier than ever to vet playlists and ensure you’re reaching out to real playlists with authentic traffic. Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough on how to check playlist legitimacy using this new feature:
Step 1: Search for a Playlist
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On PlaylistSupply, enter a keyword like “hip hop” or “workout” to find playlists related to your niche.
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Use PlaylistSupply’s filtering options to refine your results based on emails, social handles, or follower counts.
Step 2: Save the Playlist to Your Database
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Once you find a playlist that interests you, click to save it to your personal database on PlaylistSupply.
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This allows you to track and update its statistics over time.
Step 3: Open the Follower History Chart
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In your Playlist Database, look under the “Charts” column.
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Click “Follower History” to generate the playlist’s follower growth chart.
Step 4: Analyze the Data
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A healthy and organic playlist will show gradual and exponential growth over time.
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Step 2Search legit playlists across Spotify and YouTubeType a keyword the way a listener would, or switch to Similar Artist mode, and the tool returns every qualifying playlist across both Spotify and YouTube. A fake or botted playlist may show sudden, unnatural vertical spikes and drops in followers.
By following these steps, artists and managers can now easily tell whether a playlist is worth submitting to or not depending on their follower history.
The Follower History Chart is just one of the powerful features available in PlaylistSupply to help artists verify the quality of a playlist. Here are some other features that make it easy to detect fake playlists and maximize your playlist promotion on Spotify:
1. PlaylistVet – One-Click Quality Check
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PlaylistVet is a first-of-its-kind feature that automatically vets a playlist’s quality based on Spotify’s “Discovered On” section.
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It cross-references the playlist with the “Discovered On” sections of artists featured in the playlist to confirm if it’s truly driving organic traffic and streams.
- This feature gives a “health score” indicating the percentage of artists from within the playlist getting significant traffic from it.
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If a playlist has little to no presence in an artist’s “Discovered On” section, it could indicate poor engagement or fake streams.
2. Updating Playlists in Your Database
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Another useful feature of PlaylistSupply is the ability to update playlist stats in your personal database.
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By regularly updating playlists, users can track changes in analytics over time, allowing them to identify suspicious growth patterns or drops.
3. Similar Artist Search – Finding High-Quality Playlists
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Similar Artist Search is an industry-first feature that helps users find high-performing playlists that actually rank well in Spotify’s algorithm.
- This feature lets users find all of the best playlists for similar artists based on their “Discovered On” sections on their Spotify artist profiles.
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Step 3The curator contact rides with the statsEach playlist row already carries followers, tracks, the owner, socials, and a verified curator contact where one is available, so vetted playlists come ready to reach. Instead of wasting time on low-quality playlists, artists can target playlists that are actually driving engagement and are hotspots for traffic.
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This feature is perfect for finding playlists that increase your chances of being recommended by Spotify’s algorithm.
How Similar Artist Search works
Similar Artist Search does not guess from playlist titles. It works backwards from artists who already sound like you:
- You enter an artist whose sound sits close to yours.
- PlaylistSupply pulls that artist's five closest similar artists.
- It then reads the Discovered On section for the artist you entered and for all five of those similar artists.
Discovered On is Spotify's own list of the playlists genuinely driving streams to an artist. So what comes back is playlists with proven traffic for your exact sound, rather than playlists that simply happened to match a keyword. That is the difference between a playlist that looks relevant and one that is already moving listeners for artists like you.
By using the Follower History Charts, PlaylistVet, and Similar Artist Search features in conjunction, PlaylistSupply users now have full control over vetting playlists before submitting their music to make sure they are only submitting to high-quality, legitimate playlists and curators.
With PlaylistSupply’s new Follower History Chart feature, artists and managers now have a powerful tool to track playlist growth, spot authentic traffic, and avoid fake, botted playlists. Being able to see a playlist’s follower history allows users to make informed decisions and ensure they’re pitching to only legit, high-quality playlists.
For those who want to see PlaylistSupply in action, reach out for a live demo to learn how these powerful tools can boost your Spotify promotion efforts. Stop submitting to bad Spotify playlists and start vetting playlists the right way today with PlaylistSupply’s latest feature!
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I tell if a Spotify playlist is botted?
Look at its follower history. A legitimate playlist shows gradual, organic follower growth, while a botted one often shows sudden vertical spikes or sharp drops. The PlaylistSupply Follower History Chart plots day-to-day follower counts for a playlist, so you can spot those unnatural patterns before you pitch.
What is the Follower History Chart and how do I use it?
It shows the complete follower growth of any Spotify playlist over time. Search for a playlist, save it to your database, open the Charts column, and click Follower History to generate the chart. Steady growth signals a safe playlist, while erratic spikes signal artificial growth.
Why does pitching to botted playlists matter?
Spotify flags or penalizes artists tied to fake streams, since botted playlists violate its terms of service. That can affect royalties, editorial consideration, or in extreme cases account access. Vetting followers first keeps your outreach on legitimate playlists.
How is PlaylistVet different from the Follower History Chart?
The chart shows follower trends over time, while PlaylistVet goes beyond bot detection to measure real algorithmic activity in one click, cross-referencing a playlist against Spotify Discovered On data. Because follower counts can be bought, using both together gives you a fuller read on quality.
What does Similar Artist Search add to vetting?
You enter an artist whose sound sits close to yours, PlaylistSupply pulls the five closest similar artists, then reads the Spotify Discovered On section for the artist you entered and all five. That points you at high-performing playlists already ranking in the algorithm, so you vet fewer weak options.
Can I track playlist stats on YouTube too?
Yes. The YouTube Playlist Search feature lets you discover YouTube playlist curators in real time, view full playlist and channel stats, and access curator contacts where available, so you can vet and target playlists across both Spotify and YouTube from one dashboard.