Is Spotify down? For thousands, the answer is yes

The music stopped for some on Tuesday, May 12 when Spotify went silent.

Users of the music streaming service reported problems at about 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from a number of sources. More than 22,000 users had reported outages, the site posted on X.

Spotify confirmed an issue at 12:49 p.m. ET, posting that "We're aware of some issues right now with the app and are checking them out!"

Spotify is the top music streaming service with 293 million premium subscribers – more than 72 million in North America, the company reported in April 2026. Overall, Spotify has 761 million monthly users worldwide, about 122 million in North America.

Just before 5 p.m. ET, the company posted on X the service was "all clear now. Spotify did not post a reason for the outage.

New 'Spotify 20' feature arrives

Coincidentally, the Spotify outage came on a day the streaming service offered a new feature for users – a chance to look back at their entire listening history. As part of the new "Spotify 20: Your Party of the Year(s)" feature, the Spotify mobile app gave users "a fully personalized look at their entire music history."

The company, which originated in 2006 in Sweden and is celebrating its 20th anniversary, also recently released lists of its most-streamed artists, albums, songs, podcasts and audiobooks.

You can find the "Party of the Year(s)" feature by searching "Spotify 20" or "Party of the Year(s)" in the mobile app or by visiting spotify.com/20 on your mobile device. (Note: The experience is only available on mobile devices.)

While some Spotify users posted online about the inability to search for music, others said they couldn't log in or that the app stopped mid-song.

Some Spotify users poked fun at the company, which had posted about the new Party of the Year(s) feature on X.

"Your app is down you should probably check that out too. #Justsaying" one Spotify follower shared on X.

Another commenter noted: "20th birthday and ur app is down."

This story has been updated with new information.

Contributing: Saman Shafiq

Mike Snider is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at  mikegsnider  &  @mikegsnider.bsky.social  &  @mikesnider & [email protected].