How to Fix Spotify Playing Songs Not on Playlist

Spotify dominates the music streaming landscape, boasting over 500 million users worldwide, and offers seamless playlist creation and personalized listening experiences. However, many users encounter a frustrating issue where Spotify plays songs that weren't manually added to their carefully curated playlists.

Quick Answer

Spotify plays unwanted songs due to enabled Autoplay, Enhanced Playlist features, or unclear play queues. Disable Autoplay in Settings > Playback, turn off Enhanced Playlist (sparkling star icon), and clear your queue to stop random song additions immediately.

While these quick fixes solve most cases, let's dive deeper into understanding why this happens and explore comprehensive solutions. This disruption affects workout mixes, study playlists, and mood-specific collections, undermining your carefully crafted listening experience during focused activities or social gatherings.

Understanding the Problem

What Does "Songs Not on Playlist" Mean?

This issue occurs when Spotify automatically plays tracks you never manually added to your active playlist. The platform distinguishes between three categories: your actual playlist (songs you added), the play queue (temporarily added tracks), and recommended content (algorithm-suggested music).

Understanding this distinction is crucial because Spotify often blends these categories seamlessly, making it appear as though your playlist contains songs you never selected. This automatic mixing can happen without clear visual indicators.

Common Scenarios Where This Happens

The most common scenario occurs when your playlist ends and Spotify's Autoplay feature kicks in, continuing with similar-sounding tracks. You might also notice random songs appearing mid-playlist, especially when Enhanced Playlist or Smart Shuffle features are active.

Spotify Radio can accidentally activate and mix non-playlist songs into your listening session. Additionally, tracks from previous listening sessions may remain in your queue, playing unexpectedly when you start a new playlist.

Who Is Affected?

Both Free and Premium users experience this issue, though Premium subscribers have more control options to prevent it. Free users face additional limitations, including mandatory shuffle mode on mobile devices and less granular playback controls.

The problem manifests differently across platforms: mobile apps, desktop applications, and web players each handle queue management and autoplay features uniquely, leading to varying user experiences depending on your preferred listening method.

Why Spotify Plays Songs Not on Your Playlist

Autoplay Feature

Autoplay automatically continues playback with similar songs after your playlist, album, or selected tracks finish playing. This feature is enabled by default for both Free and Premium users, designed to maintain uninterrupted listening experiences.

However, Reddit users frequently report that Autoplay sometimes selects songs that are entirely unrelated to the playlist's genre or mood, creating jarring transitions that disrupt the intended listening experience.

Enhanced Playlist and Smart Shuffle

Enhanced Playlist is a Premium-exclusive feature that automatically adds algorithm-recommended songs directly to your playlists, identified by a sparkling star icon. Smart Shuffle goes further, intelligently mixing recommended tracks between your chosen songs for variety.

These features can add up to 30 recommendations per playlist, seamlessly blending them with your original selections. While designed to enhance discovery, they fundamentally alter your curated playlist experience.

Play Queue Issues

Your play queue accumulates songs from various sources: previous playlists, album browsing, or recommendation clicks. When you forget to clear this queue between listening sessions, these tracks continue playing after your current playlist ends.

Multi-device usage compounds this issue, as queue changes on one device affect playback on others, creating confusion when songs from your phone's queue suddenly appear during desktop listening.

Playlist Length Factor

Spotify automatically supplements playlists containing fewer than 15 tracks with similar recommendations to maintain continuous playback. This threshold triggers the platform's algorithm to assume you want extended listening beyond your short playlist.

The system interprets brief playlists as incomplete collections rather than intentionally curated short sets, leading to unwanted automatic additions that extend your listening session beyond your original intent.

Other Features and Bugs

Shuffle and repeat settings can create unexpected playback patterns, especially when combined with queue items or recommendations. Accidentally activated Spotify Radio transforms your playlist into a continuous radio station featuring similar artists.

Corrupted cache files may cause playback inconsistencies, while outdated app versions can trigger bugs that affect playlist behavior. These technical issues require different troubleshooting approaches than those related to features.

Step-by-Step Solutions

Turn Off Autoplay

Disabling Autoplay prevents Spotify from adding similar songs after your playlist ends. On mobile devices, navigate to Settings > Playback > Autoplay and toggle the switch off until it turns gray.

For desktop users, click your profile picture, select Settings, scroll to the Autoplay section, and turn off the feature. This simple change ensures Spotify stops playing when your chosen content finishes.

Disable Enhanced Playlist and Smart Shuffle

Look for the sparkling star icon or "Enhanced" label on your playlist header to identify if these features are active. Click or tap these buttons to toggle them off, removing algorithm-suggested tracks from your playlist.

Smart Shuffle appears as a modified shuffle icon with sparkles. Turning off both features restores your playlist to its original, manually curated state, preventing automatic additions during playback.

Clear the Play Queue

Access your play queue by clicking the queue icon (three horizontal lines) in the bottom-right corner of the desktop app or the queue button on mobile's now-playing screen.

Remove individual songs by right-clicking them or use the "Clear" button to empty the entire queue. This prevents previously queued tracks from playing after your current playlist finishes.

Check and Adjust Shuffle and Repeat Settings

Locate the shuffle button (crossed arrows) and repeat button (circular arrow) in your playback controls. Ensure shuffle is disabled (gray, not green) if you want sequential playlist playback.

Set the repeat mode to "off" or "repeat playlist" instead of "repeat track" to maintain a proper playlist flow. These settings directly influence how Spotify handles your playlist progression.

Clear Spotify Cache

Corrupted cache files can cause playback anomalies and unexpected song additions. Open Spotify settings, navigate to Storage, and select "Clear Cache" to remove potentially problematic temporary files.

Important note 

Clearing the cache will delete all downloaded offline content, requiring you to re-download playlists and albums for offline listening. Plan accordingly before performing this action.

Log Out from All Devices

Multiple devices accessing your account simultaneously can create queue conflicts and playback confusion. Visit your Spotify account settings online and select "Sign out everywhere" to terminate all active sessions.

This action forces you to log back in on each device but ensures a clean slate for queue management and playlist playback across all platforms.

Add More Songs to Playlist (Optional)

Expanding short playlists beyond 15 tracks reduces the likelihood of automatic additions. Spotify's algorithm is less likely to supplement longer playlists, assuming they represent complete listening experiences.

Consider adding complementary tracks that match your playlist's theme or mood. This proactive approach prevents unwanted recommendations while maintaining your curated listening experience.

Update or Reinstall the Spotify App

Check your device's app store for Spotify updates, as newer versions often include bug fixes for playback issues. If problems persist, consider uninstalling and reinstalling the application.

Before reinstalling, note your current playlists and downloaded content, as the process may require re-downloading offline music. Fresh installations resolve corrupted files and restore default settings.

Advanced Tips and Prevention

Download Playlists for Offline Playback

Downloaded playlists operate independently from Spotify's streaming algorithms, effectively preventing unwanted recommendations and autoplay features. Offline mode ensures you hear only the tracks you've manually selected.

This method provides the most reliable protection against algorithm interference, though it requires a Premium subscription and sufficient device storage for your music library.

Use Spotify Premium Features

Premium users enjoy granular playback controls including individual track selection, unlimited skips, and advanced queue management options. The "Clear Queue" button provides instant queue control, which is unavailable to Free users.

Premium subscribers can turn off shuffle on mobile devices and access Enhanced Playlist controls, offering significantly more authority over their listening experience than Free accounts.

Regularly Review Playlist and Queue

Develop a habit of checking your play queue before starting listening sessions, especially after using multiple devices or exploring new music. Regular playlist audits help identify unwanted additions to the playlist.

Monthly playlist reviews ensure your collections remain true to their original purpose, removing algorithm-added tracks and maintaining your intended listening experience across all devices.

Conclusion

Spotify's algorithm-driven features, such as Autoplay, Enhanced Playlists, and Smart Shuffle, are designed to enhance music discovery but often disrupt carefully curated listening experiences. The most effective solutions involve turning off these features through settings, clearing play queues regularly, and maintaining playlists with sufficient track counts to prevent automatic supplementation.

For persistent issues, combining multiple approaches—such as disabling Autoplay, clearing cache, and logging out from all devices—typically resolves even stubborn playlist problems. Premium users enjoy additional control options, but Free account holders can still achieve reliable playlist playback through proper queue management and feature settings.