You've probably seen those colorful, data-heavy grids on Instagram or X. Your friends are flexing their "top artists of all time" or showing off exactly how many minutes they spent listening to obscure lo-fi beats last year. For the longest time, if you saw those stats, the person posting them was almost certainly a Spotify user. They were using stats.fm for Apple Music—well, they weren't. They were using it for Spotify.
Apple Music users were basically left in the dark. We had the yearly "Replay" feature, sure. But Replay is kinda corporate. It's polished. It doesn't give you the raw, gritty data that music nerds crave. You couldn't see your lifetime stream counts or track your listening habits in real-time with the same granularity as the "other side."
But things changed. The wall fell.
Getting your Apple Music data into stats.fm (formerly known as Spotistats) is now a reality, though it isn't exactly a "one-click and you're done" situation. It's a bit of a process. Honestly, it’s a journey through Apple's privacy settings and data request portals. But if you care about your digital history, it’s worth every second.
The Problem With Apple's "Walled Garden"
Apple is famous for privacy. They love to tell us how much they protect our data. That's great for your bank details, but it’s a massive pain when you just want to see how many times you actually played that one Taylor Swift song you claim to hate.
Spotify has a very open API. Developers can hook into it easily. Apple Music? Not so much. For years, the developers behind stats.fm had to wait for Apple to provide a way to ingest large-scale listening history. You couldn't just "log in" and see your history from 2017. Apple doesn't just hand that over to third-party apps via a simple sync.
Instead, they make you request it.
If you want the full picture—the "Lifetime" stats—you have to go through the Privacy and Data portal. You ask Apple for your information. They take a few days (sometimes a week) to "prepare" it. Then they send you a ZIP file. It feels very 2005. But this file contains the "Media Services Information," which is the holy grail for stats.fm.
How stats.fm Actually Works With Your Library
Once you've got that data, you're essentially importing a giant spreadsheet of your life. Every skip. Every late-night repeat. Every accidental play because you left your headphones plugged in while you slept.
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The app takes this raw JSON data and turns it into something beautiful.
It’s not just about the numbers. It’s about the context. The app tracks your "Stream Count," which is straightforward, but it also looks at "Minutes Streamed." This is a crucial distinction. A grindcore fan might have 500 streams in a day because their songs are 30 seconds long. A prog-rock fan might only have 10 streams, but they’ve listened for two hours. Stats.fm for Apple Music levels that playing field.
The interface is snappy. You can toggle between the last 4 weeks, 6 months, or your entire history.
There's a "Plus" version, too. While the basic app is free, the deep-dive historical data usually requires a one-time purchase. In an era of endless subscriptions, a one-time fee feels almost revolutionary. It's basically the price of a fancy coffee to unlock your entire musical autobiography.
The Import Process: A Reality Check
Don't expect instant gratification here.
- You log into the Apple Data and Privacy site.
- You request a copy of your data (specifically "Apple Media Services information").
- You wait. And wait. Apple says it can take up to seven days. Usually, it's three or four.
- You get an email. You download a .zip file.
- You upload the specific
Apple_Media_Services_Information.csvor JSON files to the stats.fm servers.
It’s clunky. But once it’s done, it’s done. The app will then keep track of your future listens much more easily, but that initial "dump" is what provides the historical weight.
Why Does This Even Matter?
Music is identity.
We used to have record shelves. You could look at a friend's collection and know exactly who they were. Digital streaming took that away. Our libraries are invisible clouds. Apps like stats.fm bring back that physical sense of "ownership" over your taste.
There’s also the "Receipts" factor. We all have that friend who claims they "discovered" an artist before they were cool. Well, stats.fm proves it. It shows the date of your first stream. It shows if you were in the top 0.1% of listeners back in 2019. It turns music into a bit of a game, a social currency that goes beyond just hitting play.
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Comparing Apple Music Replay and stats.fm
Apple’s native "Replay" has improved. It now updates weekly and gives you a decent highlight reel. But it’s still a highlight reel. It’s the "Best Of" version of your year.
Stats.fm is the "B-Sides and Rarities."
It shows you the songs you've played the most that didn't make the top 100. It shows you your "listening clock"—what time of day you're most active. Are you a morning person who listens to death metal? Or a midnight jazz listener? The app maps this out visually.
Also, the social aspect is huge. You can follow other users. You can see what your friends are listening to right now with more detail than the "Friend Activity" sidebar in the Apple Music desktop app. It creates a community around the data.
Common Glitches and What to Watch Out For
It isn't perfect. Let's be real.
Sometimes, Apple’s data files are formatted weirdly. If you’ve changed your Apple ID region recently, your history might be split. Some users report that "locally synced" files—music you ripped from CDs or downloaded elsewhere—don't always count toward your global stats because they lack the specific metadata IDs that Apple Music's streaming catalog uses.
Also, duplicate entries can happen. If you listen on an iPad and an iPhone simultaneously (why would you, but people do), it can occasionally trip up the algorithm.
The developers are pretty active on Discord, though. If your data looks wonky, there’s usually a reason involving how Apple logs "end-of-track" events. For a stream to count, you usually have to listen to a certain percentage of the song. If you skip at the 29-second mark of a 30-second song, did it happen? Apple says yes. Sometimes the stats app needs a second to reconcile that.
Is the "Plus" Upgrade Worth It?
Honestly? Yes.
If you're the type of person searching for "stats.fm Apple Music," you're already deep enough down the rabbit hole to want the full features. The "Plus" tier allows for the permanent import of that Apple data file. Without it, you’re mostly just looking at a snapshot of your current top tracks based on what the API can see in the short term.
To get that "Lifetime" badge, you have to pay. But again, it’s a one-time thing. No monthly drain on your bank account.
The Privacy Trade-off
You are giving a third-party app access to your listening history.
For some, that’s a dealbreaker. But in the grand scheme of data privacy, your "Top 10 Nickelback Songs" isn't exactly high-risk information. Stats.fm is pretty transparent about what they do. They aren't selling your soul; they're just parsing your JSON files to show you cool graphs.
If you're worried, you can always go into your Apple ID settings later and revoke access. But then, of course, your stats stop updating.
Actionable Steps to Get Started Right Now
Don't just download the app and expect it to work instantly. Do it in this order:
First, go to the Apple Data and Privacy portal. Do this today because the wait time is the biggest hurdle. Request "Apple Media Services information." You don't need your photos or your emails. Just the media stuff.
Second, download the stats.fm app and create an account. Link your Apple Music account. You'll see a very basic version of your stats immediately—usually just what's currently in your "Heavy Rotation" playlist.
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Third, wait for that Apple email. Once the ZIP file arrives, don't open it on your phone. It's easier on a computer. Look for the folder titled "Apple_Media_Services_Information" and find the Apple Music Account Activity files.
Fourth, use the "Import" tool in the stats.fm app settings. Upload those files. This is where the magic happens. The servers will crunch the numbers, and your "Lifetime" stats will populate.
Finally, check your settings. Make sure "Syncing" is turned on so that your future listens are captured automatically. You won't have to do the manual upload again unless you feel like there's a huge gap in your data.
Stop relying on once-a-year recaps from big tech companies. Your music taste is an evolving story. You might as well have the tools to read it whenever you want. Whether you're embarrassed by your 2014 obsession with dubstep or proud of your underground indie cred, it's all there in the data.
Check your "Recently Played" section after the import. You might be surprised at what's actually sitting at number one. It’s rarely the song you think it is.