Google is steadily pushing new features to YouTube Music to get it at par with Google Play Music. Over the last few weeks, the company has rolled out several features for free users that let them cast music to other devices, play uploaded songs, and even download playlists with uploaded music. On top of that, Google has introduced a host of new features to the service, like the recently added activity bar, which gives users quick access to four personalized playlists. But while YouTube Music still lacks a lot of features that were available in Play Music, Google is now focusing on borrowing features from rival Spotify.

"Year in Review" Playlist

According to a recent report from 9to5Google, YouTube Music will soon offer a new "Year in Review" playlist, which will let users "relive the top songs you listened to." Both Spotify and Apple Music offer a similar playlist towards the end of the year, accompanied by some cool infographics and data about each user's listening habits.

YouTube Music Year in review playlist

One YouTube Music user has already received this new playlist, which appears at the top of the app's home page as "My 2020 Year in Review." Underneath the cover art, YouTube Music also shows which artists are included in the playlist. However, unlike Spotify, the playlist doesn't come with any infographics or data and the app doesn't appear to have an option to share the custom playlist. Along with the personalized playlist, Google has also added general Top Songs 2020, Top Pop 2020, and Top Latin 2020 playlists to the service.

Sharing songs on Instagram and Snapchat stories

YouTube Music is also preparing to borrow another popular feature from Spotify, which will let users share songs as Instagram and Snapchat stories. According to a separate report from 9to5Google, Google has started testing the feature and YouTube Music's custom share sheet already shows the new "Instagram stories" and "Snapchat stories" options for some users. But the functionality isn't live yet, and tapping on either of these options crashes the app.

YouTube Music share sheet with Snapchat Instagram stories options

Once the feature rolls, selecting the options will share the selected song as a story on Instagram and Snapchat. While we're yet to see what the resulting stories will look like, it's safe to assume that it will include the album artwork and artist name. If Google is working with Instagram on the integration, the stories will likely include a direct link to open the song in YouTube Music.

As of now, we have no official information from Google regarding either of these features. We expect the company to release a statement as soon as the features are ready for primetime.

YouTube Music Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
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