Today’s Big Story

The Sounds of 2024

It’s the battle of the highlight reel: Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music’s Replay are here

I listened to 24,966 minutes of music last year. I know this because Apple told me. It’s officially December, which means online platforms have started releasing their “year in review” recaps for users. Recaps have become increasingly common from streaming services—the most popular, of course, is Spotify’s Wrapped recap. As an Apple Music user, I always felt left out until they finally got around to introducing their own “Replay” feature in 2019.

Since its launch in 2016, Spotify Wrapped has become an end-of-year staple that people now treat like a holiday tradition. Unfortunately, Rolling Stone says Spotify Wrapped “sucked the joy right out of the beginning of the month with a lackluster data dump that disgruntled several users online.”

In the past, the feature has gone viral for its creative blend of pop culture references, aesthetically pleasing presentations, and concrete data on how people listen to music. After all, who doesn’t love getting personalized information on their own music tastes? Even if people were embarrassed by their own tastes, the feature has always been a key element of Spotify’s appeal as a streaming platform. This time around, Spotify Wrapped lacked its usual charm. Instead of providing an individualized gift for its users, “the whole experience felt more like getting socks for Christmas.” In a previous year, Spotify Wrapped also included a personalized Audio Aura that matched listening habits to specific moods. These apparent one-off features were not included in the 2024 edition, to the dismay of many.

Apple’s Replay 2024 has been updated to be more shareable than ever before. As usual, the experience will give you your most-played songs, artists, and albums of the year, and you can choose to share as much—or little… we've all had looping periods we are not particularly proud of; it's fine!—of your year-end insights by customizing your shareable slides, which feature a color palette influenced by your music choices.

And it should come as no surprise that for a second year in a row, Taylor Swift has been named Spotify’s most-played artist. And she joins Kendrick Lamar and Sabrina Carpenter as Apple’s most-streamed artists of the year. One new addition for Apple that I thought was cool: Its Global Shazam charts, with Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” taking top honors. Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” sits at No. 2, followed by FloyyMenor and CrisMJ’s “Gata Only”, Cyril’s remix of Disturbed’s “The Sound of Silence” and Artemas’ “I Like the Way You Kiss Me”.

Apocalypse Now?

About four-in-ten U.S. adults believe humanity is ‘living in the end times’

Ask around and plenty of people will say “things are crazy out there.” But I didn’t realize just how many people were genuinely concerned for the state of the world right now. In the United States, around 40% of adults now say they believe “we are living in the end times,” according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.

Not surprisingly, religious folks seem to be the most worried. Christians are divided on this question, with 47% saying we are living in the end times, including majorities in the historically Black (76%) and evangelical (63%) Protestant traditions. Meanwhile, 49% of Christians say we are not living in the end times, including 70% of Catholics and 65% of mainline Protestants who say this. Viewed more broadly, the share of Protestants who say we are living in the end times is greater than the corresponding share among Catholics.

But scientists are weighing in, too. Last month, NASA spoke about the potential demise of the Earth after the late Stephen Hawking shared a chilling prediction in 2016. Prior to his death, the renowned scientist shared his thoughts about how the world could end due to human-caused activities. And somewhat worryingly, Hawking's prediction for when the world could end isn't too far away—as he suggested it could take place by 2600.

Bitcoin Is Back, Baby

The price of a single Bitcoin rose to six figures for the first time

The price of one bitcoin hit $100,000 for the first time Wednesday as demand for the digital currency continued to surge in the wake of an election that saw victories for crypto-friendly candidates led by President-elect Donald Trump. According to NBC News, since Nov. 5, the price of bitcoin has surged more than 45%. Year to date, prices have more than doubled.

NPR says it’s easy to see why. Trump has promised to make the U.S. “the crypto capital of the planet” by bringing in friendly regulators and ending the tough enforcement actions taken against the sector under President Joe Biden. In fact, bitcoin hit the $100,000 milestone after Trump picked crypto supporter Paul Atkins as the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier in the day, raising hope for a more friendly Wall Street cop for the industry.

Bitcoin now stands as arguably the most successful investment product of the last 20 years. The value of all the coins in circulation is $2 trillion, more than the combined worth of Mastercard, Walmart and JPMorgan Chase. The motley assortment of hackers and political radicals who embraced Bitcoin when it was created by an anonymous coder in 2008 have become millionaires many times over. And the invention has spawned an entire industry anchored by publicly traded companies like Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, and promoted by celebrities and athletes alike.

The First Electric Popemobile

A one-off based on the new EV G-Class, was created for Pope Francis

Holy G-Wagen! The iconic Mercedes-Benz G-class has undergone a seismic change for 2025, adding an electric model to the mix in the form of the G580 with EQ Technology (unfortunately that's its official name). Mercedes's flagship SUV has been as the primary form of transportation for the Pope for decades, so it comes as no surprise that the Popemobile—as his holy chariot is known—will also soon adopt a future-proof powertrain.

On Wednesday, Mercedes gave Pope Francis the keys to the first electric Popemobile in the Vatican. And while it’s an all-new type of propulsion for the pope’s dedicated ride, it’s not a new partner. Mercedes-Benz has built these types of vehicles for the Vatican for around 100 years, and a 2015 analysis by the Washington Post showed the automaker had built roughly one-third of all so-called Popemobiles to that point.

Francis, who has been pope since March 2013, has largely shunned the use of bulletproof vehicles, preferring to be as close to people as possible. Francis has also stressed the importance of environmental issues throughout his papacy. Mercedes officials called the new vehicle the first all-electric Popemobile, but Reuters reports Francis has also used electric cars on some of his foreign trips.

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