YouTube is making playlist listening a bit more democratic
What you need to know
- YouTube is rolling out a fresh way to vote songs up or down in shared playlists.
- Once invited, your crew can thumbs up tracks, pushing favorites to the front.
- You control who gets to vote—open it up to everyone, keep it exclusive to collaborators, or switch voting off.
YouTube has unveiled a fresh feature for collaborative playlists that lets you give songs a thumbs up or down to show what’s hitting or missing.
This new feature could make road trips and kickbacks way more fun. According to a post on X, YouTube is turning on playlist voting, letting everyone have a say (via Android Police). It’s slowly rolling out in phases.
📣 We’re introducing even more updates to playlists! Now we’re gradually rolling out voting on playlistsYou can try this out yourself by voting for your favorite song on this playlist we made from Kendrick Lamar & SZA’s “The Grand National” Tour setlist: https://t.co/gCES0MxQfSMay 14, 2025
For the uninitiated, YouTube has had shared playlists for a while now, where multiple people can add songs and build one big mix together. It’s perfect for parties, hangouts, or anytime you want a group vibe.
Now, YouTube is letting friends or family in a shared playlist vote on songs. If you’re invited, you can jump into the app and give tracks a thumbs up or thumbs down. Songs with more love move up in the queue, so the crowd favorites play first.
YouTube has posted a Shorts video showing you how to let your squad vote on tracks.
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How to set it up
If you want to try it out, just start by making a new playlist and set it to “unlisted” or “public.” Then flip on the “collaborate” option, hit the share icon, copy the link, and send it to whoever you want to join in.
When it comes to voting control, you can open it up to ‘Everyone’ with a YouTube account, shut voting off completely, or let only invited collaborators cast their votes.
Like with any group-driven feature, there are some hiccups to keep in mind. It’s awesome for getting everyone pumped before a road trip or hangout, but if people don’t actually vote, you might still be stuck picking songs yourself.
Also, make sure you load up on a good variety of tracks early on. Otherwise, the playlist can get a bit messy before the voting sorts things out.
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