Apple Music rolls out ‘Up Next’ playlist to 11 countries

Apple Music introduced its popular “Up Next” feature to showcase new talent on the platform in the United States back in 2017, and the company is now opening up the feature to 11 new countries, according to reports.

According to Billboard, Apple Music’s ‘Up Next’, the music streaming service’s editorial program to promote new artists that are growing in popularity based on the area they are in, will now be rolling out to China, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Mexico, India, Russia, Japan, and South Africa.

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The Up Next feature is not picked up by Apple’s automated recommendations service and as a result, isn’t customised for each user like your music radio stations and other smart playlists are. Instead, Apple Music editors pick the songs and update the Up Next playlist each week, which means the service is not relying on algorithms for music that makes it into this list.

Interestingly, when we checked the playlist on Apple Music, it had music from Canadian singer-songwriter Tate McRae alongside Indian artists. The description of the playlist also stated that the service’s editors would “update the playlist often”, so users should add any tracks they like to their library.

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Launched in 2015, Apple Music has expanded to over 160 countries and territories. The service boasts a catalog of 70 million tracks, and is available on Apple’s macOS, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, CarPlay, HomePod and watchOS. Part of its success can also be attributed to Apple’s decision to brings the service to Windows, Android, Linux (via browser) ChromeOS, Amazon Echo, Sonos and other web browsers.