
Spotify's Star Wars celebrations are in full Force starting today, and this May the 4th-aka Star Wars Day-fans will discover playlists with exclusive interactive content and new ways to explore audiobooks from the iconic franchise.
In our Best of Star Wars playlist-which has been streamed over 70 million times to date-multiple lightsabers have been hidden throughout our collection of the most-iconic Star Wars songs. Those intrepid enough to find them all will be rewarded with special Easter eggs featuring beloved characters from the Star Wars universe.
In addition, Spotify Audiobooks today launched its new Sci-Fi & Fantasy Essentials hub, which includes a number of Star Wars classics for fans to listen along to, in addition to new and quintessential sci-fi and fantasy titles such as The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, and Black Shield Maiden by Willow Smith, releasing May 6.
Ready to listen for yourself? Just follow these simple steps.
How to celebrate Star Wars Day with Spotify:
Lightsaber Scavenger Hunt (Mobile Only): Listen to Spotify's Best of Star Wars Playlist to begin unlocking hidden lightsabers in the tracks. As specific songs are played, listeners will receive a message from characters announcing they have unlocked a lightsaber. Once a listener has collected all five, they can check back later for a special message coming from a galaxy far, far away.
Intergalactic Audiobooks: Spotify Premium users across the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand have access to 15 hours of monthly audiobook listening time-check out titles from the Essential Legend Collection including Yoda: Dark Rendezvous or Timothy Zahn's top-streamed Heir to the Empire (Star Wars Legends).
Star Wars fans show their love on Spotify While May the 4th is a banner day for Star Wars-related streams each year, Spotify data reveals that fans listen to their favorite Star Wars hits on Spotify all year long:
California, Texas, and Florida rank as the top three U.S. states with most streams of Spotify's Best of Star Wars playlist.
On May 4, 2023, Spotify's Best of Star Wars playlist saw an over 2,000%+ global increase in average daily streams compared to the week prior.
In the U.S., this spike in average daily streams increased by more than 3,000%.
Star Wars (Main Theme) and The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme) by John Williams, and The Mandalorian by Ludwig G ransson were the three most popular tracks from the Best of Star Wars playlist on May 4th 2023.
The sci-fi & fantasy genre ranks in the top three for audiobook completion rates on Spotify.
Heir to the Empire (Star Wars Legends) by Timothy Zahn is the most-streamed Star Wars-related audiobook on Spotify.
The art of Star Wars soundtracks Last (but certainly not least), For the Record spoke with composer Kevin Kiner who, alongside his children Sean and Deana, has created the scores for fan-favorite shows like Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and most recently, Ashoka. Keep reading to discover what makes a Star Wars song a Star Wars song, his creative approach to Star Wars shows, and his experience of watching Star Wars for the very first time.
Kevin Kiner
How does it feel to be a part of the Star Wars universe? Were you always a fan? It means everything to me. It's the crowning achievement of my career to be part of Star Wars, and in my opinion, having themes that are now canon in the Star Wars universe is one of the greatest honors a composer can have.
But to fully answer the question, I was always a fan. I went to every midnight showing I could. I don't think there was a midnight showing in 1977, but I do remember when I first saw Star Wars. When I first saw that giant Star Destroyer and I first heard John's magnificent theme, it changed my life, musically speaking.
Your work spans many different genres and worlds. How do you add in elements that bring those various places to life in a score? It's hard to talk about being eclectic and cohesive at the same time when the very definition of being eclectic often involves not being cohesive. I feel that all of the music we do for Star Wars still has a largeness of scope to it in the same way John Williams' compositions do. If you take his The Imperial March, for example, it's a giant piece of music in terms of not being subtle and being extremely bold.
Boldness is one of the hallmarks of Star Wars music. That's what we strategically have in mind when we are writing. So even if we are using unusual flutes or dark synths, they are all bold sounds that hearken to the spirit of the Star Wars universe.
How do you get into the right creative mindset when you start work on a new Star Wars soundtrack? For Ahsoka, Sean, Deana, and I put together a playlist of 20-25 tracks that we thought were really groundbreaking and unusual. The list included everyone from Joe Hisaishi to John Williams, with many other composers in between.
Then, we sent those to Ashoka creator Dave Filoni and got feedback from him as to what he liked. But mostly, we just let those percolate in our brains a little bit. My personal technique for preparing is I go to the piano every morning and I start working on ideas.
After a while, those ideas start to gel into different themes. Also, sometimes a theme just comes while I'm in the middle of writing a cue. Many times, that winds up being the best theme in the show.
The second season of Ahsoka is in development. Any fun musical surprises the fans can expect? I actually don't know a thing about Season 2 yet. Purposely, I have asked Dave to keep us in the dark, unless we need to develop a theme that happens later on in the arc of a series.
I like to be surprised when I first watch a
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
17/10/2025
Q&A with Boston Conservatory Choral Conductor Stephen Spinelli How his research into the lost manuscripts of composer Florence Price led to a Grammy-winning c...
16/10/2025
SVG Sit-Down: FUJIFILM Execs on GFX ETERNA 55 Camera, Importance of Shallow-Dept...
16/10/2025
Squash's Most Ambitious Broadcast Production To Be Deployed at Comcast Busin...
16/10/2025
Main Street Sports Group Inks Deal With Omaha Productions, Launches Original-Con...
16/10/2025
A Historic Precursor? FIFA, HBS, DAZN Offer an Inside Look at Production of FIFA...
16/10/2025
Prime Video Offers Sneak Peak at New NBA on Prime StudioThe massive 13,000-sq-ft, two-story studio features a LED regulation half court and hoopBy Jason Dachman...
16/10/2025
SVG Remote Production Forum Draws Record Crowd for Visit to PGA TOUR Studios, De...
16/10/2025
BitFire's Ben Grafchik on How Growing Cloud Workflows Are Impacting the Live...
16/10/2025
AI technology is advancing quickly, bringing both new creative possibilities and...
16/10/2025
In 2017, Imani Ellis launched CultureCon, a conference that's become a must-attend event for more than 10,000 diverse creatives and Black professionals to c...
16/10/2025
It might still be a little early to break out the tinsel and mistletoe, but Spotify's already queuing up some holiday magic. This year's Spotify Singles...
16/10/2025
Earlier this year, our in-house publishing imprint, Spotify Audiobooks, put out ...
16/10/2025
VAMPIRE has been integrated onto GM Defenses Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV), providing a mobile solution to effectively and affordably counter small drone threat...
16/10/2025
The AgilePod mounted on the host aircraft....
16/10/2025
60% say infotainment systems are a critical purchasing or leasing consideration,...
16/10/2025
NEW YORK The Broadcasters Foundation of America has launched its 2025 Year-End Giving Campaign, which seeks to raise donations from tax-deductible personal and ...
16/10/2025
Roku has added several new features to its user interface and operating system meant to make it easier to discover and personalize content, the company said....
16/10/2025
NEW YORK CNN has announced that its All Access subscription tier will launch in the U.S. on Oct. 28, providing audiences with a centralized destination for CNN&...
16/10/2025
Student Spotlight: Alan Villanueva The graduate student and saxophonist, who performed on Natalia Lafourcades Latin Grammy-nominated Live at Carnegie Hall alb...
16/10/2025
The XR Sports Alliance (XRSA) has announced the third cohort of members. The new members include Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), the Vegas Golden Kni...
16/10/2025
NEW YORK The Broadcasters Foundation of America has launched its 2025 Year-End Giving Campaign which seeks to raise donations from tax-deductible personal and c...
16/10/2025
NEW YORK Australia's Nine Network and the NHL today announced a media partnership that will bring the world's premier professional ice hockey league to ...
16/10/2025
Parks Associates has released new data showing that nearly half (45%) of U.S. internet homes watch free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) services and 89% of U.S...
16/10/2025
TROY, Mich. -New data from J.D. Power's 2025 U.S. Residential Internet Service Provider Study shows that residential wireless internet providers are growing...
16/10/2025
TV's most charming detective drama * Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investi...
16/10/2025
Back to All News
Thailand's Legendary Outlaw Returns: Tee Yai: Born to be ...
16/10/2025
Back to All News
Christmas Is Just Around The Corner: Home For Christmas Season...
16/10/2025
Back to All News
Trist n Ulloa Stars in El crimen de Pazos, the New Netflix Ser...
16/10/2025
ABS Completes Redomiciliation to Dubai Development Authority as Part of Strategi...
16/10/2025
This Saturday October 18 Katja Mia will burst onto the radio airwaves for the first time as she joins 2FM. Katja will be standing in for Bl thnaid Treacy on Sat...
16/10/2025
This October, RT is delighted to support Wexford Festival Opera, Babor International Arts Festival for Children, Open House Dublin and 36 other arts and cultu...
16/10/2025
GeForce NOW is more than just a platform to stream fresh games every week - it offers celebrations for the gamers who make it epic, with member rewards to sweet...
15/10/2025
Across the world, early-career reporters are interrogating systems that shape daily life, from mortuaries and classrooms to the corridors of legal education and...
15/10/2025
St. Louis Blues Pay Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne in New Pregame Open VideoThe NHL franchise worked with production firms 2WEI and 4th Floor CreativeBy Mark J Burns,...
15/10/2025
Cobalt Digital, G3DVu, Proxima Vision, and Telos Alliance Renew Premier Sponsors...
15/10/2025
By Paige Bethmann
Before my grandmother passed away in 2019, I went to visit her in the hospital where she'd been for a few weeks. When I arrived, the nurs...
15/10/2025
Two years ago, Spotify set out to grow the entire publishing industry by making ...
15/10/2025
People turn to DJ for a listening experience that feels personal, dynamic, and j...
15/10/2025
Las personas recurren a DJ para vivir una experiencia de escucha personal, din m...
15/10/2025
Rock legend Bruce Springsteen and luminary actor Jeremy Allen White came togethe...
15/10/2025
At Spotify, we're all about supporting rising talent and helping them connec...
15/10/2025
New SBS Documentary Series THE CANCER KILLERS Premieres 4 November on SBS & SBS ...
15/10/2025
SBS celebrates the Festivals of Lights with bold, illuminating stories across th...
15/10/2025
One of humanity's most profound questions continues: Is there any place in our galaxy suitable for life beyond Earth? NASA intends to find out, with the hel...
15/10/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
15/10/2025
Scality, a global leader in cyber-resilient storage software for the AI era, today announced the advancement of its comprehensive AI ecosystem certification pro...
15/10/2025
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today unveiled key highlights of the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, scheduled for Feb. 15 19 at the Westin Rancho Mirage Go...
15/10/2025
At NAB Show New York 2025 (Stand 244), Interra Systems will showcase the future of media QC, monitoring, and captioning, highlighting its award-winning, AI- and...