Playlist Hospital

Fix greyed out tracks and remove duplicates in your Spotify playlists

How to Remove Duplicate Songs from Spotify Playlists

Have you noticed the same song playing twice in your Spotify playlist? Duplicate tracks are a common problem, especially in large playlists that have grown over months or years. While duplicate songs don't harm your playlist functionally, they create a frustrating listening experience with repetitive interruptions.

Playlist Hospital offers a free, automated solution to detect and remove duplicate songs from your Spotify playlists quickly and safely.

Why Do Playlists Have Duplicate Songs?

Duplicate songs accumulate in Spotify playlists for several common reasons:

  • Multiple Add Sources: You might add the same song from different places—the artist page, an album, search results, or another playlist. Each time, Spotify treats it as a separate addition, even though it's the same track.
  • Collaborative Playlists: When multiple people contribute to a shared playlist, they may unknowingly add songs that are already there, especially if the playlist is large.
  • Different Album Versions: Sometimes you add a song from both a standard album and a deluxe edition, or from a compilation. These might be the same recording but from different album contexts.
  • Playlist Merging: When combining multiple playlists or importing tracks in bulk, duplicates often slip through.
  • Mobile App Glitches: Occasionally, network issues or app bugs can cause the same song to be added multiple times when you tap the add button.

The Problem with Manual Duplicate Removal

Spotify doesn't provide a built-in tool to automatically detect and remove duplicate songs from playlists. This means you're left with two tedious manual options:

  • Scroll Through Manually: For large playlists with hundreds or thousands of songs, scrolling through to spot duplicates visually is time-consuming and error-prone. It's easy to miss duplicates or accidentally remove the wrong version.
  • Sort by Song Name: While you can sort playlists alphabetically to group duplicates together, this only works for exact title matches. It won't catch duplicates with slight variations in naming (like "(Remastered)" or "- Radio Edit"), and it disrupts your carefully curated playlist order.

For a 500-song playlist, manually checking for duplicates could take hours. For collaborative playlists that are constantly growing, it's an ongoing maintenance burden.

How Playlist Hospital Removes Duplicates

Playlist Hospital automates the entire duplicate detection and removal process:

  1. Connect Your Spotify Account: Log in securely using Spotify's official authentication. We only request permission to view and modify your playlists— nothing more.
  2. Select a Playlist to Scan: Choose any playlist you own, whether it's public or private.
  3. Automatic Duplicate Detection: Our tool scans through all tracks in seconds, identifying exact duplicates based on Spotify's unique track IDs. This catches all duplicates regardless of how they were added.
  4. Review and Remove: You'll see a list of all duplicate songs found. Review the duplicates and choose to remove them with a single click. You have full control over what gets removed.
  5. Clean Playlist: Once you confirm, the duplicate tracks are removed from your playlist immediately, leaving you with a clean, streamlined listening experience.

The entire process takes under a minute for most playlists, compared to hours of manual work.

Is It Safe to Remove Duplicates?

Yes, removing duplicates with Playlist Hospital is completely safe:

  • Non-Destructive: We only remove the duplicate instances of songs. One copy of each track remains in your playlist.
  • You're in Control: You review and approve all changes before they're applied. Nothing is removed automatically without your confirmation.
  • Uses Official Spotify API: All modifications happen through Spotify's secure, official API. We can't access anything beyond your playlists.
  • No Data Stored: We don't store any of your playlist data or listening history. Everything happens in your browser session.
  • Reversible: If you accidentally remove something you wanted to keep, you can always add it back to your playlist from Spotify.

Benefits of Duplicate-Free Playlists

Cleaning up duplicates improves your Spotify experience in several ways:

  • Better Listening Flow: No more hearing the same song twice in quick succession, which disrupts the mood and rhythm of your playlist.
  • Accurate Playlist Length: See the true duration and number of unique songs in your playlist.
  • Easier Organization: Clean playlists are easier to browse, edit, and share with friends.
  • More Variety: When duplicates are removed, your playlist shuffle and autoplay features provide more diverse recommendations and rotation.
  • Professional Appearance: If you share your playlists publicly or collaborate with others, duplicate-free playlists look more curated and intentional.

Tips for Preventing Future Duplicates

While Playlist Hospital makes duplicate removal easy, you can also reduce duplicates by following these best practices:

  • Search Before Adding: Before adding a song to a large playlist, use Spotify's search function (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F in desktop) to check if it's already there.
  • Regular Cleanup: Run Playlist Hospital every few months on your frequently updated playlists to catch duplicates before they accumulate.
  • Be Mindful with Collaborative Playlists: If you're managing a shared playlist, consider setting guidelines with collaborators about checking for duplicates.
  • Avoid Bulk Imports: When possible, add songs individually or in small batches rather than merging entire playlists, which often creates mass duplicates.
  • Use Playlist Folders: Organize similar playlists into folders rather than combining them into one mega-playlist where duplicates are harder to spot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will Playlist Hospital remove different versions of the same song?

No. Playlist Hospital only removes exact duplicates—identical tracks with the same Spotify track ID. If you have both a regular version and a remastered version, or a studio recording and a live performance, those will be kept as separate tracks since they have different track IDs.

Can I use this on collaborative playlists?

Yes, you can use Playlist Hospital on any playlist you own or have editing permissions for, including collaborative playlists. Just make sure you have the necessary permissions to modify the playlist.

Does it work with large playlists?

Absolutely. Playlist Hospital can scan and clean playlists of any size, from small curated collections to massive libraries with thousands of songs. Larger playlists may take a few extra seconds to scan, but the process remains quick and efficient.

What if I want to keep some duplicates?

That's fine! You review all detected duplicates before any changes are made. Simply don't select the duplicates you want to keep, and they'll remain in your playlist.

Other Playlist Issues: Greyed Out Songs

In addition to duplicates, you may also encounter greyed out, unplayable songs in your playlists due to licensing changes or regional restrictions. Playlist Hospital can help with those too by finding available alternative recordings.

Related: Why Your Spotify Songs Are Greyed Out and How to Fix Them

Get Started with Playlist Hospital

Ready to clean up your Spotify playlists? Visit Playlist Hospital and log in with your Spotify account to start removing duplicates and fixing greyed out songs today—completely free.

Join thousands of Spotify users who have already restored their playlists to perfect condition with Playlist Hospital.