What's Up With People Pitting Burlington Against Berkeley Online? 2023 Spotify Wrapped And Gay Sound Towns Explained

Spotify Wrapped 2023 just unrolled, but people seem to be less interested in the music than one feature that has gagged listeners across America. This year's Wrapped shows subscribers what towns match their listening habits, with many noticing a peculiar trend where most people were divvied up between Burlington (Vermont), Berkeley (California), and Cambridge (Massachusetts).

Here's how everyone is characterizing these towns, from jokes about being basic to jokes about being part of the LGBTQ+ community.

What Are Spotify 'Sound Towns'?

Spotify' Wrapped's 2023 Edition was released for all users on November 29th, 2023, with the inclusion of a feature called "sound towns," where each user was assigned a town or city that resembles their music taste, based on the music taste of that city's residents.

Some of the most discussed towns online ended up being Berkeley, Burlington and Cambridge.

What Were Berkeley, California Memes About?

Some of the first viral memes shared online name-dropped Berkeley, California, due to a seemingly high percentage of gay Spotify users being assigned the town. For instance, X user @ourfirstcaress joked about the LGBTQ+ listening presence in Berkeley.

X user @papi_lechuga posted a video of a now iconic lesbian smoke-off with the caption "Berkeley, USA," gaining roughly 15,000 likes in four hours (seen below).

Berkeley, USA pic.twitter.com/vbfLv3K2G6

— 🫧🧼𝕭(jörk)𝖊𝖓🧼🫧 (@papi_lechuga) November 29, 2023

What Were People Saying About Burlington, Vermont?

Memes about Burlington grew popular soon after Berkeley, with many joking about the town's tourism board bribing Spotfy for a feature.

The theme of these towns primarily featuring gay artists (or at least, gay interests) continued with Burlington, as seen in a meme posted by realaccountyeah. X user @nicolewboyce captioned the Sad Ant with Bindle image with "well I’m off to Burlington," gathering over 8,000 likes.

What Was The Internet's Verdict On Cambridge Massachusetts?

Cambridge was another highly discussed sound town on the day of the 2023 Spotify Wrapped's release, evidenced by a post shared by X user @Mikey_Sul, comparing Cambridge and Berkeley. In turn, many meme creators began referencing all three cities, such as X user @brokebackstan on November 29th, 2023, who joked about building LGBTQ+ communes in all three towns.

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For the full history of Spotify Sound Towns, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.