The maximum number of songs you can add to a single YouTube Music playlist is currently 5,000. This allows you to create quite extensive playlists to organize and collect your favorite music tracks and albums. However, some users may want even larger playlists for their collections.
YouTube Music Playlist Limit
YouTube Music playlists are capped at 5,000 songs per playlist. This is the maximum number of tracks you can add to any single playlist you create in your YouTube Music library. If you try to add more songs after reaching the 5,000 song limit, you’ll get an error message stating “Playlist is full”.
This 5,000 song cap applies to all YouTube Music users across both free and paid YouTube Music subscriptions. So whether you’re using the free ad-supported version or paying for YouTube Music Premium, the playlist size limit is the same.
The 5,000 maximum was increased from 1,000 songs back in 2020. So YouTube has expanded playlist sizes over time. However, 5,000 is still the current cap as of 2023.
Why YouTube Music Playlists Are Capped
YouTube likely caps playlist sizes to help optimize performance. Very large playlists can be demanding to load and process, especially when using the mobile app. Limiting playlists to 5,000 songs reduces strain on servers and connections.
Smaller playlists also encourage more curation from users. If there were no limits at all, people may just add their entire music library to a single giant playlist. Restricting playlists promotes more selective and intentional song choices.
Given streaming music licensing constraints, there are also financial incentives for YouTube to limit playlist lengths. The platform has to pay royalties for each stream, so unlimited playlists could get costly.
Workarounds for Large Music Collections
If you want to organize an music collection larger than 5,000 songs on YouTube Music, you have a few options:
- Create multiple playlists – Make separate themed playlists for different artists, genres, eras, activities, etc. You can have as many different playlists as you want.
- Use playlists as folders – Make high-level playlists as folders, then make smaller sub-playlists for each folder to split up your collection.
- Let YouTube auto-generate – Remove song limits by letting YouTube create personalized autogenerated playlists like Discover Mix and My Mix based on your usage.
- Use third-party apps – Apps like Soundiiz can manage transferring unlimited playlists from Spotify or Apple Music.
With these workarounds, you can effectively organize libraries larger than the 5,000 song cap. It just takes more manual playlist creation and management on your part.
YouTube Music Playlist Limit for Other Content
Beyond just music tracks, YouTube Music playlists can also contain other types of content from YouTube:
- Music videos
- Live performances
- Interviews and behind-the-scenes footage
- Lyrics videos
- topic radio stations
The 5,000 item limit applies to any mix of this content added to your music playlists. However, limits are different for video-only playlists created on YouTube itself:
- Standard YouTube playlists – 200 videos max
- Watch Later playlist – 1,000 videos max
So if you want longer playlists for general YouTube videos, create them in YouTube rather than YouTube Music.
Restrictions on Playlist Sharing
In addition to the total song limits, YouTube also places some restrictions on sharing very large playlists:
- Public sharing limit – Can publicly share playlists up to 5,000 songs.
- Private sharing limit – Can privately share playlists up to 15,000 songs.
So you won’t be able to directly share playlists exceeding 5,000 public. But you can privately share longer ones up to 15,000 tracks.
Playlist Size Limits on Other Streamers
For comparison, here’s how YouTube Music’s 5,000 song playlist limit stacks up to competitors:
- Spotify – 10,000 songs per playlist.
- Apple Music – 100,000 songs per playlist.
- Amazon Music – 1,000 songs per playlist.
- Pandora – 1,500 songs per playlist.
So some other top streaming platforms allow longer playlist lengths. However, YouTube Music’s 5,000 maximum is on par with most.
Requesting Expanded Playlist Sizes
YouTube is always tweaking Music based on user feedback. There’s certainly demand from some listeners for bigger per-playlist limits.
If you want YouTube Music to increase playlist sizes beyond 5,000 songs, here are some suggestions:
- Send feedback in app – Use the Send Feedback option in the YouTube Music app.
- Contact support – Reach out to YouTube Music support directly to request expanded playlist sizes.
- Tweet YouTube Music – Tweet @YouTubeMusic asking for longer playlist limits.
- Upvote product forums – Find and upvote related threads in the YouTube Help Community.
The more YouTube Music users that request this change, the more likely the company is to implement it. With user input, longer playlist limits could arrive in a future update.
Managing Large Music Libraries on YouTube
YouTube Music playlist song limits aim to balance functionality, cost, and performance. But music fans with expansive collections may find the 5,000 track cap restrictive.
With thoughtful playlist organization and management, you can go beyond 5,000 songs. It just takes more manual effort on your part. Or utilizing third-party apps can remove limits.
Hopefully YouTube Music will raise playlist sizes further in the future. For now, 5,000 remains the maximum songs per playlist allowed.
