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Lost playlists

Hi, from 2015 to 2018 I was using Apple Music a lot. I saved a lot of music in playlists, but in 2018 I decided to join my Spotify family account. I was not able to view my playlists anymore, which I didn't like, but oke.


Now I recently joined Apple Music again, but I see all my playlists are gone. I only see some random playlists I made. But Apple Music gives me some throwback to the music I played in 2015, 2016 etcetera.


I was wondering if there is a way to recover my playlists? <3

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.3

Posted on Sep 21, 2021 5:28 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 21, 2021 10:36 AM

Are these playlists you made with an Apple Music subscription? If you cancel your subscription or let ut expire, there is no guarantee if r for how long your music library will be retained. However, if these are playlists you made from iTunes Store purchases or other (such as imported CDs), then they should still be there. Perhaps this article will help:

Back up and restore your iTunes library on your PC - Apple Support


4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 21, 2021 10:36 AM in response to paulrosmalen

Are these playlists you made with an Apple Music subscription? If you cancel your subscription or let ut expire, there is no guarantee if r for how long your music library will be retained. However, if these are playlists you made from iTunes Store purchases or other (such as imported CDs), then they should still be there. Perhaps this article will help:

Back up and restore your iTunes library on your PC - Apple Support


Oct 19, 2021 4:51 PM in response to javaliga

I also just tried the above suggestion (thank - you) and this didn't help my issue of lost playlists either! Other suggestions? We can't be the first people this has happened to!?? I have approx 12,500 songs in my library - the only songs that have lost their playlists are the songs that I have purchased thru the years from iTunes- over 900 songs! Have never seen this before! I don't want to have to spend the time that I don't have, to go back and do each of those 900 again! That would be a major deal. Any other suggestions on how to get the playlists to come back??

Sep 22, 2021 4:47 AM in response to javaliga

Hi Javaliga,


Thanks for sharing this tread. Although it doesn't solve my problems unfortunately.


These playlists were my playlist which I created with music from Apple Music. So not the audio files which were stored on my computer. I saw Apple Music has data of my most popular music of the previous years, so I was wondering if I can restore my playlists as well.. :)

Oct 19, 2021 8:36 AM in response to paulrosmalen

I have never stopped or cancelled my acct with Itunes at any point- I've had it for over 10 + years. Nothing at all has changed on my end- same desktop computer Library etc. I have over 900 songs in my 'Purchased' folder or playlist - songs I purchased only from Apple Music. Never had an issue until a few weeks ago I noticed that some of my videos that I also purchased from Itunes/Apple Music won't play. They are listed, but when clicked on and opened, they only show a black screen! Right after that I noticed that all the songs in the Purchased File grouping have lost the Playlists that I've assigned them! I certainly don't want to have to redo playlists for over 900 songs!!! I will really be upset at that- I don't have the time to waste doing it for a second time!! Please tell us that there is a fix for this issue! BTW- My Annual ITunes Music Match was just updated and charged to my card on file. I was kind of waiting to contact Apple in hopes that somehow when my annual subscription took place that it would fix my issue (first week of Oct). No such luck! Any help & advice would be gratefully appreciated!!

Lost playlists

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