Spotify bows to Adele, drops 'shuffle' as album song-playing default

Filepic of singer Adele at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California, Feb 12, 2017. Photo: Reuters

For many musicians, like story-telling superstar Adele, the order of songs on an album is a matter of the keenest concern, affecting how a narrative is presented, how listeners react and ultimately how many albums are sold.

That is a big reason why customers of Spotify saw "play" as the album default option Sunday (Nov 21) on the world's largest audio streaming service, so songs will be heard in the order they appear on an album – though users can still elect the "shuffle" option.