Why Are Some Songs Greyed Out on Spotify & How to Fix

Why Are Songs Greyed Out On Spotify
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Why Are Some Songs Greyed Out on Spotify & How to Fix

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John

Have you ever tried to play a favorite song on Spotify only to find it greyed out? Many people have experienced the same issue, which is why the Spotify Community forum and other online discussion boards are full of questions like, “Why are some songs greyed out on Spotify?”

Instead of wasting your time trying various random solutions recommended by internet strangers, you should try the tried-and-tested solutions described in this article. For each solution, we provide detailed step-by-step instructions for you to follow and help you fix the issue even if you don’t consider yourself to be tech-savvy.

Why Are Songs Greyed Out On Spotify?

Why Are Songs Greyed Out On Spotify

At the time of writing this article, the Spotify library includes around 80 million songs. Unfortunately, not all songs it includes are available to all of its 433 million users. Instead, they are greyed out and impossible to play. Why are songs greyed out on Spotify? There are several main reasons:

  • Geographic restrictions: Spotify is currently available in more than 180 countries, but the record labels that provide it with content don’t always have such global coverage. A record label that operates, for example, only in Europe may decide to make its content available only to European listeners for various licensing and legal reasons.
  • Connectivity issues: As an online streaming service, Spotify requires a reliable internet connection to work as intended (downloaded and local files are the only exceptions). That’s why Spotify songs may become greyed out when your internet service provider goes down or when your Wi-Fi router starts acting up.
  • Local file availability: In addition to songs stored on Spotify’s servers, the Spotify app can also play files stored locally on your computer (the Show Local Files in Settings must be enabled). Locally stored files may become greyed out when their availability changes, such as when they become deleted or moved to a different location.

It’s worth noting that older versions of the Spotify app showed greyed out songs only when the Show unavailable songs in playlists option in Settings was enabled. This option is no longer available in the most recent version of the Spotify app. Instead, greyed out songs are now always visible.

How to Fix the Spotify Songs Greyed Out Issue

Now that you know why Spotify songs are sometimes not available, let’s take a closer look at the solution you can use to solve the greyed out issue.

Solution 1. Fix Your Connection Issues

One of the biggest issues with streaming apps like Spotify is that you can’t listen to music unless you have a stable internet connection and Spotify is allowed to take advantage of it.

To verify that you’re connected to the internet, you can try opening a random website in your web browser. If the website loads just fine, then you’re most likely not experiencing any network issues and your songs are greyed out for a different reason.

But if the website doesn’t load, then you can try the following to fix your connection issues:

Mac

  1. Open Spotlight.
  2. Type “Wireless Diagnostics” and launch the Wireless Diagnostics app.
  3. Click “Continue” to begin diagnosing your wireless environment and configuration.

Windows

  1. Open the Start menu.
  2. Launch Settings and go to System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters.
  3. Click Run next to Internet Connections.
  4. Follow the steps in the troubleshooter.

Mobile

  1. Disable Wi-Fi connectivity.
  2. Enable cellular data.
  3. Open Spotify and check if previously greyed out songs can now be played. If they can, it means that your Wi-Fi network doesn’t work as it should, and you should contact your ISP to help you repair it.

Solution 2. Bypass Country Restriction Using a VPN

If you were a billionaire and had your own private jet, you could bypass Spotify’s geographic restrictions by traveling from country to country. Of course, that would get old quickly, so even billionaires are better off using a VPN service like NordVPN.

A VPN service channels all online traffic (including Spotify streaming) through an encrypted tunnel extending from your device to a remote server. Leading providers like NordVPN have thousands of remote servers in many countries around the world, and they let users switch between them with a simple click. That way, you can pretend to be located in a completely different country than where you actually are.

NordVPN works on virtually all devices, including Windows, macOS, and Linux computers and Android and iOS smartphones. Here’s how to get started with it:

  • Install the app on your device and launch it.
  • Sign up to NordVPN (you can try the service for free).
  • Log in with your username and password.

Solution 3. Clear Spotify Cache

Like many other similar applications, Spotify stores temporary data in a cache so that it can serve the data faster and consume less bandwidth—great when using Spotify on a mobile device.

For various reasons, the data stored in Spotify’s cache can become corrupted and cause all kinds of issues, including certain songs becoming greyed out. Fortunately, you can easily empty the cache:

Desktop

  • Launch Spotify.
  • Go to Settings.
  • Show advanced settings.
  • Note the offline storage location.
  • Navigate to the offline storage location using your preferred file manager.
  • Delete the content of the offline storage location.

Mobile

  • Launch Spotify.
  • Go to Settings.
  • Tap Clear cache under Storage.

Solution 4. Re-Add Greyed Out Songs to Your Library

One easy fix that’s always worth trying when dealing with greyed out songs that are not possible to play is to re-add them to your library. To do that:

  • Launch Spotify.
  • Find the playlist/album that contains an unplayable song.
  • Remove it from your library.
  • Use the Search feature to find the same song in Spotify’s database.
  • Re-add it to your library.

Solution 5. Log Out and Log In Again to Spotify

When you log in to your Spotify account, a session is established between your device and Spotify’s servers so that the two parties can exchange information, such as which songs you’re allowed to listen to. Some problems, including songs being greyed out, can be solved by establishing this session again from scratch:

Desktop

  • Launch Spotify.
  • Click the profile icon in the top-right corner.
  • Select the Log out option.
  • Log in again with your username and password.

Mobile

  • Launch Spotify.
  • Go to Settings.
  • Scroll all the way down and tap Log out.
  • Log in again with your username and password.

Solution 6. Make the Songs Available Offline

To prevent your favorite songs from becoming greyed out due to internet connectivity issues, you can make them available offline. To do that, you need a Spotify Premium subscription and follow the steps below:

Desktop

  • Launch Spotify.
  • Go to the playlist/album you want to download.
  • Click the Download icon or switch the Download option to the ON position.

Mobile

  • Launch Spotify.
  • Go to the playlist/album you want to download.
  • Tap the Download icon.

Solution 7. Reinstall Spotify Program

It’s possible that you can’t play certain songs because your Spotify installation has become corrupted. This is especially likely if you’ve recently experienced a malware infection.

To fix a corrupted Spotify installation, you simply need to uninstall the software, download it again from its official website, the Microsoft Store, the App Store, or the Google Play Store and install it.

Bonus Tip: Avoid the Spotify Music Gray Out Issue

One bullet-proof solution that you can use to avoid experiencing the Spotify music grey out issue ever again is to download all of your favorite songs as MP3 files using one of the best Spotify to MP3 converters.

For example, you can use VIDCOPE (Windows and Mac) to convert Spotify songs to 320 kbps MP3 files with ID3 tags in just two easy steps:

Free Download Free Download
  • Copy & paste the Spotify link to the song you want to download.
Spotify Music Converter
  • Click the Download button to convert the song.

In addition to the MP3 file format, VIDCOPE also supports FLAC, WAV, M4A, AC3, WMA, OGG, OPUS, AIFF, RA, and other popular formats. You can even use the application to download and convert videos from YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Twitter, and other sources, making it extremely versatile.

FAQs

Why is a song greyed out on Spotify?

A Spotify song can be greyed out for a number of reasons, including geographic restrictions, connectivity issues, and local file availability problems.

Do greyed out Spotify songs ever become available?

Greyed out Spotify songs become available when the underlying issue is fixed unless Spotify first removes them from its database completely.

Are greyed out songs on Spotify available only to Premium users?

No, you don’t need to buy a Spotify Premium subscription to play greyed out songs, but you need to fix the underlying issue using the methods described in this article.

Conclusion

It can be annoying to discover that your favorite song is greyed out on Spotify. The good news is that the issue can often be fixed using the methods described in this article. To prevent it from ever happening again, you can download songs from Spotify to your device.

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