A song that had achieved more than 200,000 hits in Sweden, and more than five million worldwide, was banned from Spotify’s top chart rankings, which is compiled by the recording industry’s trade association IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry). The song is part of a six song EP. IFPI CEO Ludvig Werber said: “Our rule is that if it is a song that is mainly AI-generated, it does not have the right to be on the top list,” according to reporting by The Guardian.
The song was discovered by Emanuel Karlsten, a Swedish investigative journalist who traced the work and found the song to be crredited to two rights holders that worked in the AI department of Stellar, a Danish music publisher. Current Spotify policy does not require works to be labeled as being generated by AI.
The publisher acknowledged that “(the artist’s) voice and parts of the music are generated with the help of AI as a tool in our creative process.” Responding via email to the journalist, who had asked whether the “artist” credited for the song was real, Stellar’s creative team responded: “That depends on how you define the term. Jacub is an artistic project developed and carried by a team of human songwriters, producers, and creators. The feelings, stories, and experiences in the music are real, because they come from real people.”
The incident argues for the need to create a labeling tag that identifies a work as being artificial.
“Slop” content is a major AI use-case
In December 2025, an AI-generated song by an impersonator of the Australian band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard was removed from Spotify. The band itself had removed its (actual!) music from the Spotify service earlier in 2025 in protest against investments in a military technology provider made by Spotify’s CEO.
For its part, Spotify runs an ongoing active campaign to identify and remove AI-created “slop” from its systems, recognizing that “AI can be used by bad actors and content farms to confuse or deceive listeners … and interfere with authentic artists working to build their careers.”
Spotify claims to have removed more than 75 million AI-generated music tracks from its service during the 12 months ending in July 2025. “That kind of harmful AI content degrades the user experience for listeners and often attempts to divert royalties to bad actors.”
Why it matters
This decision derives from the fact that a reviewer deemed this song to be artificial, involving no human creation, and therefore, should not be treated equally to human creators. The publisher denied that any existing works served as any basis for the song.
A legal case in the US brought the determination that AI-created works cannot be copyrighted.
Further reading
Jacub responds about the AI song that tops Swedish Spotify’s charts: We are a collective behind it. Article. January 11, 2026. by Emanuel Karlsten. Professional blog.
AI-created track blocked from Sweden’s official charts after racking up millions of streams on Spotify. Article. January 19, 2026. by Mandy Dalugdug. Music Business Worldwide
Partly AI_generated folk-pip hit barred from Sweden’s official charts. Article. January 16, 2026. by Dan Milmo. The Guardian
Spotify strengthens AI protections for artists, songwriters and producers. Article. September 25, 2025. Spotify
