Tech Leader's Playlist Leaked, Revealing Their Musical Quirks

A sensational leak known as the “Panama Playlists” is giving the world a cheeky peek into the musical tastes of tech’s biggest names.

This new site, which claims to have scraped Spotify accounts belonging to public figures, has revealed the musical quicks of celebrities; like how Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong supposedly listens to the same track 60 times in a row, or how FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is said to have a soft spot for Coldplay’s “Yellow.”

The Panama Playlists website alleges it tracked and matched real celebrity and executive Spotify profiles over the course of a year.

The website revealed that it had leveraged on the setting which displays a person's last played song to track the musical habits of the celebrity, from what song the celebrity played, how many times, and even when.

While not all playlists have been verified, some high-profile figures—like Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey—have publicly confirmed their accuracy.

Brian Armstrong's 7 Hour Playlist With Just One Song

The leak has showed how Coinbase's CEO Brian Armstrong has one of the weirdest playlists ever. One of which was his repeat playlist, which is 60 hours long with just one track on repeat.

Armstrong indirectly confirmed this playlist with a tweet saying

"It helps me do deep focused work, don't ask me why. "

Apart from this quirky repeat playlist, Armstrong also has a "favorite" playlist featuring songs from the musical Hamilton. He also has a morning playlist which features Whitney Houston and the same trance track from his repeat playlist.

Sam Bankman-Fried's Has A Playlist For His Different Moods

Sam Bankman-Fried was the disgraced CEO of FTX who was placed into police custody in late 2022 and was later sentenced to 25 years in prison.

But the leak revealed two notable playlists which provided a window into his life before his public downfall.

His “soft” playlist blends indie and emotional favorites, with songs from like Coldplay's Yellow and Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's. Other artists on this 56-song playlist include Bon Iver, Blink0182, and the Chainsmokers.

Alternatively, he has a "loud" playlist featuring upbeat songs like Mr. Brightside by the Killers, Stronger by Kaye West, and not Afraid by Eminem.

Most of these songs were added into his playlist in 2016, during his time working at Jane Street Capital.

The last track added to his loud playlist in late 2021 was Save Your Tears by The Weeknd, which ironically foreshadows the tears he had to wipe away during his sentencing.

Sam Altman Love The Shazam App

OpenAI’s Sam Altman was revealed to be an avid user of Shazam, an app that identifies songs and add them to a playlist.

Altman's Shazam playlist featured a mix of pop, dance, and classical hits from Adele to Missy Elliott.

Other Crypto And AI Leaders

Other tech tastemakers outed by the Panama Playlists include Marc Andreessen, whose collection swings from mellow jazz to Hans Zimmer-style synths, and AI heavyweights like Ilya Sutskever and Yann LeCun, each revealing deep personal favorites in genres from metal to bossa nova.

Y Combinator’s Garry Tan and Solana Labs advisor Nikita Bier round out the crop of tech insiders whose listening habits—think indie jazz, electronic, and house—have now been put on playful display.

While the authenticity of every playlist isn’t fully verifiable, this leak, with a name borrowed from the infamous 2016 Panama Papers, provides an unexpectedly intimate look at the songs playing behind the scenes of Silicon Valley powerhouses.

As the Panama Playlists site itself boasts: “The Panama Papers revealed hidden bank accounts. This reveals hidden tastes.”