How to manage songs playing next in Apple Music

In this tutorial, we will show you how to manage your Apple Music Up Next list by adding, rearranging, or deleting songs in the queue on your iPhone or iPad.

Manage songs playing next in Apple Music

When listening to an album or playlist in Apple Music, the app will automatically play the next song in that album or playlist queue.

But what if you want to rearrange the order the songs are being played to your liking? Or what if you want to add other songs in between the upcoming songs in the queue? We’ll help you do all this.

View songs playing next in the queue

First things first, we need to learn how to view the songs playing next in the queue. Most Apple Music users probably already know this, but others might learn something new here. Besides, this is the basis of what’s to come, so whether you already know it or not, we have to explain it to make sure this tutorial is as comprehensive as possible.

When playing an album or playlist, go to the Now Playing screen and tap the bullet list icon to see the songs that will play next. Unless you select to play songs in shuffle, the queue will follow the same order as set in the album or playlist.

View songs playing next in the queue in Apple Music

Note: If you turn on AutoPlay, Apple Music will automatically play related songs after your queue ends.

Rearrange songs playing next in the queue

Now that we’ve seen how to view the upcoming songs, we can easily rearrange these songs to play in the order we want them to.

To do so, simply tap and hold your finger on the hamburger icon to the right of the song title, then drag your finger up or down to drop the song wherever you want it in the queue.

Rearrange songs playing next in the queue in iPhone Music app

Add songs to play next in the queue

You’re not limited to only moving songs around the queue. You can also add songs to the queue. As a matter of fact, you can add individual songs, full albums, or entire playlists to play next in the queue. You even get to choose whether you want to add these songs to play next directly after the currently playing song or if you want to add them to the bottom of the queue. We’ll have a look at both options.

First, you need to identify what song, album, or playlist you want to add to the queue. For the purpose of this tutorial, we will add one album to our queue.

Once you have figured out what song/album/playlist you want to add, tap the three dots icon, then select Play Next or Play Last.

  • Play Next will play the song or songs added directly after what is currently being played.
  • Play Last will add the songs to the bottom of the queue.
Add to play next in the queue in iOS Music app

Note that the order of the songs on the album or playlist will be preserved when adding them to the queue.

You can also add songs, albums, or playlists even faster by pressing firmly on a song/album/playlist and revealing the menu to add songs to your queue.

Touch and hold to play next or play last in queue in Music app

Remove songs from the queue in Apple Music

Now that we’ve seen how to view, add, and rearrange songs in your Apple Music queue, let’s see how to remove songs from it.

All you need to do is to have a look at the queue and swipe your finger from right to left on each song you want to remove. If you swipe all the way to the left, the song will be removed; otherwise, you can tap the Remove button.

Remove songs from the queue in Apple Music

Unfortunately, you can only remove songs one by one, so you will have to repeat the process as many times as the amount of songs you want to remove from the queue.

This should cover all the possible options to manage the queue of songs in the Apple Music app. If you have questions about this, please leave us a comment below.

On the same topic, we have a tutorial on how to repeat songs, albums, and playlists in Apple Music and how to see and manage your listening history in Apple Music, which might be of interest to you.