How to Make a Year-in-Review Video From Your Numbers (Wrapped-Style)

Most guides to year-in-review videos start with your camera roll: gather the year's clips, drop them on a template, add music. That works if your year lives in footage. A lot of years don't. A company's year is customers, releases and headcount. A creator's year is uploads and views. A runner's year is kilometres. That kind of year needs the format Spotify has used for its annual recap since 2015 (Spotify): one big number per card, each one moving, ending on a thank-you.

This guide shows three of those recaps made from typed numbers alone, with the exact prompt behind each one, and the one-line follow-ups that fixed what the first drafts got wrong.

What makes a Wrapped-style recap work

• One number per card. The viewer reads one fact, it lands, the next one arrives. Two stats on one card halves the impact of both.
• The number moves. Count it up, fill a ring, stack dots, draw a line. Motion makes a static figure feel earned.
• Each number gets a picture. 31 people as 31 small figures, this year against last year as two bars, a running year as a route. This is what separates a recap from a slideshow.
• A change of colour or scene per card. It tells the viewer a new fact has started, even with the sound off.
• A closing card that holds. Thank people, point to next year, and leave it on screen for at least two seconds so it can be read.

How to make one, step by step

1. Collect five or six numbers. Pick the stats that tell the story of your year, plus one standout moment. Write them exactly as they should appear.
2. Choose the format. Use 9:16 for Stories, Reels and TikTok; 16:9 for LinkedIn, YouTube and your website.
3. Write one card per stat. List the cards in order, with a rough time for each and how each number should move.
4. Generate the video. Paste the brief into iArt. The first version takes one to two minutes.
5. Fix it with a follow-up message. Watch it once as a stranger would and name what feels empty, rushed or cramped. One message is usually enough.
6. Export and post. Download the MP4, or share the link.

The three examples below follow these steps. Each is shown as first generated, apart from the follow-up message noted under it. The companies and numbers are demo data.

Example 1: a company year in review (16:9)

For LinkedIn, your website or the end of an all-hands. Most company recaps look like a dashboard: dark background, small centred numbers, fades. This prompt asks for the opposite, a poster: one condensed font, four named colours that hard-cut on every beat, and numbers big enough to bleed off the frame. It also gives the order of the beats, a time for each and the exact numbers.

Make a 24-second "2026 year in review" video for a small software company called Lumen Labs, to post on LinkedIn and our website. Landscape. Make it loud and graphic, like a festival poster or a magazine cover, not a corporate dashboard.

Style: oversized condensed type (Anton for numbers and headlines, Inter for small labels), so big that numbers bleed off the edges of the frame. Flat, saturated colour fields that hard-cut on every beat: electric blue #2B3CFF, acid yellow #E6FF3D, coral #FF5A4E, ink black #0E0E10, with the type in a contrasting colour. Fast whip moves and hard cuts between beats, never a fade to an empty frame. No decorative background patterns. Numbers exactly as written.

0:00–0:03  "2026" fills the frame edge to edge; its last digit flips from 5 to 6 like a split-flap display. "LUMEN LABS · YEAR IN REVIEW" small in a corner.
0:03–0:08  Customers: "12,480" rolls up like a slot-machine counter, digits taller than the frame. "CUSTOMERS" and "+3.2× VS 2025" slam in as labels.
0:08–0:13  What we shipped: the months FEB, MAY, AUG, NOV stack up as giant words, one per beat, each with its launch beside it in small type: Mobile app, Team workspaces, API v2, AI search.
0:13–0:18  Team: a giant "14" is shoved off screen by a giant "31"; a row of 31 simple figures marches in; "FROM 14 TO 31 PEOPLE".
0:18–0:21  "99.98%" fills the frame, label "UPTIME".
0:21–0:24  End card: "Thank you for building 2026 with us." and "lumenlabs.example" smaller. Hold for at least 2 seconds.

Try this prompt in iArt →

The video at the top of this page is the result. The first draft already had the look, and every number was right. Three things were off: the launch names and the row of 31 figures were too small to read on a phone, the stacked months pushed FEB off the top, and the end card was plain next to the rest. One follow-up fixed all three:

This is the energy I wanted. Three fixes: the launch names next to the months and the row of 31 figures are too small to read on a phone, make them much bigger. When all four months are stacked, FEB is pushed off the top, so keep all four readable at the end of that beat. And the end card feels plain next to everything else, give it the same oversized treatment. Keep every number and line of text exactly the same.

The labels and figures now read at phone size, all four months fit, and the end card turns "2026" into the biggest word in the film, while every number stayed exactly as written. Notice that the follow-up only named problems and left the fixes to the agent. That is the advantage of editing over regenerating: you keep what already works.

Example 2: a creator's "my year" recap (9:16)

This is the format closest to Spotify's: saturated colour cards, chunky type and quick cuts, made for Stories and Reels. The prompt names a colour for every card so the change of card is unmistakable.

Make an 18-second vertical "my 2026 wrapped" video for my YouTube/Instagram channel about home cooking. It should feel like those bold year-end recap stories people share: big type, punchy colour changes on every card, quick snappy transitions, playful. Each card gets its own saturated background colour (tomato red, butter yellow, basil green, plum). Numbers exactly as written.

Card 1 (0–3s): "My 2026 in the kitchen" — the words land one at a time.
Card 2 (3–6s): "148 videos posted" — the number counts up fast, little sparkle bursts when it lands.
Card 3 (6–9s): "2.4M views" with a tiny rising line chart drawing behind it.
Card 4 (9–12s): "Most watched: 15-minute ramen" — show it as a #1 badge stamping onto the card.
Card 5 (12–15s): "Top countries" — a ranked list that slides in: 1 USA, 2 Brazil, 3 Philippines.
Card 6 (15–18s): "Thank you for cooking with me 🍜 See you in 2027" — hold the last line.

Try this prompt in iArt →

The first draft already had the energy: a progress bar across the top like a story, a colour per card and a ramen bowl for the most-watched recipe. One thing was off: the little line chart on the views card ran straight through "2.4M". One message fixed it:

Love it. One fix: on the views card the little line chart runs through "2.4M" — keep the chart below the text with some space between them.

Example 3: a personal "year in numbers" (9:16)

Not every recap should shout. This one is calm and editorial, closer to a well-designed annual report: a route line that draws while the kilometres count up, a monthly bar chart, a shelf of book spines, then everything on one card.

Create a 20-second vertical "2026 in numbers" recap for my personal running and reading year, to share on stories. Calm, editorial, satisfying — like a well-designed annual report, not a party. Cream paper background, charcoal type, one forest-green accent, lots of whitespace. Use Fraunces for the numbers and headings and Inter for small labels. Exact numbers:

1. "2026 in numbers" title.
2. Running: "1,204 km run" — a route line draws itself across the frame while the kilometres count up.
3. Months: a small bar chart of km per month (Jan 62, Feb 70, Mar 95, Apr 110, May 118, Jun 104, Jul 88, Aug 97, Sep 121, Oct 130, Nov 108, Dec 101) grows bar by bar; label the best month "Oct · 130 km".
4. Reading: "31 books" — 31 thin book spines stack up into a shelf.
5. Finale: all three stats (1,204 km · 130 km best month · 31 books) on one card, with "Onward to 2027." Hold it.

Try this prompt in iArt →

In the first version, the "Oct · 130 km" label appeared and vanished within half a second. Labels that matter need time to be read, so the follow-up asked for a hold:

The "Oct · 130 km" label disappears almost as soon as it appears. Hold the finished bar chart with that label fully visible for about 1.5 seconds before moving to the books. It's fine if the video gets a bit longer.

Tips that made the difference

For a whole recap built around one moving chart, see how to make a bar chart race or the animated chart maker. For recap cards that are mostly words, kinetic typography uses the same approach.

How these examples were made

Each video was generated with iArt's video agent setup (the same instructions, tools and renderer) on Claude Opus 5.5. Each prompt ran once, plus the single follow-up quoted under it, with no edits by hand. The first versions took three to six minutes each (162 to 336 seconds) and the follow-ups 19 to 90 seconds. The Try links on this page open with DeepSeek 4.1, a faster and cheaper model, so your first version will look different; switch to Claude Opus 5.5 in the model menu to get closest to these examples. Results vary from run to run, so expect yours to differ in the details, but the beats, numbers and timing you write are what the agent follows.

FAQ

Do I need photos or footage to make a year-in-review video?

No. A Wrapped-style recap is built from numbers, names and dates, so typed text is enough. Every example on this page was made from a prompt alone. If you do have a logo or photos, you can upload them and ask for them to be used.

How long should a year-in-review video be?

For social posts, 15 to 25 seconds: four to six cards of about three seconds each, plus a closing card held for two seconds. A company recap for a website or an all-hands can run longer, but every extra stat should earn its place.

Can I make a vertical version for Instagram Stories, Reels or TikTok?

Yes. Choose 9:16 before you start, or open the vertical examples on this page with their Try links, which set 9:16 for you. Keep text away from the top and bottom edges, where the app overlays its own buttons.

Can I call my video "Wrapped"?

Wrapped is Spotify's name for its own campaign. Borrow the format, not the brand: call yours "2026 in review", "2026 in numbers" or something in your own voice, and leave other companies' logos out.

Is iArt free for this?

You can sign up free and get a $2 credit, enough to try a recap and share it by link. Downloading the MP4 requires a paid plan, which starts at $20 a month.