HITS playlist-connossiuer Ranya Khoury is at it again this week with the Internet's best-in-class music collections and all you have to do is kick back and hit play.

Contrary to a popular millennial belief, today's growing trend of user-generated playlists started long before streaming services appeared on our radar. The uprise of creating high volume playlists dates back to the days of sharing mix CDs and before that the mixtapes. Our means of consuming and discovering new music has now been modernized through platforms like Spotify, transitioning the music industry as a whole.

Cristian Garcia, curator and tastemaker on Spotify, spoke of the humble beginnings of playlisting through streaming services. “I started creating playlists with my favorite tracks of all time back in 2009 when Spotify launched its beta software in Spain.” Like many, his motivation to create and manage playlists came from a pure enjoyment of doing it. Soon after, his profile, which now continues to hold its own with 140k+ monthly listeners and more than 18k followers, started generating quite a buzz. Garcia says “The best part is that I get to help with the careers of both developing and mainstream artists,” a few of which include Cheat Codes, Major Lazer and Jonas Blue.

The shift from hobby to career happened in 2014, when his Musica de Siemore playlist earned more than 66k followers. “[Spotify's Head of Global Cultures] Rocio Guerrero contacted me and offered me the opportunity to promote my playlist on the software. In that moment, I realized how important my involvement could be.”

Being a tastemaker not only expanded Cristian’s ability to reach a larger audience, it also inspired him to create more playlists. “I decided to feature playlists in all types of genres: from Latin to Pop, R&B, Alternative and Soul.” His Hits FM playlist was created to group the newest and greatest tracks, including artists such as Post Malone, Logic, SZA and Sam Smith. With almost 32k followers, it’s no mystery why he’s a large influencer in the streaming game.

Check out his Spotify profile for yourself, here.