See Which Songs Were Removed From a YouTube Playlist

You open a playlist and it feels shorter. Maybe a song is missing, maybe a row is blank. You want a list of what was removed.

Short answer: it depends who removed it. If YouTube stopped a song from playing, the row usually stays in the playlist as a blank [Deleted video], so you can find it. If a song was taken out of the playlist, there is nothing left to find. As far as YouTube's help pages show, a playlist has no change log, so the only way to see what was removed is to compare against an earlier copy.

Two kinds of removed

Kind	What you see	Can you list it?
YouTube-side: the video was deleted, taken down or made private	A blank row, or a hidden row behind the "Unavailable videos are hidden" banner	Yes, the row is still there
Playlist-side: the song was taken out of the playlist	Nothing. The row is gone	Only by comparing with an older copy

The first kind is the common surprise. Songs you never touched stop playing. The causes are covered in why songs disappear from YouTube Music playlists.

Find songs YouTube removed

1. Compare the song count at the top of the playlist with the rows on screen. A higher count points to hidden rows.
2. On youtube.com on a desktop, open the playlist, click the ⋮ (three-dot) menu and choose Show unavailable videos.
3. The hidden rows appear, usually as [Deleted video] or [Private video].

You now know where the songs sat, but not what they were called. For the names, see how to find out what song was deleted. The reveal steps in detail are in unavailable videos are hidden.

Find songs that left the playlist

Without a log, you need two lists: one from before and one from now.

1. Get an old list. A Google Takeout export from earlier (takeout.google.com) can include your playlists with video IDs. If you never made one, there is nothing to compare, so make one now for next time.
2. Get a current list. Export again, or copy the playlist's video IDs.
3. Put both in a spreadsheet. Old IDs in column A, new IDs in column B, with a header in row 1.
4. Mark the missing ones. In C2, enter =COUNTIF(B:B, A2) and fill it down. A result of 0 means that song is no longer in the playlist.

If you played a song before it went, your YouTube watch history can help you spot it. That only works while watch history is on and the song was played.

Why this keeps happening

Every manual method has the same weakness. It only works if you saved a copy before the change. The song that goes missing is always the one from the month you skipped.

Track removals as they happen

PermaMusic covers the first kind. It reads the playlists you choose with read-only access, saves each song's title, and flags the songs whose title YouTube replaced with a placeholder such as Deleted video or Private video. A Deleted Songs page lists them, with the saved name where one exists. PermaMusic can also email you when songs are deleted. See how to get notified when a song is deleted.

A song you take out of a playlist yourself is not flagged. It is simply gone from that playlist, because PermaMusic flags songs YouTube marks as deleted or private, not songs you choose to remove.

The free plan includes a first full scan and shows a limited number of recovered titles. Checks run weekly or monthly on the free plan.

See what a flagged song looks like

The demo shows the Deleted Songs page on a made-up library, with no sign-in. Open the demo's Deleted Songs page or look around the full demo.

Recap

• YouTube removed it: the blank row stays, so you can find it with Show unavailable videos.
• The song left the playlist: you can only see it by comparing with an older export.
• YouTube does not name deleted songs, and its help pages show no playlist change log.
• A tracker saves the title while the song is still up, so you keep the name.