With the recently updated macOS 26, the Music app unfortunately lost a feature that automatically created playlist covers as a mosaic from the covers of the included songs. Now, when you create a new playlist, only a color gradient is generated as the playlist cover, as you can see here.
Fortunately, it is fairly easy to fix this, either manually or with the help of a script for the Music app.
Manual Method
First, export the playlist as an XML file by selecting the playlist in the sidebar and then choosing the menu “File -> Library -> Export Playlist …” and selecting “XML” as the format. It’s best to save it to your Desktop.
Then simply import the just-exported XML playlist again. This can be done via the “File -> Library -> Import Playlist …” menu.
The newly imported playlist will automatically display the familiar cover made up of four covers from the included songs. You can now simply delete the other playlist with the gradient cover.
A Script for Music.app
The Music app provides the ability to add AppleScripts that can automate various tasks. The scripts then appear in a new menu in the Music app.
I have created such an AppleScript for the procedure described above, which you can simply download and integrate into the Music app.
The script is called “Generate Playlist Cover” and is available here as a ZIP download:
After downloading, it will appear in your Downloads folder. If it hasn’t been automatically unzipped, just double-click the ZIP file.
Since scripts downloaded from the internet initially have what’s called a quarantine bit set and are not executable, you need to remove this bit and make sure the script is executable. Do this in Terminal as follows (copy & paste is easiest):
cd ~/Downloads
xattr -c "Generate Playlist Cover.scpt"Now the script needs to be copied into the correct folder in your Library: “~/Library/Music/Scripts”. Since you’re already in Terminal, just type:
mkdir -p ~/Library/Music/Scripts
cp "Generate Playlist Cover.scpt" ~/Library/Music/ScriptsYou will now see a new menu item in the Music app’s menu bar, right after “Window,” with this script, as shown here.
When you select a playlist with a gradient cover and run the script from the menu, it will execute the described process and create a new playlist with the mosaic cover from the songs’ covers. The original playlist will be renamed with “orig” added to the name. You can then safely delete the original playlist.
Enjoy your new playlist covers!