How to favorite the current song in Apple Music from the menu bar
October 17, 2026
You are working, a song comes on and you want to keep it. The favorite button lives in the Music window, which is behind everything else. Here are two ways to favorite the current song, and when each one is worth it.
Way 1: the Music window
Bring Music forward, point at the song, click the More button (the three dots) and choose Favorite. This is the route in Apple's guide to telling Music what you like. The song goes to your Favorite Songs playlist. It works every time and it costs you a context switch
Way 2: a star in the menu bar
Likeit puts one star in the Mac menu bar. Right-click it and the song playing in Music becomes a favorite. Right-click again to remove it. The star is filled when the song is already a favorite, so one glance tells you the state
- It works with songs from your library, with Apple Music streaming and with radio
- Click the star for the menu with shortcuts and Quit
- It never launches Music by itself and it collects nothing
Likeit needs macOS 14 or newer. The first time you right-click the star, macOS asks whether Likeit may control Music. Allow it once and that is the whole setup
Which one to pick
If you favorite a few songs a week, Way 1 is fine. If you favorite songs while working in another app, the menu bar star saves the switch every time, and that is what Likeit is for