Hide new "play" icon in menu bar after upgrading to Big Sur
You can hide the &quot;play&quot; icon in the menu bar as follows:

Launch System Preferences.

Open Dock &amp; Menu Bar.

Scroll down and select &quot;Now Playing&quot;.

The &quot;Show in Menu Bar&quot; option controls whether the &quot;play&quot; icon is displayed

Unselect it to hide it for good, or change the value to &quot;when active&quot; to only display it when playing music.