diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0c17e45..bbd1c25 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ easy to spot when bumping.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Changed
+
+- **genre-tree**: `useListFullGenrePlaylists` requests `pageSize=100` (grow-api's max) and fetches pages 2..`totalPages` in parallel instead of one after another, so the full canonical list loads in two round-trips instead of one per page.
+
 ## [8.4.0] - 2026-10-02
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/packages/app-kit/src/genre-tree/useGenrePlaylist.test.ts b/packages/app-kit/src/genre-tree/useGenrePlaylist.test.ts
index 1f9c3af..bc8fdd9 100644
--- a/packages/app-kit/src/genre-tree/useGenrePlaylist.test.ts
+++ b/packages/app-kit/src/genre-tree/useGenrePlaylist.test.ts
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ describe("useGenrePlaylist", () => {
         previous: null,
         results: [{ uuid: "gp1" }],
         page: 1,
-        pageSize: 1000,
+        pageSize: 100,
         totalPages: 1,
       });
       renderHook(() => useListFullGenrePlaylists("reference", getBackendBaseUrl));
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ describe("useGenrePlaylist", () => {
       expect(enabled).toBe(true);
 
       await queryFn();
-      expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith("genre-playlists/", true, false, {}, { page: 1, pageSize: 1000, treeName: "canonical" });
+      expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith("genre-playlists/", true, false, {}, { page: 1, pageSize: 100, treeName: "canonical" });
     });
 
     it("queries the me full endpoint and gates on a restored session with a token", async () => {
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ describe("useGenrePlaylist", () => {
         previous: null,
         results: [{ uuid: "gp1" }],
         page: 1,
-        pageSize: 1000,
+        pageSize: 100,
         totalPages: 1,
       });
       renderHook(() => useListFullGenrePlaylists("me", getBackendBaseUrl));
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ describe("useGenrePlaylist", () => {
       expect(enabled).toBe(true);
 
       await queryFn();
-      expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith("me/genre-playlists/", true, true, {}, { page: 1, pageSize: 1000, treeName: "canonical" });
+      expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith("me/genre-playlists/", true, true, {}, { page: 1, pageSize: 100, treeName: "canonical" });
     });
 
     it("disables the me query until the session is restored", () => {
@@ -122,7 +122,26 @@ describe("useGenrePlaylist", () => {
       expect(useQueryWithParseMock.mock.calls[0][0].enabled).toBe(false);
     });
 
-    it("follows `next` and merges results when the backend clamps pageSize below overallTotal", async () => {
+    it("makes a single request when the first page is the only page", async () => {
+      fetchMock.mockResolvedValueOnce({
+        overallTotal: 1,
+        next: null,
+        previous: null,
+        results: [{ uuid: "gp1" }],
+        page: 1,
+        pageSize: 100,
+        totalPages: 1,
+      });
+      renderHook(() => useListFullGenrePlaylists("reference", getBackendBaseUrl));
+      const { queryFn } = useQueryWithParseMock.mock.calls[0][0];
+
+      const result = await queryFn();
+
+      expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(result.results).toEqual([{ uuid: "gp1" }]);
+    });
+
+    it("fetches every page reported by totalPages and merges results in page order", async () => {
       fetchMock
         .mockResolvedValueOnce({
           overallTotal: 250,
@@ -157,10 +176,12 @@ describe("useGenrePlaylist", () => {
       const result = await queryFn();
 
       expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3);
-      expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(1, "genre-playlists/", true, false, {}, { page: 1, pageSize: 1000, treeName: "canonical" });
-      expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(2, "genre-playlists/", true, false, {}, { page: 2, pageSize: 1000, treeName: "canonical" });
-      expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(3, "genre-playlists/", true, false, {}, { page: 3, pageSize: 1000, treeName: "canonical" });
-      expect(result.results).toHaveLength(250);
+      expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(1, "genre-playlists/", true, false, {}, { page: 1, pageSize: 100, treeName: "canonical" });
+      expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(2, "genre-playlists/", true, false, {}, { page: 2, pageSize: 100, treeName: "canonical" });
+      expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(3, "genre-playlists/", true, false, {}, { page: 3, pageSize: 100, treeName: "canonical" });
+      expect(result.results.map((gp: { uuid: string }) => gp.uuid)).toEqual(
+        Array.from({ length: 250 }, (_, i) => `gp${i}`),
+      );
       expect(result.overallTotal).toBe(250);
     });
 
diff --git a/packages/app-kit/src/genre-tree/useGenrePlaylist.ts b/packages/app-kit/src/genre-tree/useGenrePlaylist.ts
index 48b61b0..07bee1a 100644
--- a/packages/app-kit/src/genre-tree/useGenrePlaylist.ts
+++ b/packages/app-kit/src/genre-tree/useGenrePlaylist.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ import { PaginatedResponseSchema } from "../transport/lib/paginated-response";
 import { genrePlaylistEndpoints, genrePlaylistQueryKeys } from "./api/genre-playlists";
 import { Scope } from "../transport/lib/scope";
 
-const FULL_LIST_PAGE_SIZE = 1000;
+// grow-api clamps pageSize to PAGINATION_PAGE_SIZE_MAX (100); asking for more only hides the real page count.
+const FULL_LIST_PAGE_SIZE = 100;
 
 type RawPaginatedResponse = {
   overallTotal: number;
@@ -26,22 +27,19 @@ type RawPaginatedResponse = {
 
 /**
  * Backends may clamp `pageSize` below what's requested (e.g. a server-side max page size), so a
- * single request can silently return fewer results than `overallTotal`. Follows `next` until every
- * result has been collected, so callers that need "the whole list" actually get it regardless of
- * the effective page size the backend applies.
+ * single request can silently return fewer results than `overallTotal`. Reads `totalPages` from the
+ * first page, then fetches the rest in parallel so load time doesn't scale with the page count.
  */
+// ponytail: unbounded Promise.all; browsers cap per-host connections, add a limiter if pages reach the hundreds.
 const fetchAllPages = async (fetchPage: (page: number) => Promise<unknown>): Promise<RawPaginatedResponse> => {
-  let page = 1;
-  let response = (await fetchPage(page)) as RawPaginatedResponse;
-  const results = [...response.results];
-
-  while (results.length < response.overallTotal && response.next) {
-    page += 1;
-    response = (await fetchPage(page)) as RawPaginatedResponse;
-    results.push(...response.results);
-  }
-
-  return { ...response, results, page: 1, pageSize: results.length, totalPages: 1 };
+  const first = (await fetchPage(1)) as RawPaginatedResponse;
+  const rest = (await Promise.all(
+    Array.from({ length: Math.max(first.totalPages - 1, 0) }, (_, i) => fetchPage(i + 2)),
+  )) as RawPaginatedResponse[];
+  const results = [first, ...rest].flatMap((response) => response.results);
+  const last = rest[rest.length - 1] ?? first;
+
+  return { ...last, results, page: 1, pageSize: results.length, totalPages: 1 };
 };
 
 export const useListGenrePlaylists = (page = 1, pageSize: number | string = 50, getBackendBaseUrl: () => string) => {