For a very long time, western music has held a dominant streak in the global music industry.
Today, as 433 million Spotify users across the world get a peak at their ‘Spotify Wrapped’, revealing what their most listened songs are in 2022, it does not come as a surprise that Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounted for over 3 billion hours of streaming for the East Asian musical genre K-pop. To put into perspective, this is a 93% year increase compared to the last 5 years.
Kpop has seen a significant growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with the Spotify’s head of music for sub-saharan Africa, Phiona Okumu saying, “It’s clear from… that K-pop is not just a passing phase, but has a devoted and growing African Fandom”.
According to a press release by Spotify, Nigeria is one of the top markets for Kpop in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), seeing a 267% increase streams. Also included is South Africa, Kenya and Ghana, all seeing equal massive growth in streams and content consumption.
Although the popular Nigerian genre like Afrobeats continue to be on the rise on the continent, gaining it’s own fair share of notoriety in 2022, one can say the global spread of music has opened the gateway for music acceptance. “Streaming has become instrumental in not only enabling the discovery of African music abroad but also in exposing African listeners to new and unexpected sounds,” Okumu adds.
K-Pop Charts on Spotify Africa in 2022:
| TOP 10 MARKETS FOR K-POP IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA | TOP STREAMED K-POP ARTISTS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA | TOP STREAMED K-POP TRACKS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA |
| South Africa | BTS | My Universe – BTS, Coldplay |
| Kenya | Stray Kids | Left and Right (feat. Jung Kook of BTS) – Charlie Puth |
| Nigeria | BLACKPINK | Dynamite – BTS |
| Mauritius | TOMORROW X TOGETHER | MONEY – LISA |
| Ghana | TWICE | Butter – BTS |
| Uganda | j-hope | Stay Alive (Prod. SUGA of BTS) – Jung Kook |
| Namibia | ENHYPEN | Yet To Come – BTS |
| Tanzania | Jung Kook | Christmas Tree – V |
Spotify’s Wrapped data not only gives us clear insights into the music that people love, but it also gives us an annual snapshot of the mood and the zeitgeist of the year.
Africa’s love of K-pop paints a picture of a world without creative boundaries, in which music can be discovered, shared and enjoyed, no matter where it’s made, or what language it’s in.
