ISLAMABAD: Almost a year ago, music streaming platform Spotify entered the Pakistani market with a commitment to help local artists reach new fans, both at home and abroad.
A whopping 365 days later, Spotify is celebrating its first year in the country by unveiling how Pakistani music is being discovered and enjoyed around the world, stated a press release issued by the popular streaming platform.
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According to Spotify’s data, there have been over 19,590 songs added to the platform from creators in Pakistan over the past year. Amongst the 184 markets, with 406 million listeners worldwide in which Spotify operates, the top countries listening to Pakistani music are India, the United States and the United Kingdom.
The top-streamed Pakistani artist abroad is the one and only Atif Aslam. Atif’s hits Kadi Te Has Bol with Velo Sound Station, Jeena Jeena (Badlapur) and Tere Sang Yaara ranked in the top 10 most-streamed songs from Pakistan abroad.
Acclaimed Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was the second most-streamed Pakistani artist abroad, and his uncle, the legendary qawwali maestro, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan came in third. Momina Mustehsan landed the fourth spot and Bilal Saeed came fifth.
Baari by Bilal Saeed and Momina Mustehsan, the ultimate love song for millions of listeners, has earned the number one spot as the most-streamed local song abroad. The power duo made another appearance with Uchiyaan Deewaraan in the fourth spot, and Momina Mustehsan came in ninth with Adnan Dhool in Awari.
Additionally, Rap duo Young Stunners’ hits Gumaan, Don’t Mind with Rap Demon and Afsanay came third, seventh and eighth, respectively.
Within Pakistani music available on Spotify, 11% of the Pakistani Indie genre was streamed in the US, seeing a growth of more than 150% globally in the last year.
Additionally, Pakistani Electronic is gaining momentum locally and internationally, with 23% of the genre streamed in the US, Canada, the UK and Germany, accumulating to a 223% increase in global streams since Spotify’s launch in the country.
Local hiphop was also amongst the most popular genres abroad. More than 63% of the streams for the genre came from outside the country and witnessed a 70% growth in global streams.
Spotify’s Streaming Trends in Pakistan Feb 2021-Feb 2022:
Top local artists streamed outside of Pakistan:
- Atif Aslam
- Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
- Momina Mustehsan
- Bilal Saeed
- Shafqat Amanat Ali
- Talha Anjum
- Talhah Yunus
- Asim Azhar
- Young Stunners
Top songs from Pakistan streamed abroad:
- Baari – Bilal Saeed, Momina Mustehsan
- Pehli Dafa – Atif Aslam, Shiraz Uppal
- Gumaan – Young Stunners
- Uchiyaan Deewaraan – Bilal Saeed, Momina Mustehsan
- Kadi Te Has Bol – Atif Aslam, Velo Sound Station
- Jeena Jeena (Badlapur) – Atif Aslam
- Don’t Mind – Rap Demon, Young Stunners
- Afsanay – Young Stunners
- Awari – Adnan Dhool, Momina Mustehsan
- Tere Sang Yaara – Atif Aslam
