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- Spotify is celebrating five years since its launch in South Africa and has shared some of its recorded data.
- The streaming platform went live in South Africa on Tuesday, 13 March 2018.
- According to the streaming giant, South African musicians Kabza De Small, DJ Maphorisa, and K.O are among the most streamed artists since its launch.
South Africans have spent more than 24 billion hours on Spotify, and artists have added almost 1 million songs, the streaming giant announced in a press statement on Monday as it celebrated five years since it went live.
The streaming platform went live in South Africa on Tuesday, 13 March 2018. According to the statement, that made South Africa the first African country to experience its offerings.
Spotify shares the data from its early days in the country and its growth over the past five years:
A new stage for creators:
In the past five years, the streaming platforms said artists in the country had added almost 1 million tracks to the platform.
"Spotify provides a global platform for these creators to share their music and podcasts with the world, and our entrance into the market has allowed local artist to grow their audiences and monetise their creativity," Spotify's Sub-Saharan Africa managing director Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy said in the statement.
"Spotify programmes like EQUAL, Fresh Finds, RADAR and Glow have also helped to market and support local, emerging and underrepresented artists."
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Upon going live in 2018, the first song streamed on the platform was the 1998 remastering of jazz artist Thelonious Mank's Round Midnight. Shekhinah's Thirsty was the only South African track to feature in the first 10 songs to be streamed.
What are South Africans listening to?
The most streamed track, Spotify said, since the launch was The Weeknd's Blinding Lights, followed by The Glass Animals' Heat Waves and Lewis Capaldi's Someone You loved. Locally, the most streamed track in the streaming giant's history is KO's SETE, featuring Young Stunna and Blxckie.
Also in the top ten was Kabza De Small's Abalele, with DJ Maphorisa and Ami Faku.
Canadian-born rapper Drake has been the most streamed artist on Spotify over the past five years. Amapiano musician Kabza De Small came in at number two, outstreaming The Weeknd and Juice WRLD.
Award-winning DJ Maphorisa rounded up the country's top five most streamed artists.
READ MORE | DJ Maphorisa wins best African DJ at Nigerian awards festival
Where are they listening?
The streaming platform added that city data, since the start of 2022, showed that Drake dominated as the most streamed artist in most cities, but Durbanites buck the trend with Puff Kennedy as the most streamed artist.
Murdered rapper AKA, whose album Mass Country was released posthumously last month, was the most streamed artist in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Gqeberha and Polokwane. Spotify said a "major" increase was seen in streams after his death.
South Africans were also listening to local and international podcast content. According to Spotify data, the Joe Rogan Experience was the most streamed podcast in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Bloemfontein, with MacG's Podcast and Chill as the top streamed local podcast in many of the country's bigger cities and Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain in the top five for Cape Town and Bloemfontein.
How much time do they spend on Spotify?
In the past five years, Spotify said South Africans spent over 1.2 billion hours streaming music on their platform, translating to more than 30 billion streams. Since the launch of podcasts, they have spent more than 23 billion hours on the platform.
GenZs and millennials were tied neck and neck at listening to podcasts. They make up 29% and 28% of listenership, respectively.
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"The first five years in South Africa have been an incredible journey for us as we've worked to significantly grow music and podcast streaming," Muhutu-Remy said. "Research by Dataxis shows that music streaming revenue for the whole of Africa in 2018 stood at $26.9 million but is estimated to reach $314.6 million in 2026, and we are excited to see African content creators reap the benefits of this burgeoning market."
