And just like that, it’s been a full 365-day cycle since Spotify launched in 80+ new markets across the globe, including the star of Africa, Ghana.
Spotify’s presence in the country represents a larger – in fact, the largest – platform for Ghanaian music and content creators to export their vibrant local sounds globally. Below is a breakdown of how Ghanaians have listened for the past year:
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Since its launch, there has been a 22.28% increase in new local songs added to the Spotify platform by creators in Ghana.
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Ghanaians have become more familiar with the intuitive platform – which offers options to discover new tracks via the “Go to radio song” feature, resulting in the fact that Ghana now ranks among the Top 10 new markets with the most user-generated playlists (597K).
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Although Ghanaians streamed American and British music the most, they also showed a lot of love for their own kind. Three local music genres, in particular, are the pride of the nation: Asakaa, Ghanaian Afropop, and Ghanaian gospel.
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Ghanaian music is popular with international audiences too. Indeed, over 46% of Asakaa music is streamed in the UK, US, and Germany while Afropop from Ghana is experiencing massive growth in the US, where this genre has found 21% of its audience.
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Ghanaian Afropop has also enjoyed a 160% growth in the United States since Spotify became accessible in Ghana.
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Meanwhile, Ghanaian Gospel has registered a 70% growth in the same time frame, with over half of the streams coming from outside of Ghana. Can we say that this is global exportation of local Ghanaian genres at its finest?
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In terms of top exported local songs, Amaarae’s SAD GIRLZ LUV MONEY Remix featuring Kali Uchis and Moliy tops the rankings of the most widely exported collaborations, with the song gathering the most plays in the USA, Mexico, Brazil, India, and the UK.
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For solo tracks, KiDi’s Touch It rules, with Spotify users in India, the USA, Netherlands, the UK and Mexico streaming the song the most.
In retrospect, Spotify’s one-year anniversary in Sub-Saharan Africa is a win for Ghana’s music industry. The stats from the full breakdown of the top lists below will amaze you.
Top 10 most streamed artists in Ghana
Top 10 most-streamed tracks in Ghana
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Fireboy DML – Peru
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Buju, LADIPOE – Feeling
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Joeboy – Sip (Alcohol)
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King Promise – Slow Down
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Joeboy, Kwesi Arthur – Door
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Black Sherif – Second Sermon
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Joeboy, Kwesi Arthur – Baajo
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Lojay, Sarz – Monalisa
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Omah Lay – Understand
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DaVido, DarkoVibes – Je M’appelle
Top 10 local songs streamed in Ghana
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King Promise – Slow Down
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Joeboy, Kwesi Arthur – Door
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Black Sherif – Second Sermon
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Joeboy, Kwesi Arthur – Baajo
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DaVido, DarkoVibes – Je M’appelle
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Oxlade, Sarkodie – Non Living Thing
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KiDi – Touch It
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Black Sherif – First Sermon
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DaVido, Stonebwoy – Activate
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Gyakie, Omah Lay – Forever (Remix)
Top 10 exported local artists
Top 10 exported local songs
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Amaarae, Kali Uchis, Moliy – SAD GIRLZ LUV MONEY Remix
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KiDi – Touch It
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Beyoncé, Major Lazer, Shatta Wale – ALREADY
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King Promise, Mr Eazi, emPawa Africa – Baby I’m Jealous
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Amaarae, Moliy – SAD GIRLZ LUV MONEY
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Gyakie, Omah Lay – Forever (Remix)
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Kwesi Arthur, Stormzy, Yaw Tog – Sore Remix
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Joeboy, Kwesi Arthur – Door
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Joeboy, King Promise, R2Bees – Fine Wine
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King Promise, Shatta Wale – Alright
Top 5 emerging/breakout artists in Ghana
Top 5 local genres
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Ghanaian Afropop
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Hiplife
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Asakaa
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Ghanaian gospel
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Highlife
Top 10 Spotify playlists in Ghana
About Spotify
Spotify transformed music listening forever when it launched in 2008. Discover, manage and share over 82 million tracks, including more than 3.6 million podcast titles, for free, or upgrade to Spotify Premium to access exclusive features for music including improved sound quality and an on-demand, offline, and ad-free music listening experience. Today, Spotify is the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with 406m users, including 180m subscribers, across 184 markets.
