Spotify reveals the most streamed Pakistani artists outside of the country

Almost a year ago, music streaming platform Spotify launched in Pakistan, allowing local artists to reach new fans both at home and abroad. A whopping 365 days later, Spotify is celebrating its first year in the country by unveiling some impressive stats on how Pakistani music fared spectacularly well around the world.

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 its 406 million listeners worldwide, the top countries listening to Pakistani music are India, USA and the UK. The data also revealed the most streamed Pakistani artists outside of the country.

The top streamed Pakistani artist abroad is the one and only Atif Aslam. Singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was the second most-streamed Pakistani artist abroad, followed closely by his uncle, the legendary qawwali maestro Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who came in third. Singer Momina Mustehsan landed the fourth spot while Bilal Saeed came in fifth.

'Baari' by Saeed and Mustehsan was the top most streamed song abroad.

Aslam's hit songs 'Kadi Te Has Bol' with Velo Sound Station, 'Jeena Jeena (Badlapur)', and 'Tere Sang Yaara' ranked high in the top 10 most streamed songs as well. Rap duo Young Stunners’ hits 'Gumaan', 'Don’t Mind' with Rap Demon and 'Afsanay' came in third, seventh and eighth on the list respectively, while 'Uchiyaan Deewaraan' by Saeed and Mustehsan came in fourth. Another song by Mustehsan with Adnan Dhool called 'Awari' held the ninth spot on the list.

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.