Spotify revealed some insights into music trends in Pakistan, giving us a glimpse into the artists, songs and genres that Pakistani users gravitated towards the most in 2021.
Listeners enjoyed listening to both homegrown and international artists. They streamed local superstars Atif Aslam, Talha Anjum, and Talhah Yunus along with overseas names Arijit Singh, BTS, and The Weeknd the most over the past 365 days.
Here are the top 10 most streamed artists in Pakistan on Spotify.
Spotify also unveiled the list of top 10 most streamed songs in Pakistan over the same period. 'Tu Aake Dekhle' by King topped the list, while other international songs such as Justin Bieber and The Kid LAROI's 'STAY' and BTS' 'Butter' took fourth and sixth place. Asim Azhar and Zenab Fatimah Sultan’s 'Ghalat Fehmi' came third. Young Stunners made a great impression on Pakistani fans over the past year, landing two spots in the top 10 most streamed songs list. 'Gumaan' came fifth, and 'Afsanay' took the ninth spot.
Here's the list of most streamed songs in Pakistan:
When it came to how Pakistani fans connected solely with local stars, Atif Aslam was the most streamed Pakistani artist on the platform, followed by the Young Stunners rap duo, Talha Anjum and Talhah Yunus. The top streamed local song spot went to 'Ghalat Fehmi' by Asim Azhar and Zenab Fatima Sultan from the movie Superstar.
Top Pakistani artists:
With eight out of ten of the most streamed Pakistani songs falling under local hip-hop and Indie, it is clear from the data that Spotify listeners in the country are connecting with these genres the most. Hassan Raheem made a prominent appearance in the top 10 local list with 'Aisay Kaisay', 'Aarzu', and 'Joona'. At the same time, Young Stunners had five tracks in the same category, including 'Don't Mind' with Rap Demon and 'Yaad' with Asim Azhar.
Here's the complete list of top 10 Pakistani songs:
Spotify users' appetite for diverse content was also apparent from how they searched for playlists with the most searched playlist words, including "English", "Urdu", "Desi", "Bollywood", "Coke Studio" and "Punjabi".
According to Spotify, local listeners created 1.9 million user generated playlists on the streaming platform. Nostalgia was the running theme on Spotify in 2021, with three nostalgic playlists, "All Time Pakistani Hits", "All Out 2010s" and "Pakistani 10s Hits", showing up in the top 10 list. Interestingly, the most musical day in Pakistan was February 5, 2022 in anticipation of Coke Studio's certified hit 'Pasoori' by Ali Sethi and Shae Gill.