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TV Media Research Analyst Johannesburg

Spotify celebrates a decade of Amapiano

14 Jun 2024

In 2023, the South African dance genre Amapiano surpassed 1.4 billion streams on Spotify. Its profound impact on music culture within South Africa and globally has ignited an Amapiano craze, fueling dance challenges, inspired collaborations, and innovative fusions across the world.

Source: www.unsplash.com

This critical influence has led to the launch of, A Decade of Amapiano, a site looking at the past decade of Amapiano and its different key influences, complemented by an on-platform Amapiano destination with pivotal playlists and podcast for anyone wishing to learn more about the genre’s origins, sounds and future.

The Covid-19 pandemic proved to be a game-changing year for Amapiano's growth on the platform. In 2020, the genre hit its first 100 million streams, followed by an impressive 300 million streams in 2021, further solidifying its rising popularity.

A Decade of Amapiano, launches today, 14 June, in the lead up to South Africa’s commemoration of Youth Day. The 16th of June marks a historical turning point for the country’s youth and their quest for freedom and justice. Today they use Amapiano as a platform to amplify their voices, freely express their aspirations and showcase their resilience and creativity.

Supporting homegrown genres

In June 2023, Spotify launched Afrobeats: Journey of a billion streams, a website dedicated to celebrating the Afrobeats genre. Spotify through A Decade of Amapiano reinforces its commitment to supporting the growth of home grown music genres in Africa.

Originating from South African townships to the global stages, A Decade of Amapiano tracks the genre’s ascend to the music throne showcasing the journey and highlighting some of the genre’s key artists.

These are some of the key Amapiano data on Spotify over the last ten years:

345k%+ growth 2023 versus 2014
Over 855 million so far in 2024.
153k%+ growth in export 2023 versus 2014
87% growth of female artists 2023 versus 2022
40% of listeners are between 18-24 years

"One of the most affirming parts of watching Amapiano explode over the past decade is seeing how people use it for self-expression,’’ says Phiona Okumu, Spotify’s Head of Music in Sub Saharan Africa.

Amplifying A Decade of Amapiano

In addition, Spotify will be hosting influencers and media from South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Japan, Brazil, Egypt, France, United States of America, and the United Kingdom for a week-long tour tracing Amapiano’s history and origins and exploring how the genre traveled beyond South Africa. The tour debuted last year in June with influencers and media from the African continent, and is expanding to include other countries outside Africa where Amapiano is popular.

These are the top artists, tracks and countries that have kept dance floors electric over the last ten years, according to Spotify data:

Top Amapiano tracks over the last 10 years