Spotify Wrapped: Kabza De Small is the most streamed South African artist

30 Nov 2023 - 18:54

Published under the Creative Commons Licence

Spotify has released Wrapped, its end-of-year round-up for 2023, with the digital streaming platform showing amapiano producer Kabza De Small as the most streamed South African artist.

Kabza De Small is the most streamed artist in South Africa on Spotify.

Spotify Wrapped is the streaming giant’s thorough look into the music and podcasts that defined the year for South African users. Data collected in 2023 shows that local users listened to more local songs this year than in 2022. The improvement, Spotify said, was evident in the consumption, which grew by 101% this year.

Tyler ICU’s ‘Mnike’ single and Lady Amar’s ‘Hamba Juba’ were the most streamed songs in South Africa, in a list dominated by local songs. Nine out of 10 of the top streamed songs in South Africa are South African, a significant change from the previous two years. ‘Mnike’ also tops the list of most added songs to user-generated playlists.

“The South African music industry is evolving and growing with every song released,” Spotify sub-Saharan Africa head of music Phiona Okumu said. “We are glad to see the local creators resonating with South African users.”

One of Spotify’s most popular tabs is the search function, which saw Kelvin Momo ranked second behind Drake on the most searched artist list in South Africa. ‘Umbayimbayi’ by Inkabi Zezwe – Sjava and Big Zulu – earned the No 10 spot on the most streamed South African songs in South Africa, while the duo’s album, Ukhamba, was also 10th on the most streamed albums in the country.

Sjava also appeared in two lists: in the third most streamed South African artist in SA, while his album Isibuko was the third most streamed South African album in South Africa.

Amapiano continued to dominate the charts with the most streamed songs coming out of the genre. Kabza De Small remained the most streamed South African artist for the second year in a row, with two of his projects, KOA II Part 1 and The Konka Mixtape : Sweet & Dust, rounding up the top five most streamed South Africa albums in the country. Additionally, Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa ranked second and third overall among South African artists listed in the top 10 most streamed artists overall, behind Drake.

Male artists still dominate the most streamed lists, but female artists are making significant progress in average streams. The average increase in streams year-over-year is 49%. Lady Amar appears on the list of most streamed South African songs in SA.

According to Spotify data, Taylor Swift has the highest number of streams among the most popular female artists globally. In South Africa, Makhadzi is ranked first, followed by Ami Faku, Nkosazana Daughter, Lwah Ndlunkulu, Nomfundo Moh, MaWhoo rounding out the top five. Lwah Ndlunkulu also appears in the top 10 of the most searched South African artists.

Most streamed South African artists in SA