Spotify Wrapped: Do Spotify users hate female musicians? 

The annually anticipated Spotify Wrapped feature has gone live along with data about who the year’s top artists were and one look at the results has left the Citizen Lifestyle team wondering if Spotify users hate female musicians.

Spotify today announced the arrival of South Africa’s Wrapped 2022, which is the platform’s deep dive into the music that defined the year for users locally. 

“The way we listen to music says a lot about us. As part of Wrapped 2022, Spotify users get a detailed snapshot of their most loved artists, creators and songs. And as part of this year’s fun, Audio Day shows how Spotify users’ musical choices evolve throughout the day while the new Your Listening Personality feature tells users about the music they listen to and what that says about their music taste,” explained Spotify in a statement.  

Along with a round-up of each user’s favourites when they open the app and click on the wrapped banner, one of 16 different Spotify-created Listening Personality types is assigned to each user based on their 2022 listening trends. 

According to Spotify, Wrapped 2022 will also feature messages from artists to their listeners, and because sharing is caring, users will be able to share their Wrapped cards via WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. 

“Fans can also unlock a personalised Snapchat lens that reflects their listening personality and those active in the Roblox universe can head to Spotify Island for even more fun and games.”

Amapiano reigns supreme

This year, Amapiano was South Africa’s hottest genre and according to the streaming platform, this year’s Spotify Wrapped shows that South Africans truly believe local is lekker. 

Their view is based on the fact that the top most streamed South African artists locally in 2022 are Amapiano artists

“Kabza De Small appears in five out of seven top music streaming lists in South Africa this year, leading the charge as the most streamed South African artist and proving that the genre known for birthing creative dance challenges, is unstoppable.”

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Kabza De Small is not only the most streamed South African artist, but he is also one of only two South African artists to feature in the top ten most streamed artists overall in South Africa, ranking second to Drake, and ahead of The Weeknd, who claims the number three spot. 

KOA II Part 1 by Kabza De Small also tops the charts for the most streamed South African album in South Africa in 2022

Kabza De Small is the top most streamed South African artist in South Africa followed by DJ Maphorisa, his main collaborator. The two are also well known for their Scorpion Kings projects

AmaPiano Grooves, a playlist made up of some of the country’s hottest Amapiano tracks, unsurprisingly, is the most streamed playlist in South Africa this year. 

“South Africans can be proud of what their creatives in music are achieving. They are making noise in the right places, and at the right time,” commented Warren Bokwe, Spotify’s Artist and Label Partnerships Manager in South Africa.

The genre, which features quite a few female heavy-hitters, still was not able to help female artists top the list when it comes to what Spotify users in South Africa prefer.

This is also in spite of Spotify EQUAL — a global initiative aimed at amplifying the work of women artists across the world. 

The app even features an EQUAL Hub that allows users to explore the creations of women from more than 180 markets including Africa, Italy and Argentina.

SETE sets records

K.O’s genre-bending track SETE, released in August, claims the title of the most streamed song in Mzansi while Paris by Q-Mark, claims the number two spot, followed by Glass Animals’ Heat Waves and Wanitwa Mos’ Dali Nguwe and Lost Frequencies’ Where Are You Now rounding out the top five. 

South Africans showed the most love to K.O’s hit track SETE. It received the most likes via the heart button. ‘Liking’ is how you tell Spotify that you’re into a particular song, album or playlist 

Dali Nguwe by Wanitwa Mos is the number one South African song streamed globally, followed by uMlando by 9umba, Lady Du, Mdoovar, Sino Msolo, Sir Trill, Slade, TOSS, Young Stunna at number two with Paris (feat. Afriikan Papi) by  Afriikan Papi, Cloud9ne, Q-Mark, TpZee rounding the top three

The most globally streamed South African artist list is dominated by Amapiano artists, led by Kabza De Small, followed by DJ Maphorisa, Young Stunna, Mellow & Sleazy, Blxckie, Nasty C, Makhadzi, Ami Faku (the only female artists on the list) with Joyous Celebration rounding up the list 

South Africans love to get the party started as soon as the work week is over, with many streaming the most music on Fridays and kicking the party off promptly at 5PM (the top time of day that they like to listen to music on Spotify).

Another thing to celebrate, however, is the fact that local music consumption in South Africa has grown exponentially, increasing by 85% between 2021 and 2022, according to Spotify Wrapped data. 

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