Radiobiz

2020 is almost over. It’s been a year to remember – being physically apart for so long, yet somehow finding ways to come together as a resilient community. Before we officially close the books, there’s still time to celebrate the creators behind the music of 2020 that kept us going all 700 months of the year! And Spotify’s 2020 Wrapped is here to do just that.

Today, Spotify is unveiling the top artists, albums, songs and playlists that defined how more than 320 million people around the world listened to and discovered audio. Whether it was to stay informed, sing along or simply tune it all out, people kept listening and creators never missed a beat.

 

So, what artists defined a year unlike any other? Below are the results of Spotify’s full 2020 Wrapped results globally and in South Africa.

 

GLOBAL

• With more than 3 billion streams this year, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny is Spotify’s most-streamed artist of 2020. Following Bad Bunny is Drake and the third most-streamed artist of the year is J Balvin, followed by the late rapper Juice WRLD and The Weeknd.

 

• Billie Eilish continues her reign as Spotify’s most-streamed female artist for the second year in a row, followed by Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande in the second and third spots. Coming in as the fourth and fifth most-streamed female artists are Dua Lipa and Halsey.

 

• The most-streamed song of 2020 is The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” with almost 6 billion streams this year. In the second and third spots respectively, are Tones And I’s “Dance Monkey” and Roddy Ricch’s “The Box.” The fourth most-streamed song of the year is  “Roses – Imanbek Remix” by Imanbek and SAINt JHN, followed by Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now.”

 

• The most-streamed album globally of 2020 is Bad Bunny’s YHLQMDLG over3 billion streams, followed by The Weeknd’s After Hours and Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding. Rounding out the list of top albums are Harry Styles’ Fine Line and Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia.

 

• The year’s most popular Spotify editorial playlist is Today’s Top Hits, which has more than 27M followers.

 

 

SOUTH AFRICA

• International star Drake takes the top spot as Spotify’s most streamed artist of 2020 in South Africa. He is followed by Juice WRLD, with South African Amapiano King Kabza De Small in the third spot. After a phenomenal year for Kabza De Small, the local artist has jumped 37 spots on the overall most-streamed artist list in South Africa since Wrapped 2019.

 

• Continuing his reign, Kabza De Small is once again the most-streamed local artist of 2020 in South Africa. This comes as no surprise given the continued success of AmaPiano throughout the year. Spotify’s AmaPiano Grooves is the most popular genre playlist in South Africa. DJ Maphorisa, Nasty C, Afrikaans Group Spoegwolf and Joyous Celebration follow as the most streamed local artists for 2020 in South Africa.

 

• Spotify’s first RADAR Africa artist for 2020, Elaine, is the most-streamed local female artist of 2020 in South Africa. Ami Faku follows in the second spot with Afrikaans singer Demi Lee Moore in the third spot. Sha Sha and Juanita Du Plessis complete the top five.

 

• “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd is the most-streamed song in South Africa of 2020. This is followed by The Box by Roddy Ricch and Roses – Imanbek Remix by Imanbek featuring SAINt JHN. The fourth and fifth most-streamed songs in South Africa are “Dance Monkey” by Tones And I and “ROCKSTAR (feat. Roddy Ricch)” by DaBaby and Roddy Ricch.

 

• Elaine’s “You’re the One” is the most-streamed local song of 2020 in South Africa. “eMcimbini (Live)” by (Aymos, DJ Maphorisa, Kabza De Small, Mas Musiq, Myztro) and Samthing Soweto, “Tender Love” by (DJ Maphorisa, Kabza De Small, Sha Sha), the global sensation “Jerusalema” (by Master KG featuring Nomcebo Zikode) and “Risky” by Elaine, complete the list of the top five local songs of 2020.

 

• I Am The King of AmaPiano: Sweet & Dust by Kabza De Small is the most streamed local album. Kabza De Small also claimed the second and third spots with Scorpion Kings Live and The Return Of The Scorpion Kings. Nasty C and Samthing Soweto followed with the fourth and fifth most streamed albums with Zulu Man With Some Power and Isphithiphithi, respectively.

 

For even more, check out Spotify’s blog For the Record.  A breakdown of top global and South African results are also included below.

 

Be on the lookout for additional details and exciting new features in the coming days around Spotify’s popular personalised Wrapped and Creator Wrapped experiences, which gives users a deep dive into the music that defined their year.

 

Spotify 2020 Wrapped South Africa Top Lists 

 

Most Streamed Artists in South Africa

1. Drake
2. Juice WRLD
3. Kabza De Small
4. Khalid
5. The Weeknd
6. Travis Scott
7. Pop Smoke
8. Post Malone
9. Billie Eilish
10. Eminem

 

Most Streamed Female Artists in South Africa

1. Billie Eilish
2. Taylor Swift
3. Beyoncé
4. Ariana Grande
5. Halsey
6. Rihanna
7. Dua Lipa
8. Nicki Minaj
9. Jhené Aiko
10. Selena Gomez

 

Most Streamed Tracks in South Africa

1. “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd
2. “The Box” by Roddy Ricch
3. “Roses – Imanbek Remix” by Imanbek, SAINt JHN
4. “Dance Monkey” by Tones and I
5. “ROCKSTAR (feat. Roddy Ricch)” by DaBaby, Roddy Ricch
6. “Life Is Good (feat. Drake)” by Drake, Future
7. “Circles” by Post Malone
8. “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa
9. “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi
10. “Toosie Slide” by Drake

 

Most Streamed Albums in South Africa

1. Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon, Pop Smoke
2. Legends Never Die, Juice WRLD
3. After Hours,The Weeknd
4. Hollywood’s Bleeding, Post Malone
5. Please Excuse Me For Being Anti Social, Roddy Ricch
6. Dark Lane Demo Tapes, Drake
7. Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent, Lewis Capaldi
8. Fine Line, Harry Styles
9. WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO GO?, Billie Eilish
10. No. 6 Collaborations Project, Ed Sheeran

 

Most Streamed South African Artists in South Africa

1. Kabza De Small
2. DJ Maphorisa
3. Nasty C
4. Spoegwolf
5. Joyous Celebration
6. Elaine
7. Cassper Nyovest
8. Snotkop
9. Bok Van Blerk
10. Appel

 

Most Streamed South African Tracks in South Africa

1. “You’re the One” by Elaine
2. “eMcimbini (Live)” by Aymos, DJ Maphorisa, Kabza De Small, Mas Musiq, Myztro, Samthing Soweto
3. “Tender Love (feat. DJ Maphorisa & Kabza De Small)” by Sha Sha, DJ Maphorisa, Kabza De Small
4. “Jerusalema (feat.Nomcebo Zikode)” by Master KG, Nomcebo Zikode
5. “Risky” by DJ Maphorisa, Kabza De Small, Kammu Dee, Miano, Semi Tee
6. “Xola Moya Wam’ (feat. Master KG)” by Master KG, Nomcebo Zikode
7. “Lorch” by by DJ Maphorisa, Kabza De Small, Kammu Dee, Miano, Semi Tee
8. “Into Ngawe” by Ami Faku, Sun-El Musician
9. “Love You Tonight (feat. DJ Maphorisa, Sha Sha & Kabza De Small)” by DJ Maphorisa, Kabza De Small, Mfr Souls, Sha Sha
10. “Sandton” by Bontle Smith, DJ Maphorisa, Focalistic, Kabza De Small, Kamo Mpela

 

Most Streamed South African Albums in South Africa

1. I Am The King Of AmaPiano: Sweet & Dust, Kabza De Small
2. Scorpion Kings Live,  Kabza De Small
3. The Return Of The Scorpion Kings, Kabza De Small
4. Zulu Man With Some Power, Nasty C
5. Isphithiphithi, Samthing Soweto
6. A.M.N (Any Minute Now), Cassper Nyovest
7. Umithi, Blaq Diamond
8. Xola Moya Wam’, Nomcebo Zikode
9. Scorpion Kings, DJ Maphorisa
10. Emakhaya, Mlindo The Vocalist

 

Most Streamed South African Female Artists in South Africa

1. Elaine
2. Ami Faku
3. Demi Lee Moore
4. Sha Sha
5. Juanita Du Plessis
6. Nomcebo Zikode
7. Karen Zoid
8. Zonke
9. Makhadzi
10. Lebo Sekgobela

 

Spotify 2020 Wrapped Global Top Lists: 

 

Most Streamed Artists 

1. Bad Bunny
2. Drake
3. J Balvin
4. Juice WRLD
5. The Weeknd

 

Most Streamed Albums 

1. YHLQMDLG, Bad Bunny
2. After Hours, The Weeknd
3. Hollywood’s Bleeding, Post Malone
4. Fine Line, Harry Styles
5. Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa

 

Most Streamed Tracks 

1. “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd
2. “Dance Monkey” by Tones and I
3. “The Box” by Roddy Ricch
4. “Roses – Imanbek Remix” by Imanbek and SAINt JHN
5. “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa

 

Spotify is excited to announce Focalistic as its latest RADAR artist. Focalistic joins Willy Cardiac, Elaine and Nigeria’s Tems as the fourth African artist in the program. This announcement comes ahead of the release of his new project ‘Sghubu Ses Excellent’ on Friday, 4 December.

 

RADAR is Spotify’s global emerging artists program that includes RADAR Africa and is Spotify’s commitment to emerging artists across all stages of their career development.

The Blecke and Ke Star hit maker’s meteoric rise to fame has seen him gain popularity across South Africa’s biggest genres, AmaPiano and Hip Hop. He has taken the most popular style of house music and overlaid it with Sipitori, Pretoria’s vernacular make up of Sesotho, Setswana and Afrikaans slang, to produce some of the country’s most loved tracks.

 

As an artist, Focalistic believes that it is important to relate to listeners through honest storytelling and genuine sentiment, a belief shared by a number of artists in the Hip Hop and AmaPiano communities who produce music as a biography. His latest album Sghubu Ses Excellent touches on matters such as relationships, money and good times.

 

“One thing you will feel when you listen to Focalistic is the essence of the township. By weaving his way between two of the fastest growing street-bred music styles, Foca earns himself a place as one of the new Mzansi story-telling greats. Spotify’s RADAR Africa program will help him deepen his connection to his existing audience as well as extend his reach globally. Several uniquely African genres have gained popularity globally, and AmaPiano’s audience in countries like the US, UK and Germany is on a steady increase. This gives artists in the genre like Focalistic, more opportunity for discovery at an international level, continuing to solidify Spotify as a powerful partner for both emerging and established artists,” says Phiona Okumu, Spotify’s Artist and Label Partnerships Manager for South Africa.

 

Under the RADAR Africa program, Focalistic will be supported with first-hand editorial and on-platform support as well as bespoke Spotify partnerships to broaden his fanbase.

 

To continue showcasing African talent, Spotify also introduced RADAR Africa, a curated playlist that serves as a content hub to highlight music across a full spectrum of genres, from African artists on the rise across the continent and diaspora and serve as the ultimate destination for artist discovery.

 

Download the Spotify app via the Android or iOS app store or by heading to www.spotify.com – to embed Spotify into a website – right click on any playlist, go to ‘share’ and copy embed code.

 

Free-to-air satellite TV service provider Openview is thrilled to introduce Africa’s first and only 24/7 weather, environmental news and lifestyle channel, People°s Weather. Available on channel 115, the latest offering strives to make Africa’s nature more inclusive for all.

Whether telling impactful stories or providing insightful narratives, Openview customers will be served an extensive buffet of seasonal content that connects us daily.

Viewers can look forward to a wide range of programming that weaves its way through the documentary-style channel, focusing on nature and outdoors, food, travel and tourism, farming and agriculture, science and environmental matters.

For lovers of nature’s wild extremes, Lightning Pathologist is a new series featuring specialist South African Forensic pathologist, Prof. Ryan Blumenthal. The latter has made it his life’s work to study one of nature’s most prolific serial killers: Lightning. This new electrifying eight-part series is immediately available for viewing from Monday to Thursday at 6pm, with an omnibus on the weekends.

The much-anticipated Snake Season, a new riveting series of live-snake capture, rescue and release, featuring the celebrated and charmingly cool-headed Durbanite and snake expert, Nick Evans, follows at 6.30pm.

 

 

Launching in late November are episodes of one wild ride on Safari Sightings. Witness Nadav Ossendryver, the founder of Latest Sightings, South Africa’s most popular YouTube channel with over 1.8 million subscribers, visiting MalaMala Game Reserve where his most-watched and liked game rangers take him on epic game drives. Join them as they travel to spots where sightings that went viral were originally captured and, in the process, explore some brand new, unbelievable wildlife.

 

 

My First Weather Report is where your young one can be seen on TV – the perfect opportunity for kids to learn about the weather and how it connects us all. Join over 500 aspirant young weather reporters present the weekend weather in short informative segments every week.

The world consumes so much of Africa’s nature and wildlife. Yet, for so long, the nature and wildlife filmmaking genre has been an extractive industry, with most Africans unable to see the content produced on this continent.

 

 

The NEWF – Nature, Environment and Wildlife Filmmakers Short Film Festival offers a captivating array of impactful and punchy short films focused on conservation produced and directed by young African filmmakers. Exclusively screened by People°s Weather from Monday to Saturday 23 to 28 November. The films, which are all under 15 minutes long, include filmmakers’ personal journeys of discovery, investigative reports on illegal wildlife trade, educational revelations of species and game parks under threat, spiritual connections with marine life, attempts to overcome fears of nature in all its powerful majesty, and much more.

 

 

On the decision to include People°s Weather channel as a part of the Openview platform, eMedia COO Antonio Lee explained: “A large part of our existence as the human race is dependent on what takes place within our environment. Therefore, it is imperative for us to look for ways to educate our audiences and entertain them. Conscious individuals and students alike who care and want to know more about how the world is being impacted by climate change will greatly benefit from this channel.”

 

 

Lee continued: “We welcome the partnership with People°s Weather, and look forward to continuing serving the needs of our Openview customers, through the provision of relevant content.”

Stephan Le Roux, CEO of People°s Weather, says: “We welcome this opportunity on the Openview platform to expose and educate a broader audience to the role weather plays in our day to day lives and how through the stories we share it connects communities and people to the environment. We truly believe that the more we have access to our own stories or experiences around wildlife, nature and conservation, the better informed and equipped we become to protect our rich natural heritage.”

“As a channel, we are fundamentally aligned with where conservation is in Africa, and the vision for its future,” concluded Le Roux.

Tune into People°s Weather on Openview channel 115 – Way more than just the weather.

Amapiano undoubtedly continues to be one of Africa’s most prolific genres. Rooted in the Kwaito era the genre is seeing exciting cross-regional and diaspora experiments and collaborations, which have sprung up from Lagos, Accra, Johannesburg, London and New York signalling this genre is far from over. Rather it seems to be on the cusp of even more diverse and exciting global expressions in the future.

The rise of the genre is evident, with Amapiano hit makers Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa taking the top spots as the Most Streamed Artists in South Africa on Spotify in 2019. Amapiano was also the most streamed local genre on Spotify in South Africa, with a phenomenal 145% increase in global streams in the first half of 2020 to the previous year.

To explore the DNA of the Yanos sound, its impact locally and its international ascent, Spotify recently hosted an Amapiano virtual panel featuring key industry players including pioneers of the genre, artists, deejays and producers. Moderated by music journalist Helen Herimbi, Amapiano Keys featured Sha Sha, Focalistic, Don Laka, Semi Tee, Mfr Souls, Njelic as well as music and culture journalist Setumo-Thebe Mohlomi.

 

Where it all started

Legendary musician, composer and co-founder of Kalawa Jazme, Don Laka, kicked off the session by emphasizing that Amapiano is not a departure from Kwaito, but rather forms another branch of it. While Kwaito was born to ring in a new culture for the youth of the (then) new democracy,  Amapiano has done the same for its generation, giving today’s youth a voice and a sense of belonging that subsequently formed into one of the biggest music communities in South Africa.

 

Amapiano started to dominate the streets from as early as 2016 and has been claimed by several different players in the industry from various townships across South Africa.  While it’s challenging to pinpoint exactly when the sound began to dominate local dance floors, according to Setumo the pivotal moment came when Amapiano received radio airtime.  Nowadays with audio streaming platforms like Spotify amplifying the genre from the township streets where it began to a global audience, the reach is endless.

 

The Rise of the genre

Setumo-Thebe Mohlomi, who has been at the forefront of documenting the genre by immersing himself in its culture, supports the belief that Amapiano is not just a genre but a movement.  A common misconception is that Amapiano took off overnight, however East Rand based musical duo Mfr Souls are testament to the hard work that happened behind the scenes to launch and position the genre to where it is today and the ongoing work to grow it even further. Reminiscing on how they got started back in 2013 demonstrates in part the evolution of the genre – from layering Kwaito tracks with an instrumental sound including piano solos to now featuring more vocals.

 

 

 

Enhanced storytelling with an introduction of vocals 

According to ‘Ke Star’ hit maker Focalistic the introduction of vocals extended the narrative journey for listeners around what he was experiencing when the track was made.   Semi Tee agrees that lyrics are a way to showcase the culture through storytelling. Referring to his popular yet controversial track ‘Labantwana AmaUber’, he explained how the lyrics were meant to tell a story that there is more to life for township youth.  Setumo summed up the idea perfectly by adding that  Amapiano represents real-life elements that form part of the youth’s lives – the socio-economic climate of the country and high unemployment rate that has caused the youth to look for an escape and outlet from their day-to-day existence and ‘’Amapiano is it.”

 

From South Africa to the World

The growth of audio streaming has also been pivotal to the expansion of the genre. Phiona Okumu, Spotify’s Artist and Label Partnerships Manager, examined how through the power of data, Spotify was able to identify a demand for the tracks that were already popular on the streets but were not yet available for streaming. In response Spotify curated its flagship Amapiano playlist titled ‘AmaPiano Grooves’ – providing a space for artists and producers to connect and drive the genre on a global platform. AmaPiano Grooves was not only the most streamed playlist in South Africa by June 2020, but it transcended borders and was also popular with audiences in the UK and the US amongst others, with Njelic’s hit ‘Shesha’ featuring on the tracklist for the British comedy-drama series, I May Destroy You.

 

British-Ghanian producer Juls, who was first introduced to Amapiano when he heard ‘Love You Tonight’ by Mfr Souls, believes that the reason Amapiano has been able to garner international attention is because of the familiarity of the sound – the drums, percussion and house music to which music lovers gravitate towards.  ‘’The sounds of house music from across the world can be traced back to Africa this can also be a reason why sound has crossed over and been adopted so freely.’’

 

Creating a global movement

There was a time when South African and African music in general was enjoyed almost in isolation. Now with access to a global stage, the influences of Afrobeats and genres such as Amapiano are taking Africa to the world while also creating a space for African artists to influence and be influenced by one another.

 

As the Amapiano genre continues to reach different parts of the world it will need to be supported, as more of a Glocal movement with different collaborations and influences continuing to shape and broaden the genre. Phiona concluded by sharing Spotify’s vision for continued support of African artists and helping to grow Africa-centric sounds to its global audience of over 299 million active users.

 

“We believe in being a true partner to artists. We support artists, amplify their story and connect them to their fans across the globe. This is just the beginning, when we launched Amapiano Grooves last year, we visited the artists and producers who were immersed in the culture to showcase how Spotify could support them. We believe in staying close to the community and maintaining our drive to educate them on how the platform can help them connect and broaden their audience base, driving discovery and collaboration down the line.’’

Ayoba (https://ayoba.me/) and MusicTime® (https://www.MusicTime.co.za/) are proud to announce their partnership to bring free music listening to ayoba users, with the launch of a new feature in the ayoba app titled MusicTime in ayoba.

 

MusicTime® in ayoba [or MTiA] is now live in South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Rwanda, Uganda, Congo Brazzaville, Guinee, Guinee Bissau, Sudan, and Afghanistan.

 

 

Each territory offers users free access to 10 playlists with 20 songs in each. In addition, the app has a new mini player that allows you to listen to music while you chat to your contacts with no interruption. Playlists are curated specifically for each territory, and always include music from the region as well. Users can subscribe [free] to the channel as per all ayoba channels, and numbers are rising quickly as users discover the new feature.

 

 

An important feature of MTiA is the ability to listen to music with no data costs. Ayoba is zero rated for data in most of its markets via its partnership with MTN allowing MTN users to listen to a limited amount of music with no data costs.

The MusicTime® channels also include editorial content, music video clips and artist polls. A major feature will be channels in partnership with artists, such as the newly launched Sark Nation channel, featuring top Ghanaian rapper, Sarkodie; currently available across Africa. Many more artist partnerships will be launched in the coming weeks.

 

 

Ayoba has evolved significantly since its launch in 2019 as an instant messaging app. Users can now enjoy content in more than 50 channels covering topics from Coronavirus news to education to cooking tips, football, Formula 1, music news and more. In 2020, ayoba has also added gaming, and offer users free access to top mobile games. In some markets (Cameroon, Ghana and Uganda) the integration with MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) allows users to send and receive money on ayoba.

The nation is in mourning after the passing of one of its sons Bob “The Jammer” Mabena. Mabena died on monday the 10th of August 2020. He was 51,  he spent 30 of those years in the broadcasting industry.

 

Listen to the below clips of the tribute from his friends, colleagues, associates and the public at large. Power FM the station where he hosted the Power Breakfast Show ran the tribute for the most part of tuesday the 11th August celebrating the life and times of this colourful son of the soil.

 

Mabena had a colourful  broadcasting career from Radio BOP to Metro FM, to Highveld 94.7 to Kaya FM to Gagasi FM and Power 98.7FM

 

 

 

Rest in peace Bob “The Jammer” Mabena, you have played a very crucial role in building black and modern radio in South Africa. You continouosly challenged yourself out of your comfort zone and walked roads less travelled. You left Metro FM at your peak to join Highveld stereo in 1997 a move which took the industry by surprise, but that was Bob Mabena allowing himself to grow. History has proven you right as the likes of Dj Fresh followed the same trend when he left Y-FM to join 5FM in 2006.

 

 

Lights out doesn’t have to mean the fun’s out. With DStv Now, kids can watch a wide range of edutaining shows on their favourite devices, at no additional cost to you.

 

We’re all too familiar with the famous cry of the little ones when the electricity goes out. Unable to entertain themselves as they normally would, they can become antsy – particularly when the power is out for long than expected.

It’s moments like these that DStv’s School of Laughter was created for. Committed to supporting customers navigating the journey of parenting, DStv partnered with some of the best kids channels in the world to collate a comprehensive viewing environment that is both entertaining and educational.

This offering, which we like to call our School of Laughter, delivers exciting content for children of all ages. In particular, nursery and primary school learners are spoiled for choice when it comes to the wide variety of ‘edutainment’ on offer via the DStv platform.

So, the next time the lights go out and you’re looking for an efficient way to keep the kids ‘edutained’, look no further than the DStv School of Laughter. The School of Laughter webpage is filled with awesome activities for kids to do on their tablets or mobile phones. And when the lights come back on, ensure your child’s favourite School of Laughter shows have been downloaded to your mobile devices so they can watch them during load shedding.

How to download and watch with DStv Now

1. Make sure you’re registered for DStv Now.
2. Download the DStv Now app (Apple or Android)
3. Log in, and search for a series or movie to download.
4. Tap the cloud-shaped icon.
5. Select the quality of video file being downloaded (Highest, High, Medium or Low). Tip: the lower the quality selected, the smaller the file size and the less storage space it takes up on the device.
6. Once the selection is made, the download will begin.
7. Happy watching!
8. Important: After clicking ‘play’, watch the content within 48 hours, before it expires and it has to be downloaded again. If you don’t click ‘play’ right away, the content stays on the device for a while before it expires.