Tag: muslim

Spotify Celebrates Ramadan With Listening Trends From Around the World

March 21, 2024

March marks the beginning of Ramadan, a cherished cultural event celebrated by Muslims worldwide. As families and communities come together to observe, contemplate, pray, and celebrate the Holy Month, they can also turn to Spotify for meaningful audio content. 

This year, our Ramadan hub is back with a blend of music and podcasts designed to foster self-reflection, wellness, and entertainment. When eligible listeners open the Spotify app, they’ll find carefully curated content for every mood and moment of Ramadan. Listeners will also find personalized content on the Your Ramadan 2024 playlist.

What does Ramadan sound like around the world on Spotify?

As Ramadan begins, many Muslims experience shifts in their daily routines, from work schedules to social interactions. Similarly, their Spotify listening habits also shift, as evidenced by our streaming data from 2023.

Our top finding? Audio was often used to set the tone as families and communities came together for suhoor, the predawn meal, with streaming spiking around 5 a.m. in most markets. Below, we unveil more 2023 listening trends across various markets to shed light on streaming patterns throughout the sacred month.

Egypt

  • Quran listening hours (audio consumption related to the central religious text of Islam, the Quran) spiked around 5 p.m. This aligns with iftar, the post-sunset, fast-breaking meal.
  • Before sunrise, listeners consumed more entertainment-based content.
  • A top podcast throughout the month: Finjan with Abdulrahman Abumalih. Hosted by Saudi journalist and TV presenter Abdulrahman Abumalih, Finjan covers a wide range of topics pertaining to the Middle East and North Africa.

Saudi Arabia

  • Quran listening hours surged around 8 a.m.
  • Before sunset, listeners consumed more spiritual and fitness-based podcast content. Before sunrise, preferred podcast genres included history and crime.
  • A top podcast throughout the month: Areeka. Hosted by Bibi AlAbdulmohsen and Talal Sam, Areeka mostly covers social topics, from psychology to common myths.

Indonesia

  • Generally, streaming spiked between 2 and 4 p.m., which aligns with ngabuburit, the waiting period before breaking fast.
  • Religion and spirituality-based podcasts were the most-consumed genre throughout the month.
  • Listeners gravitated toward well-being podcasts in the morning before shifting to music at night.

Spotify’s top Ramadan playlists

Our Ramadan hub contains a wide variety of curated playlists. In Egypt, the top Ramadan playlist of 2023 was Titrat Ramadan, which showcases soundtracks from the most popular Ramadan TV dramas.

In Saudi Arabia, listeners gravitated most toward Chill-oud. This playlist features songs played with the oud, a stringed musical instrument that is one of the oldest and most important instruments in Arabic culture.

Listeners in Indonesia favored the Your Ramadan 2023 playlist. This personalized playlist brings Spotify’s editorial and algorithmic worlds together to provide users with curated audio content that resonates with their respective Ramadan journeys.

Last but not least, the most-streamed Ramadan playlist in Pakistan was Hamd-o-Naat, which features devotional tracks for an immersive experience. “Naat” was also the country’s most-searched word during the Holy Month, reflecting a desire for poetic expressions of devotion and praise. Our Best of: Coke Studio Sufi playlist, which showcases Coke Studio’s top Sufi tracks, also saw 218% growth last year.

This year, Spotify remains dedicated to delivering a culturally resonant Ramadan experience for listeners around the world. For the ultimate audio companion throughout the sacred month, explore the Ramadan hub.

Spotify Celebrates the Holy Month of Ramadan With a New Personalized and Curated Experience

March 20, 2023

a visual look at the Spotify app's ramadan experience

This week marks the start of Ramadan, a month of spiritual rejuvenation, humility, and togetherness. As families and communities around the globe come together to observe, learn, pray, and celebrate, they can also turn to Spotify for meaningful music, podcasts, and talk content.

Those observing Ramadan have previously enjoyed curated Spotify playlists and podcasts that remained static throughout the month. This year, we’ve built a dynamic new experience for Ramadan. 

“We’re designing an experience on the platform that allows our listeners to take a more active role in discoverability as well as to foster more meaningful connections with artists and podcasters they love on Spotify,” said Gautam Talwar, Managing Director for Spotify Asia Pacific. “We are proud to deliver this supercharged Ramadan experience to our listeners during this important cultural moment to soundtrack their moods and moments across the Holy Month.”

When eligible listeners open the Spotify app, they’ll find new highlights, podcast quotes, clips, and music and podcast releases every day, plus a new topical theme each week. Listeners will also find personalized content on the “Your Ramadan 2023” playlist and see the music and talk content that’s trending in their countries, and podcasters are constantly developing and publishing new Ramadan-related episodes. 

“Ramadan has now become a time for podcast creators to think of special programming for their audiences. We are seeing more and more podcasters release series that are the ultimate companions to everyone observing,” shared Rhea Chedid, Senior Podcast Manager at Spotify. “Everything from shows about cooking and the history of Ramadan traditions and Islam, to audio scripted series that entertain and podcasts that review your favorite Ramadan television series, we are really witnessing creators think deeply about how they can better the lives of listeners through audio during this time.”

Nick Dahl, a Senior Product Manager, is one of the Spotifiers behind creating the Ramadan experience. We talked to Nick to learn more about what listeners can expect within the unique and personalized app destination.

What makes this Ramadan experience different from what Spotify’s done in the past?

In previous years, our editorial teams have curated playlists, podcasts, and talk content for our users during Ramadan, and this year we are taking it to another level. We are spotlighting content that changes each day, creating personalized playlists with songs picked just for listeners, and highlighting trending content that people are listening to in their region. We also made readings from the Quran easily accessible, and listeners can also find exclusive clips and greetings from their favorite artists and celebrities wishing them a blessed Ramadan.

Do you have a favorite element of the experience? 

A personal favorite are the daily offerings that change each day in the Ramadan hub. They highlight locally relevant stories about fasting, self-reflection, and wellness while also showcasing new releases from some of the most popular local creators in our markets.

Another impactful aspect is that our recommendations vary depending on where you’re located and what time of day it is. For listeners observing in Egypt, some popular music playlists they’ll find include Ramadaniyat, Titrat Ramadan, and Chill-oud. And they can easily access some of the most popular Ramadan-related podcasts, like Al Rassol, 1001 Nights, and Sukoun. Meanwhile, for fans in Indonesia, Refleksi Diri, OTW Ramadan, and Ketupat Lebaran are three popular music playlists we’re serving. Someone looking for podcast content can tune into shows like PODKESMAS, RAPOT, Podcast Ancur, Kita dan Waktu, and GJLS, each of which has Ramadan-specific episodes.

Why is it important to build app experiences like this?

We want our fans and creators around the world to feel that Spotify is part of every moment, from Ramadan to regular daily listening. To do this, we’ve built product experiences that celebrate local culture with our users. Each market is different from another, and each user has unique needs when it comes to their listening habits. That’s why we invest heavily in personalization and machine learning. We are able to create not just one version of Spotify, but rather 500 million different versions of our product tailored to each and every listener around the world. 

Ramadan is observed by more than 1.6 billion people around the world and we want to build a better, more localized product experience that celebrates our listeners’ cultures. Our long-term ambition is to become their number one choice as an audio companion throughout the fasting period—from dawn to dusk—and to celebrate the end of Ramadan with Eid.

 

Discover the Ramadan experience by downloading the latest version of Spotify on your mobile, and then search for “Ramadan.”  The experience is rolling out over the coming days on Android and iOS.