Tag: One Year

Celebrating One Year of Spotify Lite

A year ago, we unveiled Spotify Lite, a small, fast, and simplified version of our app. It was built from the ground up based on user feedback from around the world, and has allowed millions of listeners in areas with limited bandwidth and phone storage to enjoy audio wherever they are. And as our users globally have found, though the app is lite, it’s just as loud.

In the 12 months since launch, listeners around the world have enjoyed and discovered thousands of new artists and podcasts—while easily controlling their data and storage. But where have fans been streaming from Spotify Lite the most, and what have they been streaming?

Since July 2019, we found that our listeners in Brazil have listened to the most music using Lite, out of all 37 markets with the app.* They’re followed by Mexico, India, Indonesia, and Argentina.

Even though some Lite users are on opposite sides of the world, they share some interesting listening patterns. For one, Mondays and Sundays are the top days for streaming, and lunch is the most common time to listen to music and podcasts.

Take a look at what they’re listening to:

Top Tracks

  1. “Señorita” – Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes
  2. “Dance Monkey” – Tones And I
  3. “Tusa” – KAROL G, Nicki Minaj
  4. “China” – Anuel AA, Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, KAROL G, Ozuna
  5. “LA CANCIÓN” – Bad Bunny, J Balvin

Top Podcasts

  1. PODKESMAS (PODCAST KESEHATAN MASYARAKAT)
  2. Rintik Sedu
  3. Do You See What I See?
  4. NerdCast
  5. Kajian Hanan Attaki

Indonesia clearly had a great year for podcasts, with the market’s PODKESMAS, Rintik Sedu, and Do You See What I See all in the top five of the most streamed.

Plus, with a new year comes new growth—or rather, a reduction. Although the app was already small—only 10 MB when it came out of beta in 2019—we’ve been able to reduce the Lite app download size by an additional 15%.** This saves even more space on listeners’ phones while offering more than 60 million tracks and 1.5 million podcasts, regardless of network connectivity, data plan, and whether or not they have the latest phone.

The Spotify Lite app can be downloaded separately from the main Spotify app, and is available for both Free and Spotify Premium users. Use it alongside or independently from the main Spotify app on all Android phones running version 4.3 or higher.

*Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Oman, Jordan, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, India.

**App download size can vary depending on phone types.

3 Major Streaming Trends from Spotify’s First Year in India

It’s been exactly 12 months since Spotify launched in India, and my, how we’ve grown. There are now more than 6,400 Indian creators using Spotify for Artists, our platform that lets artists and their teams see who’s listening to their music and take control of their artist profile. Listeners from over 2,300 cities are tuning into more than 350 curated playlists in India—like New Music Hindi and Punjabi 101—and that’s up from 120 at launch. In honor of this anniversary, we dove into some of the trends and themes around a year’s worth of Spotify streaming in India. Here’s what we saw:

1. A lot of love for local artists

Spotify listeners in India have streamed over 130 artists each in the past year. Overall, we found that the top five most-streamed in the country are from India. Topping the list are three beloved Bollywood singers: Arijit Singh, Tanishk Bagchi, and Neha Kakkar. The age group of 35 to 44-year-olds stream Indian artists at a higher rate than any other.

Globally streamed hits are also very popular in India. The most-streamed international artist in India is Post Malone, who was also Spotify’s most-streamed global artist in 2019; BTS and Taylor Swift are popular with Indian listeners as well. The most-streamed track in India over the past year is the global smash Señorita” by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, followed by Arijit Singh and Mithoon’sTujhe Kitna Chahne Lage” and Sachet Tandon and Parampara Thakur’s “Bekhayali” (both from the soundtrack to the popular Indian film “Kabir Singh”).

2. Music sets the mood

Love songs are a major part of Indian culture, which is why Spotify’s Bollywood Mush playlist is one of the top-streamed playlists among users. Interestingly, listeners in the eastern part of the country—West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Assam, Bihar, and Sikkim—have streamed the playlist the most (it seems love rises in the east!).

What’s more, during Diwali, India’s biggest religious celebration, the holiday’s themed playlists—which lean heavily on songs about love and partying—got major traction on the festival’s peak day on October 27, 2019, with plays increasing by almost 4,400%.

 3. Pressing play on podcasts and pop

India has fired up its podcast lineup, launching its first three Spotify original podcasts in December 2019. 22 Yarns With Gaurav Kapur, Bhaskar Bose, and Love Aaj Kal with Aastha & Ankit were each produced in India to cater to an Indian audience. These podcasts, which are all about pop culture, including cricket, fiction thriller storytelling, and relationship advice, respectively, also made it to the top five on the original podcast charts. 

The top three music genres streamed across India are pop, filmi (music from popular Indian movies) and hip-hop. K-Pop also has a growing fan base: Spotify’s most-followed K-Pop playlist, K-Pop Daebak, is a popular choice for Indian listeners. And India is in the top 22% of K-Pop listening in all of Spotify’s markets globally, based on streaming from the past 90 days. 

From the top-streamed artists to the most popular podcasts in India, see how listening stacks up since we launched in February 2019.

Download the infographic here.

For the uninitiated, be sure to stream Spotify’s Top Hits Hindi playlist.