South Africans are increasingly turning to homegrown music, according to Spotify Wrapped 2025 data released this week, which shows that local artists now make up 70% of the country’s 10 most-streamed musicians.
The findings highlight a decisive shift in listening habits as users streamed more than 1.3 billion hours of music on the platform this year.
The giant music streaming platform says this marks one of the strongest showings yet for local talent on the platform.
Amapiano remains the most influential genre in the country, with DJ and producer Kelvin Momo emerging as the top performer with over 71 million streams in 2025. His albums Ntsako and Thato Ya Modimo both secured spots in the top 10 most-streamed albums.
The recent data also shows that 153 million of Momo’s streams came from mobile devices, reinforcing the genre’s reach in everyday life.
Amapiano heavyweights Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa also remain consistent leaders in national streaming trends.
The platform revealed “Isaka” by CIZA as South Africa’s most-streamed song of the year.
It is revealed that these tracks dominated party sets and online playlists throughout 2025.
The music streaming platform also reports significant international growth for South African acts. Global pop-R&B star Tyla Seethal and DJ-producer Black Coffee led the list of most-exported South African artists.
Seethal continued her world domination, placing seven songs in the top 10 most-exported tracks from South Africa.
She has streamed in 187 countries, collecting nearly 1.5 billion streams on Spotify’s EQUAL charts and another 1.4 billion through RADAR Africa.
“With more than 700 million listeners worldwide, South Africa’s local sounds are shaping playlists far beyond the country’s borders,” said Phiona Okumu, Head of Music at Spotify Sub-Saharan Africa.
Okumu said Spotify remains committed to elevating the artists and genres “reshaping culture, from Amapiano dance floors in Johannesburg to cities across the world.”
Saturday Star