Spotify has created an Amapiano Hub website and has sought to commemorate this as a gigantic first stepping stone for the South African dance and music genre.
This comes exactly a year after the music streaming giant unveiled Afrobeats. For instance, they have an Afrobeats-focused platform known as Journey of a Billion Streams.
According to the streamer, the South African dance and music genre hit over 1.4 billion streams in 2023. It has extended beyond just regions, as people from all over the world are grooving to these songs’ tunes and participating in various dance challenges.
In particular, Nigeria has seen a significant boost of 181% for Amapiano music consumption between the years 2023 and 2024.
Furthermore, the popularity of the genre has rapidly increased with the first 100 million streams in 2020 and skyrocketed to 300 million in 2021.
In addition, Spotify’s disclosure says it has introduced the definitive Amapiano site, “A Decade of Amapiano.” This platform provides context on Amapiano’s roots, primary inspirations, and potential developments; there is also an Amapiano hub to the platform with playlists and podcasts for viewers/listeners.
“A Decade of Amapiano” was released on June 14, the day before Youth Day in South Africa, and its main purpose is to celebrate the genre and the contribution it made to the youth culture. “One of the most affirming parts of watching Amapiano explode over the past decade is seeing how people use it for self-expression,’’ says Phiona Okumu, Spotify’s Head of Music in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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