2020 In Music

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What a year it has been. 

And the insane randomness did not spare the music industry and trends.

This year, we intently generated our charts and insights by factoring in music releases from previous years for one fundamental reason: With billions of streams ingested, it quickly became visible to us that millions of users had quite understandably decided to stay in the past until the future comes. 

They say we are what we listen to. And in order for us to understand 2020 better, we crunched the data and squeezed out the insights to give you a candid representation of our region’s music spectrum and behaviors. 

Music played a primordial role in our user’s lives this year:

10,921,364,462 streams were recorded in 2020, surpassing last year’s number by far. 

Against all odds, 65% of these streams were of happy songs, validating the power of music to influence behavior through thick and thin.

Numbers don’t lie, and they showed people’s attachment to less hectic times. The 3 most streamed International songs of 2020 were all released in 2019, with Dance Monkey by 

Tones & I topping the charts, followed by Memories (Maroon 5), and Everything I Wanted (Billie Eilish).

The Arabic music scene witnessed more novelty, raising Mahraganat music for the first time all the way to the top, with Bent Elgeran (Hassan Shakosh feat. Omar Kamal) at the helm of Anghami’s Arabic chart, followed by Bel Bont El 3areed (Hussain Al Jassmi) and Oud El Batal (Hassan Shakosh feat. Omar Kamal).

When it comes to top artists per genre, Amr Diab ranked first among Egyptian artists, followed by Mohamed Hamaki and Tamer Hosny respectively.

In the top Khaleeji Artists chart and for the second consecutive year, Hussain Al Jassmi ranked first, followed by Assala Nasri and Eissa El Marzoug.

The Levant region was predominantly dreamy and nostalgic, with Fairouz ranking first on Levantine charts, followed by Nassif Zeytoun ranking second and Adham Nabulsi third.

Saif Nabeel released more than one hit this year, placing him as the top artist in the Iraqi charts, followed by Aseel Hameem and Nour El Zein. In the Maghreb charts, Saad Lamjarred ranked first, followed by Cheb Khaled and Hatim Ammor.

By diving deeper, we tried to understand how the mood shifted throughout the years and noticed interesting insights such as Romance being the predominant mood across streams, or Dabke songs enduring a significant decrease. Mahraganat and Arabic Hiphop witnessed the most impressive increase in popularity. 

Dance and Workout music was also among the most dominant moods, mirroring how a large chunk of users took up a physical activity to stay in shape with more time spent home. We also noticed the impact of lockdowns on commute music, with driving and other means of transport being significantly affected throughout the course of the year. 

Now looking at the International music scene, most of the artists who made it to Anghami’s top charts didn’t release hits in 2020, and most of their top streamed singles were those from 2019. 

In our top International artists chart, Billie Eilish topped the Pop Artists chart followed by Sia, and Dua Lipa. The Weeknd topped the R&B Artists chart followed by Ali Gatie and Khalid.

Travis Scott ranked first in the top Rap/HipHop artists chart, followed by Eminem and Drake.

In the Kpop charts, BTS ranked first, followed by BLACKPINK and TWICE.

One of the most heartwarming trends for 2020 was the remarkable increase in streams of rising homegrown talent. Local artists were streamed a whopping 345,452,254 minutes, positioning Cairokee as the most streamed Arabic Indie artist, followed by Ahmed Kamel and Sharmoofers.

While Podcasts picked up at remarkable speed worldwide, the trend was mirrored in the MENA. The total number of Podcast streams reached 4,510,390 with Dr.Sumaya Alnasser’s podcast ranking first, followed by Tahalip, and B For Better Health.

Distance did not stop users from bonding, and a great deal of that socialization happened through music. In 2020, 3 million songs and playlists were shared among Anghami users and 1.4 million chats were initiated in the app. Our brand new LiveRadio feature enabled users to listen together to the same music at the same time. Early adopters played 807,041 songs, broadcasting from 495,510 different LiveRadios.

We all share the sentiment that 2020 could be the year we all want to forget, but the fact that music helped us get to the other side makes our hearts lighter. 

We’re grateful that you were there to share it all with us.  You can download our full report in English or download it in Arabic , or view them below.