Ayub Ogada, Sauti Sol among most-streamed artistes abroad

The late afro-fusion legend Ayub Ogada, little-known singer Jeff Kaale and Sauti Sol are the most-streamed Kenyan artistes outside the country. 

Marking its first anniversary in Kenya, Swedish streaming platform Spotify released a report on how Kenyan music was consumed both locally and globally in the past 365 days.

Spotify tried to put to rest the never-ending debate on whether local music attracts good listenership beyond the Kenyan borders. 

The top five songs were mostly streamed from USA, UK and Canada in that order, with the exception of Ogada’s ‘Kothbiro’, which was mostly listened to in USA, Germany and the Netherlands.

In the report, eight of the top 10 most exported songs from Kenya were collaborations,  probably due to the combination of fan bases.

Gospel-turned-secular singer Kevin Bahati’s hit jam ‘Wanani Remix’ — featuring gengetone singers Mejja, Benzema, Odi Wa Muranga, Ssaru and female rapper Petra  — was the most listened to local song outside Kenya. 

‘Nairobi’ by Bensoul, Sauti Sol, Nviiri The Storyteller and Mejja was second, with ‘Melanin’, a collaboration by  Nigerian rapper Patoranking coming third.

Ogada’s timeless gem

The late Ogada’s timeless gem ‘Kothbiro’ — Dholuo for ‘the rain is coming’ — followed, with over 11 million streams. 

‘Extravaganza’, the song that plunged Sol Generation into the Kenyan music scene was fifth, with ‘Short N Sweet’  by Sauti Sol  featuring Nyashinski, ‘I Do’ by Willy Paul featuring Jamaican chanteuse Alaine, ‘Dusuma’ by Otile Brown and Rwandese sensation Meddy, ‘Suzannna’  and ‘Kuliko Jana’ by Sauti Sol completing the top 10 list. 

When it comes to individual acts, afro-fusion band Sauti Sol, who are scheduled for a three-month Europe tour starting this April, topped the list with over 15 million streams collectively.

‘Melanin’ was their most listened to song, attracting over seven million streams cumulatively both locally and globally. ‘Suzanna’ was second, attracting over four million streams.

Interestingly,  23-year-old Kaale, who makes melodic hip-hop music and lofi RnB music, was second on the list of top exported local artistes even though none of his songs appeared on the  top ten list.

Kaale’s ‘Life is but a Dream’ was the most listened song, with over 4.4 million streams, followed by ‘Footsteps’ with 3.9 million streams, with ‘Barbeque’ third, attracting 3.4 million streams. 

Kaale described his music as “versatile, experimental and free of any genre boundaries”. 

One million subscribers

Third was Otile, who in the past two years has enjoyed huge success on various streaming platforms.  

‘Dusuma’ was his most listened to song, with over 2.9 million streams on Spotify, with ‘Chaguo la Moyo’ featuring Sanapei Tande coming in second with two million streams. 

Last month, Otile became the first Kenyan artiste to clock one million subscribers on YouTube.

America’s digital charting award schemes platform, The Billboard Chart, ranked him as the most watched Kenyan artiste on YouTube in 2020.

Last year, his collaboration ‘Such Kind of Love’ , featuring Jovial, was the most watched music video in Kenya, according to data released by YouTube.

On the Spotify list, Otile is followed by Ogada, who passed on  in February, at the age of 63.  

Ogada preferred the Nyatiti, a Luo string instrument, in most of his compositions. 

Most famous song

‘Kothbiro’ remains his most famous song and has been played in many avenues, including at the Rio 2016 Olympics as Kenya’s athletics legend Kipchoge Keino received the Olympic Laurel award. The song has also featured  in Hollywood blockbuster ‘The Constant Gardner’. 

Besides ‘Kothbiro’, his other song that was well-received on Spotify is ‘Obiero’, attracting over three million streams. 

Other exported acts on the top ten list include Nviiri the Story Teller, Willy Paul, Bensoul, Kenyan-born Norway-based rapper Stella Mwangi, Nyashinski and Ms Karun.

Spotify notes that there has been an increase of 25 per cent in the number of Kenyan artistes joining the platform. 

Since the launch, the average number of artistes streamed per use has grown by 17 per cent.

‘Niko Sawa’ by Nviiri, ‘Ex’ by Nikita Kering, ‘Nairobi, My Jaber’ by the H_art the Band were the top four most-streamed songs in the country while Sauti Sol, Nviiri, Otile Brown and Nyashinski were the top most streamed artistes in the country.