Local Artists Dominate As South Africans Spend 1.3 Billion Hours Streaming
Spotify’s Wrapped 2025 has confirmed what many already felt: this was the year South Africans backed their own. Listeners spent over 1.3 billion hours streaming music on the platform in 2025, and for the first time, local artists made up 70% of the country’s Top 10 Most Streamed Artists.
This marks a major shift from 2024, when seven of the Top 10 most-streamed artists were international. In 2025, South Africans decisively flipped the narrative, pushing homegrown sounds to the forefront. Combined, the Top 10 artists were streamed nearly 1.5 billion times, up from 1.1 billion the previous year.
Spotify also revealed a new metric — Listening Age — showing that South Africans’ average listening age is 31. Beyond music, the country also saw a powerful surge in video content consumption, with video podcast listening up 48% year-on-year.
Amapiano Keeps Its Crown as SA’s Most-Loved Sound
Amapiano continues to define South Africa’s sonic identity. Kelvin Momo, the king of ‘Private School’ Amapiano, landed in Spotify’s Top 3 Most Streamed Artists for 2025 with over 71 million streams. His albums Ntsako and Thato Ya Modimo both secured spots in the Top 10 most-streamed albums of the year.
Spotify data shows Momo’s appeal is driven heavily by mobile-first listening habits: 153 million of his streams came from mobile devices, while desktop and TV contributed around 15 million.
Right behind him are Amapiano giants Kabza De Small, who hit nearly 200 million streams, and DJ Maphorisa, whose catalogue — boosted by the viral success of “Abantwana Bakho” — pushed him to almost 155 million streams.
The most-streamed song in South Africa for 2025 was “Isaka” by CIZA, followed by “Vuma Dlozi” by Issa sisdoh and “Vuka” by Oscar Mbo.
Listeners moved between Amapiano, Lekompo, and a variety of other local genres, illustrating the country’s rich, diverse music culture.
Albums With Staying Power
South Africa’s top albums of 2025 reveal a deep loyalty to beloved projects.
Mlindo the Vocalist’s 2018 classic Emakhaya continues to resonate strongly, climbing from #10 in 2024 to #7 in 2025 with nearly 32 million streams this year.
In the gospel category, Nontokozo Mkhize’s Lindiwe stood out as the only gospel album to break into the Top 10, achieving more than 28 million streams and demonstrating the genre’s emotional reach.
Once again, Kelvin Momo’s dominance came through. His albums Ntsako and Thato Ya Modimo collectively surpassed 76 million streams, securing #2 and #5 on the most-streamed albums list.
South African Artists Break Through Globally
While 2025 was a landmark year for local listening, it was also one of global expansion. South African artists continued to find new, international audiences.
Tyla and Black Coffee emerged as two of the most-exported South African artists worldwide. Tyla, especially, delivered an extraordinary performance:
- She landed seven solo tracks in South Africa’s Top 10 most-exported songs.
- Since being named a Spotify EQUAL ambassador in March 2023, she has been streamed in 187 countries, with nearly 1.5 billion streams on the platform’s Top 100 EQUAL artists list.
- As the 2023 RADAR Africa artist, she has similarly neared 1.4 billion global streams in 187 countries.
With more than 700 million users worldwide, Spotify’s global community is increasingly tuning into South Africa’s sound.
“Spotify remains committed to spotlighting the artists and scenes that are reshaping culture, from Amapiano dance floors in Johannesburg to playlists in cities across the world,”
says Phiona Okumu, Head of Music at Spotify Sub-Saharan Africa.
