
Most-streamed track of the day by country - sebastien-lbn
https://www.worldspotify.com/
======
sacred_numbers
Something to keep in mind: the top track in the world right now is ROCKSTAR,
with about 5 million streams per day. The song lasts about 3 minutes, which
means the song was streamed for 250k hours around the world. Spotify streams
an average of 234 million hours per day, though, which means the number one
song represents about 0.1% of the total. We have an unprecedented level of
access to all sorts of different genres of music, so the number one song is
barely relevant in determining this generation's taste in music. Consider this
idea: if 99.9% of the population is listening to classical music, but are all
listening to different pieces it's possible that none of the songs they are
listening to would show up as number one, since there are many thousands of
classical pieces. The number one song is determined by a small percentage of
people (maybe even a fraction of a percent) that care about listening to
whatever is most popular at the moment. The rest of the population just
listens to music from any generation they like.

~~~
indigodaddy
Interesting took me a bit to get what you were trying to say but of course it
makes sense. Basically, 99% of people are listening to “anything besides
ROCKSTAR”, it’s just that that “anything else” doesn’t overlap with too many
others “anything else”

~~~
toxik
I've referred to this as hyperfragmentation, you see it everywhere. You can
find your match on anything -- if you like green boots displayed in a slightly
warm light under a palm tree, you can find other people who do.

------
holografix
I think if I look at this any longer I might slip, fall down and break a hip!

Embarrassing how old I am when pretty much ALL of these songs sound like
absolute trash to me. Repetitive auto-tuned, formulaic, mysoginistic,
materialistic, mundane, simple-minded steam pile of fermenting dog poo.

~~~
derefr
Pretty sure you'd say that about songs from whatever decade you grew up in, if
those could be sorted by "most listened to" as well.

Top40 is already pablum, but it still has some tiny amount of curation (and
therefore elitist dictation of taste) driving it. This chart, meanwhile,
represents pure populist sentiment—it's "what the people want to hear." And
populist sentiment has _always_ been pretty much all of those things you said.

~~~
Archit3ch
Also, just because it's popular doesn't mean that people actually prefer that
lifestyle.

It reminds me of the opening scene in Office Space where a white man listens
to rap during traffic on his way to a typical 9-to-5.

~~~
ACow_Adonis
Its not just the lyrical content though (which is objectionable and sad
enough), but everything else as well.

Universally auto-tuned and synthesized, short, overly repetitive,
mumbling/distorted, and whatever backing track they do have could barely be
called musical by any objective standard (i.e. a measure of
complexity/interrelated instruments/harmonies/themes/tracks). It doesn't
matter whether its an african-american mumbling about being a gansta or a
breathy-autotuned tween girl, its the same issue.

Listening around the world, it seems to be universal with slight variations
here and there.

It's genuinely depressing...

~~~
fortran77
I _knew_ the hipster-elitists on Hacker News would declare popular music as
beneath them.

~~~
ahendy
Many of these comments are ridiculous, it's hilarious. Feeling "depressed"
that popular music doesn't fit your taste? Asserting that these artists have
no talent? Let people enjoy what they enjoy, rather than criticize the
subjective!

I really like the website. It is interesting how popular music in the US
appeared in other countries, for instance Bulgaria, and how other countries
most popular song I'd never even heard of the artist.

------
yellowapple
Some assorted notes / points of fascination:

\- With the sole exceptions of Brazil and Argentina literally all of the
"green" countries in Latin America have top songs with the Same. Exact. Beat.
"One and-Three Four, One and-Three Four..." all throughout. And interestingly
Spain, Italy, France, and Turkey have a very similar feel, albeit with some
deviation. Not that I _mind_ that beat (it's perfect for the club), but it's
still interesting how little deviation there is.

\- On that note, Brazil's top song is delightfully weird. Not a single drum
except for a ludicrously-overdriven kick. I hate it but love it at the same
time.

\- Literally every predominantly-English-speaking country has the same exact
top song. I would expect at least _some_ variety, but nope, America's got
their musical tastes by the balls, apparently.

\- A surprisingly large amount of Europe has generally embraced American-style
rap, though there are some exceptions (e.g. Spain, Italy, France, most of
Eastern Europe).

\- Poland's, on that note, has got a neat vaporwave/seapunk vibe to it that's
pretty cool. Probably my favorite of the bunch.

\- Japan's top song is exactly what I would expect Japan's top song to sound
like, lol

\- Indonesia's top song fuckin' _slaps_. Very close second-favorite.

\- India managed to introduce me to Melanie Martinez, and I gotta say I'm a
fan; very similar in theme, style, and catchiness to Lily Allen's "Not Fair",
which is another favorite of mine.

~~~
kinow
Brazil never fails to surprise me. I thought I was going to catch up with some
new song and talk with friends.

But turns out it was a funk _. And the title "Na raba toma tapão" in
Portuguese is hilarious, something like "Slap that arse"?

_ Nothing like the old style funk, but a style that mixes other styles and
very popular in the outskirts of Rio and Sao Paulo, and also in the favelas -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk_carioca](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk_carioca)

------
polytely
I love complaining about 'kids these days' & their music tastes as much as the
next guy, but don't lose sight of the fact that we now have more access to
amazing music than ever before. You just have to find it. I thought I would
share some cool links that help me find music.

NPR Tiny Desk concerts are one of my favourite ways to discover new music.
Their audio team is so great the recording often sound better than the studio
versions:

Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ferZnZ0_rSM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ferZnZ0_rSM)

Snarky Puppy:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfzu33BfRHE&t=107s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfzu33BfRHE&t=107s)

KEXP has an amazing YouTube channel where they post full performances of an
amazingly diverse array of artists. Discovered my currently favourite artist
ADHD via them:

ADHD:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSHSpy_Iy_g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSHSpy_Iy_g)

Public Service Broadcasting:

[https://youtu.be/mScesON6Kx4?t=41](https://youtu.be/mScesON6Kx4?t=41)

Paste Magazine also has some really great sets:

Kate Tempest:

[https://youtu.be/gM4aPRiZJbk?t=57](https://youtu.be/gM4aPRiZJbk?t=57)

Avishai Cohen:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Bulmk2MzY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Bulmk2MzY)

There is so much going on that doesn't involve Spotify at all, for example
funk band Vulfpeck sold out Madison Square Garden without any charting songs,
manager or big label, just by having a passionate internet fandom. They
recorded it on like a gimballed iphone, It's glorious:
[https://youtu.be/rv4wf7bzfFE?t=591](https://youtu.be/rv4wf7bzfFE?t=591)

------
derefr
Spotify is one of those services that it never occurred to me wasn't already
truly-global (i.e. penetration into all markets.) But so many of the countries
on this map are dark. (And aren't available in the raw chart data, either.)

Is there some other more-popular music-streaming service in these other
markets, that's keeping Spotify out? What do they use in China? In Russia?

Or is music-streaming as a whole, just not popular in some markets? (I guess
that could make sense for sub-Saharan Africa, given low Internet connectivity;
but it's surprising that it also holds for the northern parts.)

~~~
BlueGh0st
>In Russia?

Yandex seems to provide every service a Russian needs, from email, finding
apartments, to taxis. Yandex Music seems to be the preferred streaming app.

~~~
srg0
According to Yandex Music chart
([https://music.yandex.ru/chart](https://music.yandex.ru/chart)), currently
the most listened track in Russia is "Плачу на техно" by Cream Soda, Хлеб.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Snj1Pt-
Hs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Snj1Pt-Hs) Surprisingly, it's not rap.

------
joejohnson
Clicked on four countries in Western Europe and then the United States and
they were all the same pop song... not sure what I was expecting I guess

~~~
dmcy22
Rockstar is a top song on Tiktok — maybe that's the reason?

------
bananamerica
Brazil’s song could be translated as “Get fucked in the ass with a huge slap”.
As a Brazilian, I don’t know what I was expecting.

~~~
kinow
Same here. For one second I thought I was going to listen to some local rock,
or MPB. But forgot it could be a funk, sertanejo, etc. Really funny (funnier
in Portuguese) title tho.

------
NalNezumi
Cool page!

As of the top songs, I checked the top songs of Japan, Sweden and English
speaking countries. And I see a funny pattern: Both English speaking and
Sweden have black/ghetto song as top song, while Japan top song sounds like
something I would hear while walking in a shop in Shibuya. (J-Pop for
youngsters)

I've had Spotify since closed beta, and in Sweden it was "the cheap option for
young folks" (instead of just pirating it), and I assume it was marketed the
same in the English countries (since I got my closed beta ticket through a UK
site, using VPN)

Now, Spotify is not that popular yet in Japan. It's quite new here but the
marketing is _heavily_ focused on young people, meaning places such as Shibuya
and Harajuku are filled with ads and commercial for it. Hell, the Japanese
commercial about Spotify _on spotify_ is about a young couple trying to have
sex and the mood being ruined by surrounding noise (mom downstairs).

------
monkeypizza
Regarding general change in music in the US over time, this study looked at
~50 years of US pop songs and found changes. I wonder about the rate of other
countries pop song subject change is?

See link:
[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/03057356177482...](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0305735617748205)

"As in 1960, the predominant topic of pop music remains romantic and sexual
relationships. However, whereas the proportion of lyrics referring to
relationships in romantic terms remained stable, the proportion including
reference to sex-related aspects of relationships increased sharply.

"References to lifestyle issues such as dancing, alcohol and drugs, and
status/wealth increased substantially, particularly in the 2000s. Other themes
were far less frequent: Social/political issues, religion/God, race/ethnicity,
personal identity, family, friends showed a modest occurrence in top-40 music
throughout the studied period and showed no dramatic changes.

"Violence and death occurred in a small number of songs, and both increased,
particularly since the 1990s. References to hate/hostility, suicide, and
occult matters were very rare. Results are examined in the context of cultural
changes in the social position of adolescents, and more specifically in light
of the increased popularity of rap/hip-hop music, which may explain the
increases in references to sex, partying, dancing, drug use, and wealth.

------
dusted
Wow that's some surprisingly bad taste in music, world-wide! Interesting and
depressing map.

~~~
stOneskull
i found most of it horrible. norway's didn't make me feel too sick.

------
Agentlien
I clicked around a bit and I've not heard any of these songs. I guess I'm out
of the loop on what's popular since I stopped watching TV or listening to
radio.

All I'm getting now are items curated by my own tastes (and to some degree the
whims of spotify), and I'm happier for it. I still discover new bands and keep
track of new releases, but it's all within my own favourite genres.

------
fh973
The democratization of music. Seems like this is what you get when the
marketing departments don't determine what's listened to.

------
BelleOfTheBall
This is kind of interesting to see because, for today, pretty much 90% of the
most-streamed tracks seem to be hip-hop/rap. I guess it's really the most
popular genre right now, rock's time has passed by. I'm sure bands like
Imagine Dragons or some other radio-friendly arena rock could get the top spot
for a week or two, but rap seems to be dominating. Wonder how long this will
keep up?

------
nunez
Stream count is super low for India. I don’t think Spotify is used there. From
my limited experience, YouTube and local apps seem to be way more popular.

~~~
gabruu
to many competitors for spotify Gaana, Saavn, Youtube, Apple, Amazon, hungama,
Jio, Wynk, but it only launched a yearish ago and nearly has all local music +
excellent algorithm to find songs, so will not take time to catch up.

------
Darkphibre
To branch out, I tend to pop into the Viral 50 charts to see what's a bit less
conventional that's rising in regions.

[https://spotifycharts.com/viral/](https://spotifycharts.com/viral/)

The Top 50 lists at Spotify all suffer from what I assume are cross-cultural
advertising campaigns.

------
gerbilly
The mere exposure effect means that merely being exposed to something cause us
to prefer it almost automatically.

So if you hear "Rockstar" a bit more than the other songs, then you start to
prefer it. It's like the olds saying in radio: If they don't like a song now,
just keep playing it till they love it.

------
dvasdekis
This has really amazing music that I just don't get exposed to.

Could you add past history too (e.g. charts from days/weeks/months ago)? I'm
happy to help build a quick CRUD API if you need to store the data.
(myusername@gmail.com)

~~~
meritt
The data is entirely available from
[https://spotifycharts.com/regional](https://spotifycharts.com/regional)
including daily CSV download links since 2017-01-01.

The OP submission just renders it on a map.

------
shadykiller
Wow ! Also integrates the browser back button a history of the countries I
select

------
billfor
Privacy Badger has replaced this Spotify Player button.

~~~
rypskar
That is probably because you have been on another site that emmbeds Spotify. I
have had internal services blocked by Privacy Badger because it was included
in two different internal test-sites.

------
rntksi
How do you click on Singapore? This makes small countries with lots of people
miss out on being able to see their countries ...

~~~
murermader
Got the same problem with Lichtenstein

------
unixhero
I am surprised the volumes of the most streamed song is that low. My favorite
YouTube channels get millions of views.

~~~
rsynnott
There's a huge long tail to music, especially these days with radio stations
no longer dictating taste to any great extent. Youtube, probably not so much;
the almighty suggestion algorithm takes care of that.

------
Exmoor
The map is nice, but usability is a bit lacking since it's very hard to pick
out some of the smaller countries.

~~~
joe5150
I found that I could zoom in and pick them out pretty easily. If you're on a
phone maybe not.

------
pmarreck
ROCKSTAR is not only crap, it's #1 in like every English-speaking country...
JFC /opinion

------
jonesdc
Anyone know how to find all songs between certain number of streams? Say 10
million and 100million?

~~~
cjsawyer
Another comment mentioned the CSV data sources

------
maxdo
It's sort of political game but Sporify is blocked by Spotify itself in many
countries.

~~~
wayoutthere
Probably a distribution rights / local laws thing. International media
distribution is complicated and a lot of authoritarian regimes control it
tightly.

------
WillSlim95
The India one is definitely not what a majority of Indians would listen.

------
jmartrican
Interesting how many Puerto Rican artists are trending in many countries.

~~~
progre
Well, summer is comming. Got to have some latin grooves for that beach feeing.

------
jon_elbrook
I cant click singapore.

------
sam1r
Super cool! Nice work!

------
marstall
They all suck lol

------
cmdshiftf4
Somewhat saddening to see countries as diverse as Ireland, the UK,
Netherlands, South Africa and Australia all promoting American rap over the
output of their own people.

On the flip side, it's fantastic to see so many countries not doing so.

~~~
tonywastaken
Why is that saddening? I'm glad to see that American hip hop is as popular as
it is in those countries. Makes me even happier when it's an African American
hip hop artist.

~~~
IMTDb
It's sad because we would expect/hope that the diversity of human cultures
would be lead to very different songs being popular in different parts of the
world.

It's also sad because the three most common word of the song in question (
Dababy - Rockstar ) are: "Yeah" (21 occurences), "Woo" (15 occurences) and
"nigga" (13 occurences). The next one in line are "cop", "pull" and "glock" (6
each). This is probably not the culture the US hopes to export.

~~~
tonywastaken
Just because at the moment there is an American song leading the charts
doesn't mean that is always the case. You look at those lyrics on their own
and they are just words that don't may not make sense. But if you look at the
song as a whole, it's an artist's expression. And it seems to resonate with a
lot of people around the world. Criticizing the song contradicts your value
for "diversity of human cultures".

~~~
IMTDb
Nevertheless, my answer explains why some people find a bit sad that today,
people in most countries all seem to resonate with the exact same artistic
expression. And that this expression which resonates with so many people
involve lyrics like :

"My daughter a G, she saw me kill a nigga in front of her before the age of
two"

Which to me don't really sound so happy. So if that is really what moves most
of the world today, yeah I am a bit sad.

~~~
glomph
Things don't have to be happy to be moving.

------
madengr
The collect musical taste of the world is garbage. At least everything I
played today was written in the 19th century. I’m pretty sure it’s been going
down hill since then.

------
alejogutierrez
Agree with many comments. If music were the way to describe society everything
went to the hell. The problem is not only the computers usage in the music, is
that in terms of composition, lyrics, emotions, everything sucks. Any of these
songs are crap that someone with the most basic knowledge on a DAW could make.
"Roses" which is the less shity song sounds like a crap version of "Moonlight"
from Gaullin. It would be awesome to have a complete musical review something
like genres, rhythms, duration, "instruments" you know even if those are drum
loops and synths, etc.

~~~
colejohnson66
I’m reminded of when Jazz became a thing and practically everywhere said “it’s
not classical, it has no soul, etc. and therefore sucks”. It’s pop music
because... well... it’s _popular_. You may not like it, but a lot of people
do. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Adam Neely had a really good video showcasing newspapers and editorials
denouncing the Jazz genre when it appeared. It seems to have been taken down,
unfortunately.

Basically, as you get older, selection bias regarding music becomes more
prevalent, and you forget the bad music you liked and end up only remembering
“the classics”. Just because a song charts doesn’t mean it’ll last.

~~~
jariel
Nobody with any sense could look at Jazz musician and say they didn't have
talent. Just the opposite: most musicians watching Jazz would just be floored
at what's going on, that it's even possible. So while they may or may not like
it, it's basically impossible not to respect.

~~~
colejohnson66
You’re ignoring the point. The point is that, at that time, people hated it.
Nowadays, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who _hates_ jazz; they’ll
recognize it as instrumental, but they won’t like it.

The hatred towards modern pop is the same thing. It’s just a fad. In 20 or so
years, the younger people who like it will hate the pop of the 2040s or 2050s.

~~~
jariel
"The hatred towards modern pop is the same thing."

No, this is not true at all.

"People hated Jazz" \- agreed.

"People hate pop music now" \- agreed.

'Change is generational thing', ok, yes.

But what you're missing is that 2020 pop music doesn't require any skill, at
all.

Jazz - to any musical observer - requires an _immense_ amount of skill.

However much anyone 'hated Jazz' \- if they understood music in the slightest,
they had to respect it. This is a big difference.

The proof is the fact that Jazz is still alive and thriving.

Whatever is on the Hot100 right now will be dead next year and never heard
from again.

Edit: I should be more specific - pop music doesn't require a lot of skill,
because most acts aren't doing anything, they're generally not even behind
their music - the producers are behind it. That said - it's definitely hard to
be famous. Being a trend on YouTube is a kind of a skill, it just may not be
musical.

~~~
colejohnson66
> But what you're missing is that 2020 pop music doesn't require any skill, at
> all.

I keep hearing this, but I never see any of its arguers actually attempt to
make a pop song. If it’s so easy, why do only some people have the knack for
pulling it off (not the artist/singer; the composer (the person you never hear
of))

> Jazz - to any musical observer - requires an immense amount of skill.

I really wish I could show you the video as Neely argues it better than I
could, but basically, at the time, the features of Jazz were what was hated,
not the genre.

According to Wikipedia, Jazz is characterized by a heavy emphasis on
improvisation. In the 1920s (when Jazz became a thing), the detractors argued
that (I’m paraphrasing) improv “lacked musical talent” and that “anyone could
throw notes together to make music”. I’m not making this up. Those are really
the arguments they made. People would argue that the absence of counterpoint
meant it was an abomination.

Sure, racism played a part, but for the most part, Jazz was hated for the same
reason people hate pop today: “it’s easy to make”. _Which is just not true._

~~~
jariel
"I keep hearing this, but I never see any of its arguers actually attempt to
make a pop song. If it’s so easy, why do only some people have the knack for
pulling it off (not the artist/singer; the composer (the person you never hear
of))"

Because it is so easy to make, _they are_ making massive numbers of garbage
tracks - and it just so happens that some garbage tracks are popular. You need
'garage band' and possibly microphone - that's it. Have a look at how 'Chief
Keef' had his music produced by 'Little Chop'. Most top tracks are of course
somewhat professional produced.

But consider that 'music' is not the name of the game, it's 'video' (i.e.
video killed the radio start), Instagram, twitter, Tumblr and highly visual
content. You can see this with Lady Gaga (talented) and SixNine (well,
creative, but garbage) - they're at least as visual as they are audial, as are
most artists these days.

It's about the brand/image/meme. Someone in their basement, with very little
skill, can make a loop, mumble over it, and this 'meme' can catch on. With a
very little bit of production effort by a nominally professional engineer, it
can sound 'produced'. At least as much of their effort goes into the look, the
brand, the relationships, the Instagram, the video etc..

And it's worth adding, the 'talent' that is sometimes evident in this kind of
production, may have little to do with the music, and more to do with anything
else.

I actually respect the 'marketing' ability, if you want to call it that, of
many of these acts. Post Malone has somehow worked his way into having his own
festival with his 'Posties' followers. Genius marketing.

When P. Diddy started his label, he would ask his talent scouts "How did they
_look_ " \- not "How did they sound". Somewhat cynically, P. Diddy was smart
enough to know that pop acts are a lot (and ever more) about appearance. A pop
artist is like a living brand.

Another feature of 'how modern music is made' is that the _producer_ is now in
the creative/driver seat - not the artists. Consider 'TheWeeknd' \- his big
hit, 'Can't feel my face' was by Max Martin, famous songmaker for Britney
Spears and so many others. Without that hit, TheWeeknd would be nobody - we'd
have never heard of him. But once his meme/brand was established, he has a
'following' and can churn out a lot of mediocre stuff.

This has always been the case to some extent: Michael Jackson was backed by
Quincey Jones - who was Frank Sinatra's arranger. But Michael Jackson is a
genius entertainer and true 'pop artists', and of course Quincey Jones is an
off-the-hook musical genius producer.

This evident in 'live' music. I've been to countless shows where their music
is just some canned track, the artist comes out and mumbles over it?
Seriously? In most cases, this is not impressive.

Anecdote: I went to a show recently, bulleted as Brasilian/French/American rap
thing in Montreal, I was so excited. The 'warmup' DJ played ... then the 'act
DJ' played, a guy with huge fuzzy hair came out, jumped around like a hype man
say 'boyeah' 'oi' and whatever into the mike, getting everyone excited ... we
were ... anticipating the main act. _But that was it!!!_ No kidding. Some
idiot with a microphone, saying a word or two like 'yeah' 'oh yea' 'go go go'
into the microphone not rapping or anything. He was passing himself off as an
act! The crowd seemed to appreciate it. I thought I was in the Twilight Zone,
it was absurd. To me, it signaled literally the end of music: loud, barely
audible weird sounds coming out of a speaker, with a fuzzy-haired Brazillian
dude sputtering occasional nonsense into a microphone and waving his hands.
It's not even Kareoke. It was just noise and hand-waving. This to me is he
audial version of the 'pet rock' or the $1M painting that's just a black dot -
people can be induced to like anything.

So there are obviously talented pop artists. Ed Sheerhan, a legit musician who
purposely writes for the radio. Bruno Mars & Co, are total geniuses. Lady
Gaga. Kenrdick Lamar. Ariana Grande has wicked chops, she's obviously a
talented singer/dancer/entertainer. Obviously many others, but the charts are
otherwise polluted with irrelevant, unlistenable tracks.

Surely some people thought Jazz was easy to make, but I suspect that many were
just jealous because they obviously knew they couldn't do it. Jazz is
objectively not easy to make. Literally anyone who has tried knows how hard it
is. Also, FYI, there's no counterpoint ... but the chord combinations, the
speed of the changes, the variety ... is far more than in most forms of
classical music.

Most pop music is very easy to make, and there are mountains of gibberish
there for anyone to sort through. Fewer and fewer gems.

