Most streamed artists in India
After going through the most streamed international songs in India, we want to get a larger view by looking at the top artists.
The likes Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, Justin Bieber, BTS, Ariana Grande all seem very strong, but who’s the according to the numbers?
Methodology
While we were lucky enough to know streams from 4 distinct platforms from each song, for artists only Gaana displays this statistic.
It’s the largest platform though with nearly half of the total streams from the top 250 international songs (3.4 billion streams out of 7 billion).
Artist totals on Gaana are rounded down every million.
It’s worth noting that the specific film-based dynamic in place in India, where composers are super strong, creates a unique situation.
Under the page of an artist, you will see everything that is related to him. This includes covers from other artists as well as songs the artist wrote for others.
For example, This Is What You Came For‘s 15+ million streams are added to Taylor Swift‘s total since she participated as a songwriter.
All numbers listed below include every song writing that is explicitly mentioned inside the application.
Most streamed Boys Bands / Girls Groups
We start our ride in India with the most followed boys bands and girls groups. Historically, artists like the Backstreet Boys and Westlife smashed hard in Asian countries.
For the former, we can clearly see it as they register 24 million streams with catalog songs. One can only imagine how hot they were 20 years ago.
The lead is taken by a more recent group yet. One Direction enjoys a massive 92 million streams. The teen pop sensation was truly global.
Speaking about teen pop sensations, BTS is climbing hard. They just made it to #2 position in this boys bands / girl groups list. One Direction are still far away, but the Korean superstars are already up to 50 million.
Most streamed bands
If teen pop music has always been loved in Asia, Pop / Rock bands can do well too.
Linkin Park were big everywhere and Gaana confirms India was no exception with 59 million streams for them.
They are the most followed rock band of the country with 49,000 lovers, but artists with more recent hits crush them streams-wise.
These are Imagine Dragons, Maroon 5 and Coldplay, all with well over 100 million streams.
The fact that the former leads the list is fairly impressive considering the Asian popularity of the last two has been demonstrated again and again since many years.
There is very little love for older bands although Queen manages to sneak it thanks to the Bohemian Rhapsody movie boost, they record 15 million streams.
Most streamed male singers
Several shocking results in this list. The most amazing number is no doubt Justin Bieber‘s plays which climb as high as 609 million. He is at the top international act among the most streamed artists in India.
He also has 227,000 followers, almost twice as much as the runner up, Enrique Iglesias.
Latin superstar is 9th in terms of streams at 141 million, a tremendous number for an artist whose discography is mostly made of deep catalog hits.
It comes as no surprise. The singer was claimed by Universal as the greatest selling foreign artist of all-time in the country more than 15 years ago.
Several more Latin artists make this list. Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi fully enjoy the insane success of Despacito while Sean Paul, Pitbull and J Balvin are red hot in India.
The ground breaking success of Ed Sheeran also made it past Indian boundaries as the British singer records 407 million streams.
He continues to boom fast thanks to both his own hits and the ones he wrote for fellow singers.
More youngsters are doing well too including Charlie Puth, Zayn and Shawn Mendes.
The 3rd most followed artist of the list, Eminem comes at 11 streaming-wise with 122 million.
He is the only artist from the top 15 with no individual song at 10 million which highlights the consistency of his catalog.
Most streamed female singers
It’s a fierce battle to get the top spot among female artists with half a dozen of them posting incredible results.
We already noticed that foreign acts with a Latin vibe happen to do extremely well in India, it’s also true for female artists falling into this category.
Selena Gomez claims the crown thanks to countless big hits like Taki Taki and Wolves. She stands at 317 million streams.
Her two biggest rivals in the eye of media, Camila Cabello and Ariana Grande, are also huge landing at 3 and 7, respectively.
Taylor Swift validates once again her amazing Asian popularity, including in markets that are harder to reach as this one. She recently moved over 200 million streams.
A big pop star as well as a great songwriter, Sia rockets to #5 with 169 million streams. Halsey is also relatively very big in Asia.
Rihanna, Beyoncé and Katy Perry are all just below the top 10.
Adele, just like Drake, doesn’t quite match her global domination there with only 10 million streams, not even close to the list.
We notice here too the absence of pre-2000 artists which shows that the market remained very closed to foreign music until recently.
Focus on urban music
After going through gender lists, we focus here on a few successful genres. The most obvious of them is Hip Hop and R&B music.
We can learn from this top 10 that an artist like Akon is as big as some of the biggest divas of our time, that Sean Paul beats Beyoncé and Katy Perry combined.
Recent stars of the genre are also performing really well like The Weeknd, Khalid and Post Malone.
With her participations on Taki Taki and Girls Like You, Cardi B still manages to emerge on top of the list with 179 million streams.
Focus on DJs
Excluded from the male ranking since they don’t sing themselves, and often work with female singers, DJs are surprisingly hot in India.
It’s not only one or another DJ. Many of them are immensely strong with a top 3 close or over 300 million streams and 6 in 9 digits.
The leader happens to be the Chainsmokers at 328 million, with a tiny lead over both DJ Snake and Alan Walker.
He may be older, David Guetta continues to be strong at 219 million.
Big ones also include Martin Garrix, Marshmello and Kygo.
Focus on composers
With the unique view of songwriters and composers in the country, Gaana naturally provides the same statistics to these artists.
29-year old Watt tops the list with over 200 million streams thanks to his works on songs like Let Me Love You, It Ain’t Me, Havana, Wolves and Señorita.
Brian Lee, Ali Tamposi and Louis Bell team often together with Watt on most of these songs, giving them the entire top 4.
Legendary producer Max Martin lands at 5 while youngster benny blanco has been building an impressive discography too.
It’s important to mention that not every song has its songwriters / composers properly set up inside the application.
A strong case is the one of Steve Mac. Responsible for 30 UK #1 hits, the mastermind is shown with 70 million streams, but several of his key hits are uncredited, most notably Shape Of You.
How do legacy artists perform?
For the purpose of this list, we called legacy artists the ones who released a great share of their successful records before mid-90s since it’s when the Indian market started to welcome a bit foreigners.
Among them, Michael Jackson is the unquestioned leader. He totals 44 million streams with countless songs over a million, an extremely difficult target for catalog hits.
The runner up is a shocker as Bryan Adams collects 37 million streams. He is way less consistent, but both (Everything I Do) I Do It For You and Summer Of ’69 are super popular.
Already present inside the group list, Queen rank #3.
Pink Floyd, often considered not so strong in Asia, are fourth among legacy artists and second among the bands.
They edge out bands like U2, Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana and AC/DC.
Female artists aren’t doing much better than classic rock bands with only Madonna coming close to 10 million.
Another shocker is the total of the Beatles, a dreadful 1,2 million.
Most streamed artists in India
Here is the most followed international artists in Gaana. Justin Bieber is easily the winner with an impressive lead.
Ed Sheeran is coming incredibly strong behind too with over 400 million.
As many as 4 DJs belong to the overall top 7, a perfect illustration of the strong EDM appeal there.
The Local music scene
If you take a look at the most streamed artists globally on YouTube, you’ll see a ranking flooded with Indian artists.
Alka Yagnik, who’s currently pacing at 15 billion yearly views, isn’t even among the very most streamed ones on Gaana.
It’s because nearly all artists higher than her on Gaana also record streams in billions on YouTube.
Among them, the massively popular Arijit Singh. He has virtually never left the video platforms’ Top 10 since nearly 4 years.
He isn’t shy on Gaana either with a stunning 5.8 billion streams. He is hands down the most streamed artist in India as he scores more than artists at 2 and 3 combined.
Have you ever wondered why some artists have immense views on YouTube, even bigger than on audio streaming platforms, like Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, and Alan Walker? Don’t ask anymore, the #1 reason is India.
Expected names fill the ranking with local legends like Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar, fresh hot new stars like Neha Kakkar and Atif Aslam, and Bollywood movies composers like A.R. Rahman.
You all noticed that there is roughly a 7 to 1 lead between local superstars and foreign superstars.
While that’s a significant gap, we can’t say that global singers are completely ignored there either. Plus, they are getting bigger and bigger.
How much India will impact the CSPC top artists in the long run? Only time will tell!