Spotify Unveils 2021 Wrapped ‘K-Pop Hub Edition’

Spotify – the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service – has unveiled the year-end listening data of major playlists within the ‘K-Pop Hub,’ which connects Korean music and artists with listeners all over the world. Based on the playlist listening data from January 1st, 2021 until November 26th, 2021, the announcement comes as part of Spotify’s annual flagship campaign “Wrapped,” whereby global music trends and listening habits that have defined the year are revealed.

Spotify Reveals the Top K-Pop Artists and Tracks of 2020: BTS is Spotify’s Most-Streamed Group GloballyQuick ReadsDec 3, 2020

Since the launch of the ‘K-Pop Hub’ in 2015, Spotify has been offering a broad collection of Korean music playlists to introduce diverse Korean genres, such as K-pop, OST, R&B, hip-hop, and indie, to its global audience. Some of the key playlists that have grown and become representative playlist brands for Korean genres within the hub include Spotify’s flagship playlist ‘K-Pop Daebak’ with 330 million followers, ‘Korean OSTs,’ ‘TrenChill K-R&B,’ ‘K-HIP-HOP +82,’ and ‘In The K-Indie.’

In fact, Spotify considers each of its playlists to be a brand and an important element which exerts cultural leadership within the music industry. The editorial playlists from Spotify go beyond introducing music to lead cultural trends. For instance, ‘Today’s Top Hits(TTH)’, the world’s biggest playlist with over 30 million followers as of today, has made its position as representative of what today’s music is and influences more than culture. ‘Rap Caviar’ has become a cultural brand and the center for the global hip-hop culture. Also, ‘Lorem’ and ‘POLLEN’ have grown into a mecca for artists who break the rules and boundaries of music genres as well as the definition of music, and in doing so have captivated Generation Z.

According to this year’s ‘K-Pop Hub’ data, the song that was streamed the most in ‘K-Pop Daebak’ was aespa’s “Next Level.” As for the ‘Korean OSTs’ playlist offering popular OST songs from Korea, Red Velvet’s “Future,” featured in the tvN drama series “Start-up,” marked the highest number of streams.

Within the ‘TrenChill K-R&B’ and ‘K-HIP-HOP +82’ playlists, “For You” by Lee Hi and Crush, and “Rosario” by Epik High were placed at the top of the lists respectively. As for ‘In The K-Indie,’ the playlist dedicated to Korean indie tracks, “Wings,” a collaboration between “So!YoON!” from the band Se So Neon and Thai artist “Phum Viphurit,” was streamed the most.

In the ‘Cool K’IDs Rock’ playlist for Korean rock genre, “Eight (Prod.&Feat. SUGA of BTS),” a collaborative piece by IU and BTS’ SUGA, topped the list. Also, the most popular song from the ‘Jazzy Korea’ playlist was “Care” by artist Saseon, while Sung Si Kyung’s “And we go” took the first place in ‘K-Pop Ballad Hits.’

In addition, “MY TREASURE” by TREASURE recorded the highest number of streams in the ‘RADAR Korea’ playlist, which introduces promising new Korean artists and their music, and in ‘Fresh Finds Korea,’ wherein undiscovered indie talents are promoted, “Rain Star *:・ﾟ” by Yongyong reached the top spot.

“Spotify has continued to make efforts to not only support the global reach of K-pop but also raise global awareness of the ever-diverse Korean music and artist scene,” said Kossy Ng, Head of Music for Asia at Spotify. “We will continue to widen our global bridge, connecting more Korean artists to fans and more listeners – with the potential to reach over 381 million listeners across 184 countries, worldwide.”