Spotify is back with its annual “Wrapped” list of top songs, podcasts, genres, and trends of 2019. I won’t deny it—I look forward to this every year, and it’s a chance to see if the rest of the internet/world agrees with my choice of songs every year. But while the Spotify Wrapped microsite is up and running, the site still says that “Your 2019 Wrapped, coming soon”.
So what have Malaysians been listening to the most in 2019? Let’s have a look at Spotify’s Wrapped list.
Most streamed artist in Malaysia: BTS
K-pop has been on an upward trend over the last few years or so, and it seems that the fever is still very much present in Malaysians. Unfortunately, I haven’t really been listening to K-pop beyond the odd track here and there, but it appears that I am very much out of the trend. Figures.
Click here to access their playlist on Spotify.
The remaining 4 artists that were listened to the most in 2019 are predictably mainstream (in order): Ariana Grande, Khalid, Ed Sheeran, and Post Malone. I say mainstream, but I’ll admit (as my colleague has been reminding me—repeatedly) that Post Malone was my most streamed artist of 2018.
Most streamed male artist in Malaysia: Khalid
Based on the previous list, it’s easy to tell that Khalid‘s RnB tracks have been popular with Malaysians, and he’s the most streamed male artist in Malaysia. Strangely enough, none of his individual tracks made it into the list of most streamed tracks in Malaysia, which could mean that Khalid has a wide spread of songs that consistently do well in the charts. Interesting.
Ed Sheeran (of course), Post Malone, Shawn Mendes, and Alan Walker (?) make up the remainder of the top 5.
Most streamed female artist in Malaysia: Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande is one of those artists that you either love or hate, and it seems that Malaysians love the former Disney artist. Taylor Swift continues to maintain her popularity in Malaysians’ hearts (despite her ever-changing song genres—I miss the country Taylor, to be honest), and Billie Eilish maintains her strong following in 2019. Camila Cabello (the one and only Senorita) and Halsey make up the remainder of the list.
Most streamed local artist in Malaysia: K-Clique
Local hip-hop group, K-Clique, is the most-streamed local artist in Malaysia. I’ll confess that I haven’t heard much from the group, but they also apparently sell vape e-liquids as well—such entrepreneurs.
Faizal Tahir makes it into the number 2 position, despite reports that he’s chosen to retire from the music industry. His fifth album, Rojak, is his final album ever, he says. Despite that, his popularity is as high as ever—and I’m certainly a fan.
The evergreen Dato Siti Nurhaliza, SonaOne, and Insomniacks (what a name) are the 3rd, 4th, and 5th most streamed local artists in Malaysia respectively.
Meanwhile, the most streamed groups in Malaysia in order are BTS, BLACKPINK (K-pop again), Maroon 5, TWICE, and 5 Seconds of Summer.
Best ear-worms of 2019: “I love it when you call me Senorita…”
“Señorita”, by Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes (who are dating) is the most streamed track by Malaysians in 2019, and it’s hard to disagree. It’s one of the more addictive songs of the year, and I can’t seem to get it out of my head. This isn’t helped by the fact that certain colleagues in the SoyaCincau office have repeatedly played this out loud, and it’s a worthy accolade for the song.
The remainder of the top 5 most streamed tracks of 2019:
- “Boy With Luv” – BTS feat. Halsey
- “Someone You Loved” – Lewis Capaldi
- “Sunflower” – Post Malone, Swae Lee
- “7 rings” – Ariana Grande
Post Malone’s album, Hollywood’s Bleeding, is the most streamed album by Malaysians in 2019, followed by Shawn Mendes’ self-titled debut album, Shawn Mendes, Thank u, next from Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish’s WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, and Love Yourself 結 ‘Answer’ by BTS.
So what do you think? If anything, it shows that I’m not really listening to the same music as the majority of Malaysians are—maybe I need to update my Spotify playlists. Later this week, Spotify is also rolling out the personalised Wrapped 2019 list, which will list your most listened to tracks, artists, groups, podcasts, and so on for the year. You can check if it’s available here or on the Spotify app.
