The Indian Music Charts Podcast

With Karan Aujla landing both pop and Bollywood hits on the charts this week, we look at how the recent growth of Indian commercial pop music or I-Pop differs from the 1990s Indi-pop era that preceded it. Among the things we discuss is the way in which the crossover between the pop and Hindi film industries has changed and why the relationship between them is more symbiotic than before. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on July 12, 2024.

We're six months into the year, which means it's time for a look at the trends of 2024 so far. Taking a close look at the songs that reached top ten of Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart from the start of January to the end of June, we examine the genres and languages that have dominated the survey. This time around, we look at the top five most streamed songs of the year until date.

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The Indian Music Charts Podcast will be live at All About Music 2024! Get your tickets here: https://allaboutmusic.in/

As Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso" rises into the top 40 this week, marking the highest position for an international English-language track so far this year, we get special guest, Anand Srinivasan, the vice president and business head of international repertoire at Universal Music India, to share how the song has broken through in India. Among other insights, Anand explains why the charts don't always give the real picture of the popularity of international music here. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on June 14, 2024.

Until recently, a film song would break through on the charts either ahead of or around its parent movie's release in cinemas. These days, like this week's chart topper, tracks are entering and reaching new peaks soon after the films premiere on video streaming services. In this episode, we discuss why this is happening, and whether it's something we're increasingly going to see in the future. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on May 31, 2024.

Since Spotify launched in India at the end of February 2019, the listenership of music in Malayalam has grown a whopping 5,300% globally. With tracks from the blockbuster 'Aavesham' dotting the charts, we examine the hows and whys behind Malayalam music's phenomenal rise. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on May 17, 2024.

In a country with over half a dozen international and local music streaming services, marketing a track requires a multi-pronged approach On this week's episode, we speak to the founder of Artiste First, the label behind surprise hit "Ishq" by Faheem Abdullah and Rauhan Malik, to find out how they tailor their strategy for each DSP in order to maximise traction. As always, we look at the key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on May 3, 2024.

In a testament to her current status as the biggest pop star in the world, Taylor Swift's new single "Fortnight" has debuted higher than any other international track has in India so far this year. On this week's episode, we talk about the superfandom she enjoys on our shores, how she has managed to garner such a large following, and which other foreign acts come close to matching it. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on April 26, 2024.

Bollywood music is back and sitting comfortably in its old spot at the top of the charts. But this year's Hindi film hits exhibit that little has changed in terms of its sound. The segment remains dominated by remixes of recent pop hits, recreations of older smashes, "inspired" tunes and deja vu-evoking power ballads. In this episode, we examine why the film industry is so averse to taking risks, and how true evolution is always the result of constant innovation. As always, we look at the key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey dated March 28, 2024.

With Sanju Rathod's "Gulabi Sadi" scoring this week's highest new entry, we interview Vishnu Iyer, A&R Manager, Artist Services & Development at Believe India, which has been working the track, about why the Marathi pop smash has managed to cross over into the national chart. We discuss the characteristics of the regional language's music industry, and how Rathod capitalised on the success of his breakthrough smash "Nauvari" to push his new release. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey dated March 21, 2024.

Even in this singles era, albums remain important for both artists and labels. To grab the attention full-length releases need, musicians and their teams have been devising innovative marketing strategies. In this episode, we discuss some recent campaigns, the best practices for upcoming acts and the pros and cons of investing in an album. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey dated March 14, 2024.

With the Indian music industry moving to adopt the term 'I-Pop' in place of 'non-film' to denote a certain kind of Indian popular music, we look at how such new genre names come to be and what it will take for the term to stick. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey dated March 7, 2024.

The Tamil music industry is even more dominated by film soundtracks than its Hindi counterpart. That's slowly but surely changing with the surprise success of hits like "Katchi Sera" by Sai Abhyankkar, which has zoomed into the top ten in just its second week on the chart. On this episode, our guest Magesh R., the creative head at Think Music and the A&R lead at Think Music Indie, which released the track, talks to us about the digital marketing strategy for "Katchi Sera" and explains how it's achieved what few non-film Tamil tunes have done before. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on February 16, 2024.

The past year has been a great one for women on the US and UK charts and at award shows such as the Grammy where they took home all of the big four trophies. On India's charts, however, hits by solo female acts are conspicuous by their absence. In this episode, we look at how our surveys compare to those in the west, why there's such a huge gender imbalance, and what it will take to have more women in the national top ten. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on February 9, 2024.

Anuv Jain’s "Husn" is officially at #1 on Spotify's daily Top Songs India chart, making it his first release to reach the pole position and a landmark moment for independent music (though the single is distributed through Universal Music). We couldn’t think of a better time to revisit the conversation with Aayushmaan Sinha, the founder of Represent, which manages Anuv, to break down the singer/songwriter’s streaming success. Through a combination of community building and a sharp focus on measuring metrics that matter in the long run, this analysis of Anuv’s success is a masterclass in how artists can build a fandom. 

In this week's episode, we step away from our usual programming to discuss a topic that isn't directly related to but is intrinsically connected to the charts - the state of the music industry, both worldwide and within India. We highlight data from two recently released publications, Luminate's Year-End Music Report for 2023, which has some eye-popping figures, and EY India's The Music Creator Economy, which includes the results of a survey of 500 musicians. They tell us that listeners are streaming more music than ever before, and also that the average artist might be making less money from their releases than ever before. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on January 12, 2024.

PS: Keep you pen and paper/note taking app handy. There will be a LOT of data.

On our first episode of the new year, we gaze into our metaphorical crystal balls to make five predictions for the upcoming months, including which independent artist we think could have a King-sized career; whether the resurgence of Bollywood music will be even stronger; and what Indian regional languages will garner more listenership. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on January 5, 2024.

Our favorite music festival Control ALT Delete is back and taking place this weekend! You can 'pay what you want' and attend the festival (but we hope that you pay generously, all profits are split equally amongst the performing artists). Contribute here: https://www.skillboxes.com/events/control-alt-delete

We take our annual deep dive into the most-streamed tracks of the year and discuss the genres, artists, languages and labels that dominated the charts.

In March, we reported how the previous week's chart topper "Apna Bana Le" from the movie 'Bhediya' went AWOL from the chart after Zee Music Company's catalogue was pulled off Spotify. Three weeks ago, the track re-entered the survey, indicating that the service and the label have renewed their licensing agreement. This week, "Apna Bana Le" is at #58, all the way up from #98 making it one of the biggest climbers. Its disappearance in March kicked off a discussion on whether #1 on charts truly means #1 in the country. In India’s case, the answer is: not necessarily. We dive into why on this week’s short.

In the week that went by, the 2024 Grammy nominations were announced so we thought it would be timely to revisit a conversation from February 2023 in which we discuss the Grammys, why Indian artists aspire to win them and if such awards continue to hold the relevance they once did. PS: If you are listening on Spotify, we have a poll about just this. If we get some interesting answers, we will share them during next week’s episode. We will be back from Diwali break next week, until then, happy listening!

On this week's episode, we analyse the recent chart dominance of Tamil film composer and singer Anirudh Ravichander, with special guest, music journalist Lalitha Suhasini. We talk about how Anirudh's songs for Leo mark an artistic evolution and discuss why he's been able to become one of the most successful music directors of his generation. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on November 3, 2023.

On this week's episode, we break down the success of "Khalasi", the breakout hit from Coke Studio Bharat, the new avatar of Coke Studio India. We discuss the reasons why the track has performed better than others from the season, and what the tune's recent virality could mean for the future of the series. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on October 27, 2023.

During the past week, when the Bombay High Court rejected a plea for the ban on artists from Pakistan performing in India, a track by a new trio from the neighbouring country rose up the charts. The events inspired this week's episode in which we make the case for cross-border collaborations and elaborate how both nations can benefit greatly from them. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on October 20, 2023.

We are on a mid-season break and will be back on 24th October 2023! Until then, we're revisiting a segment of our first live podcast recording, which took place at the All About Music conference last month. Here, Bhavya Anand, co-founder of Bluprint, the artist development agency that represents rapper-singer King; singer Asses Kaur; and Padmanabhan 'Paddy' NS, the head of  artist and label partnerships at Spotify India, discuss with us the difference between a trend and a hit.

Contrary to what musicians are often told, there is a formula to follow that can increase the song's chances of becoming a hit and on this week's episode, we have a special guest whose current smash is proof of this. We speak to rising composer Denny about the success of his top 20 single "Chale Jaana Phir (Humko Tere Bina)" and how his meticulous approach to composing, audience research and marketing have resulted in the biggest streams of his career. He also shares some invaluable advice for upcoming artists, while we, as always, look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the week ending October 5, 2023.

On this week's episode, we talk about why the number of hits in non-Indian languages has halved over the last year. We discuss how international tracks are breaking through in India today, what music exporters need to do to cross over here, and why the charts may not always adequately reflect a foreign act's domestic popularity, while looking at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart published on September 29, 2023.

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Here is the link to the Hivewire article mentioned in this week's episode. Hivewire is an independent music industry publication launched in June 2023 by Srishti Das. This dynamic newsletter offers a unique perspective on the music industry, focusing on emerging markets: https://www.hivewire.club/hivewire-07-winning-in-emerging-markets-requires-a-shift-from-surface-level-localisation-to-meaningful-localisation/

On this week's episode, we pose a somewhat controversial question inspired by a big climber on the charts. We discuss whether musicians and industry professionals expend undue time and effort on getting their songs on editorial playlists, with Arjun Shah, the founder of talent management company Shark & Ink. Shah's enterprise represents Suzonn, a singer/songwriter whose track "Farq Hai" has seen a recent surge in streams, only a tiny percentage of which are attributed to editorial placements. He tells us how the 2020 single finally broke through, the best practices artists should follow to help their new releases gain traction, and what led "Farq Hai" to climb a massive 70 positions on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart published on September 22, 2023.

On this week's episode, we talk about key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart published on September 15, 2023 on which "Chaleya" from 'Jawan' broke the record for the most plays in a week on the platform within the country. We discuss how the time span between all-time streaming records being broken is decreasing, the factors that are contributing to these massive numbers and whether a particular kind of song is hitting these high marks.

This week, we present a special episode that was recorded live at the All About Music conference in Mumbai this past weekend. We begin the show with a look at the contribution of different labels, languages and genres to the tracks to have reached the top ten of the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart over the last eight months, and then discuss the difference between a trend and a hit, the importance of artist' fandoms, and how the very definition of a hit can vary, with our guests, singer and chart topper Asses Kaur; the head of  artist and label partnerships at Spotify India, Padmanabhan 'Paddy' NS; and the co-founder of artist development agency Bluprint, Bhavya Anand.

We would like to thank our friends and partners who helped us bring this to life: Chandni Soni, Ashish Jose aka Tarqeeb, Roydon Bangera, Nikhil Udupa, Savio Fialho, Krishna Ahuja, Luxman Gupta.

PS: We mention some stats and graphs in the start of the episode. You can see them here: bit.ly/3PxMbce

On this week's episode, we talk about key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart published on September 1, 2023 and whether music videos are as essential for a song's success as they were in the past. We discuss how eyeballs are increasingly shifting toward short format content and why the importance of an MV varies from genre to genre.

PS: We will be at All About Music on 9th September hosting a live session about 'Where do hits come from in 2023?'. The session is scheduled for 2:15 PM at Ballroom 3 @ The Grand Hyatt, Mumbai. The event is sold out so if you already got your passes, we will see you there!

On this week's episode, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart published on August 25 and talk about an artist making a huge leap into the top three. We discuss how the release of AP Dhillon's Amazon Prime documentary series First of A Kind has propelled streams of not only his back catalogue but also his newest release, which has become his first top ten of 2023.

The Indian Music Charts Podcast is going to be live at All About Music 2023! All About Music takes place between 7 -9 th September at Grand Hyatt, Mumbai. Know more and get tickets: https://allaboutmusic.in/

After last week's Independence Day special, we return to regular programming with a look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart. We talk about the accomplishment of a significant chart milestone on the survey published on August 18, 2023, when "Hukum" from Rajinikanth starrer 'Jailer' became the first south Indian-language track to hit #1. We discuss the factors that led to this moment, why composer and singer Anirudh Ravichander was poised to be the musician to achieve this, and why the song's rise to the summit was somewhat unique.

Also, we have an announcement: The Indian Music Charts Podcast is going to be live at All About Music 2023! All About Music takes place between 7 -9 th September at Grand Hyatt, Mumbai. Know more and get tickets: https://allaboutmusic.in/

On the launch episode of our third season, we celebrate India's Independence Day with a look at Spotify's top five south Asian music playlists outside of south Asia. We talk about how and why genres and regional languages are gaining fans across the world, and Indian music is finally being seen as much more than just Bollywood.

One week to go for season 3! In the meanwhile, this revisit also serves as a little bit of a tease for the debut episode of S3, dropping on 15th August. Join us as we discuss if Independent acts should sign with labels. The answer is not as cut and dry as you'd expect.

We are on a season break and will be back on 15th August 2023 with a new season! In the meanwhile, we revisit the archives where we discuss why Punjabi music, more so than any other language, has been able to win the crossover game not just outside India but also inter-India. 

On this week's episode, which happens to be our season finale, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart published on July 21. We discuss the Indian music industry's need for an official all-genre chart similar to the US's Billboard Hot 100, what such a ranking might look like if it were available today, and why labels, artists and assorted stakeholders stand to benefit from its creation.

We are shaping season 3 as we speak. If you have ideas or feedback, you can reach out to us at @akhila141 and @amitgurbaxani on Instagram.

On this week's episode, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart published on July 14 and talk about the making of the week's highest new entry with a special guest. Chaitanya Kataria, the co-founder and CEO of Gully Gang Entertainment, takes us behind the scenes of the composition and release of the highly anticipated DIVINE-Sidhu Moosewala collaboration "Chorni", and tells us what he believes it will take for Indian hip-hop to become as popular as Bollywood music.

On this week's episode, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart published on July 7 and discuss what makes a pop star in India today, with special guest Jay Mehta, the managing director of Warner Music India. We talk about how two big artists with tracks in the top ten*, King and Darshan Raval,* have shaped their careers, the secrets behind their success and the factors that made Mehta and his team want to sign them.

On this week's episode, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart published on June 30 and talk about whether a controversy can affect a track's success. We discuss the impact of a police complaint against the video for the week's highest new entry and how the consequences of deviating from widely accepted societal norms can vary from region to region and genre to genre. Lastly, we analyse whether saying or doing the wrong thing can still kill a career.

This week, we present a special episode during which we talk about three major trends we've gleaned from Weekly Top Songs India chart over the past six months. We discuss why Punjabi hip-hop is going strong as the hottest genre of the moment, why no international tracks reached the top ten and whether Bollywood music has truly bounced back.

We are taking a break from regular programming this week to revisit the archives. Earlier this year we sat down with Roochay Shukla (Sr. Marketing Manager, Outdustry). On this bonus episode, we dive into the different factors that can help indie artists transition to mainstream stars. Spoiler alert: Playlisting on DSPs is only a small part of the equation.

The original episode was published in Jan 2023. You can listen to it here: https://bit.ly/43y323e

On this week's episode, we talk about key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart published on June 2 and discuss why the term "non-film" is problematic. We look at how a prominent new entry on this week's survey exemplifies how "non-film" is an inadequate label for a genre that's often closely connected with film music. We also examine why such a name is detrimental to ongoing efforts to build an artist-focused eco-system in the Indian music industry, which has for too long been dependent on the movie business. Finally, we suggested an alternative that actually says what's on the tin

In this segment, we discuss whether releasing an album hurts the prospects of its tracks becoming hit singles.

In this segment, we discuss a proposed new law in Canada and its hypothetical implementation in India

In this segment, we discuss the pros and cons of deals with major labels, many of which have recently launched indie music divisions

n this segment, we discuss how sometimes, the chart topper isn't always the most popular song of a country. We also get a short history lesson about the US Billboard Charts and how they work.

 In this segment, we discuss the trend of songs becoming shorter and whether the length of a track has any impact on its stream count.

In this segment, we talk about the right release strategy for an artists and the relative merits of dropping an audio and video simultaneously, going audio-first or audio-only.