What was Bengaluru listening to in 2020?

Regional music, indie tracks and motivational podcasts have been popular among city audiences

In 2020, the music industry had to innovate like never before. With pubs and other venues shut down, musicians took to the online space and organised virtual tours and live gigs.

However, as online lethargy set in by the second half of the year, the performances reduced in number. Yet, festivals such as the NH7 Weekender and live sessions organised by Ehsaan Noorani saw many takers.

“People don’t want to spend time watching an online show unless it is well-produced one,” says Malvika Nanda, founder, The Big Beat.

Bollywood music industry went into a lul, but indie musicians made up for it. The past year saw almost 100 indie releases per week in the past eight months, according to her. Artistes have taken up a minimalist approach in the way they make their music, many of them choosing to record in home studios.

Listening patterns have changed as well. On one end, listeners are opting for mellow, lo-fi music and revisiting classics. On the other, people are rediscovering older hit tracks such as ‘Rowdy Baby’ and jamming to the works of Sidhu Moose Wala.

As the year draws to a close, Metrolife takes a look at what Bengalureans have been listening to.

Favourite artistes

Arijit Singh topped the charts as per the reports by Spotify and Gaana.

BTS was the only international act to feature in the top five artistes as per Spotify, indicating the increasing popularity of K-pop in the country.

SP Balasubrahmanyam, Tanishk Bagchi, Neha Kakkar, Shreya Ghoshal, AR Rahman, Sid Sriram, Pritam, Arjun Janya, Vijay Prakash, Sanjith Hegde and Devi Sri Prasad were the other popular voices.

Favourite tracks

Gaana saw a 13 percent rise in music consumption across India, with a 12 percent spike in romantic playlist streams across all age groups and a 14 percent increase in devotional playlists. They also saw a 26 percent surge in workout playlists as people brought their gyms home.

In the absence of Bollywood releases, Bengaluru turned into non-film tracks and singles. In 2019, only 40 percent of Hindi Top 100 charts used to be non-film songs, which has now increased to 65 percent.

Gaana also noted increased consumption of regional music among Bengaluru audience, clocking close to 40 percent of music consumption in the city.

‘Karabuu’ from ‘Pogaru’ and ‘Falling’ by Trevor Daniel topped the charts according to the music streaming platforms. ‘Butta Bomma’ and ‘Samajavaragamana from ‘Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo’, ‘Marali Manasaagide’ from ‘Gentleman’, Shruthi V S and Nakul Abhyankar’s ‘Love You Chinna’, and ‘Muqabla’ were some of the most listened to tracks the past year.

India’s most-streamed albums on Spotify in 2020 were ‘Kabir Singh’, followed by ‘Love Aaj Kal’ and BTS’ ‘Map Of The Soul: 7’.

Increase in podcast consumption

Both streaming platforms observed a significant jump in podcast listeners in 2020. “While podcast plays have increased 3x, podcast listeners have also increased by the same proportion,” reads the Gaana year-end report. Devotional and motivational podcasts have been immensely popular with Bengaluru listeners. Shows on education, lifestyle and health, arts and entertainment and business and technology also saw many takers.

TED Talks Daily, The Ranveer Show, and On Purpose with Jay Shetty were the most popular shows on Spotify. ‘Ummeed’ With Zakir Khan, KadhaiPodcast’s ‘PonniyinSelvan’, The Stories of Mahabharata, Ramayan Kannada and Sadhguru Speaks were the popular shows on Gaana.