The Indian Music Charts Podcast

The soundtrack to this year's highest-grossing Hindi film so far, horror comedy Stree 2 has accomplished what no other OST has in recent times: each of its four tracks has reached the top ten. In this episode, we speak to Neha Malhotra, assistant general manager - music marketing and audio monetisation at Saregama, about the strategies the label implemented to promote the movie's tunes and consequently, reach this rare milestone. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on September 6, 2024.

With "Big Dawgs" by rapper Hanumankind and producer Kalmi entering the charts in over a dozen countries, it's become one of the first Indian releases to cross over internationally. This week, we interview Rohan Venkatesh, the founder of management company Imaginary Frnds whose roster includes both HMK and Kalmi, to talk about the release strategy for the hip-hop smash and how multiple touch points across social media served as trigger points for the track to take off first in the US and then across the world. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on August 23, 2024

On this special episode that was recorded live at the All About Music conference in Mumbai on August 7, 2024, we interview a panel comprising singer and rapper Chaar Diwaari; the head of music and podcasts at Spotify India, Dhruvank Vaidya; artist manager and Swiftie Natasha Mahtani; and chief of business - live events at BookMyShow, Owen Roncon, to understand how fandom is built and monetised, from their distinct perspectives as artists, fans, managers, platforms and promoters. This time, instead of looking at the key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India survey, we begin the show with a few examples of how superfandom influences the charts. Data mentioned at the start of the podcast can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-HgnKilaAg6meObBxEmFA8icjJ7AuKEfwvhYxbkVP68/edit?usp=sharing Special shout out to Team All About Music: Ashish Jose, Chandni Soni, Kinselle Fernandes, Krishna, Anamika Sinha.

With "Aasa Kooda" spending another week in the top three, Tamil pop singer Sai Abhyankar has done what few other acts have in the recent past: follow-up a viral smash with another bonafide hit. This week, we discuss what he did differently to achieve this, how virality doesn't always convert into chart placements, the mistakes artists often make when trying to replicate their previous success and what they should be doing instead. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on July 26, 2024.

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. ----- 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.

This week's highest new entry - a hit 2022 track by the independent pop music duo Mitraz that they've reworked for an upcoming Bollywood film - inspired us to sink our teeth into the sync business. We get our guest, Alick Sethi, the founder of music supervision agency Retox Music, to take us through the different types of sync opportunities available to artists today, what they should look out for, who should they approach to land such deals and how to ensure you price your music right. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on February 2, 2024. ------ Learn more about Retox Music :https://www.retox-music.com

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.