S. Korean hip-hop garners explosive popularity on Spotify

[Courtesy of Spotify]

SEOUL -- South Korean hip-hop songs have garnered explosive popularity on Spotify, the world's most popular music streaming service, during a 12-month period between August 2021 and July 2022. A playlist comprised of South Korean hip-hop songs was streamed more than 20 million times. The number of song streams increased by 56 percent from five years ago.

"K-Hip-Hop +82," which has just changed its name to "KrOWN," was mostly favored by Americans, followed by Taiwanese, Indonesians and Thai, Spotify said in a statement on September 1. The playlist has more than 430,000 followers.

Hip-hop has become a mainstream culture in South Korea since the early 2010s when artists such as Mad Clown, BewhY and SUPERBEE received attention through "Show Me The Money", a cable TV hip-hop audition show series. In August 2021, AOMG, a hip-hop label founded by Korean-American rapper Jay Park, held a non-face-to-face extended reality (XR) concert for global hip-hop fans amid the COVID-19 pandemic. AOMG has the strongest lineup of artists in South Korea's thriving hip-hop scene. Park's single "Mommae" has garnered over 131 million views on YouTube since its release in 2015.

Kim Joo-heon jhkim123@ajunews.com

S. Korean hip-hop garners explosive popularity on Spotify

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