Vinka’s Bailando was the most played song. To be precise, per SongBoost’s dataset, it was the most played song for at least 13 weeks. PHOTO | COURTESY
With 2023 now being viewed through the rear-view mirror, SongBoost can help critics take stock of the year that was. The online platform monitors radio airplay for artistes in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Congo, Zambia, Ghana, and Nigeria, among others. In doing so, it helps musicians, managers, and labels track their music on at least 315 radio stations across Africa.
For context, the platform tracks 172 radio stations in Uganda, 63 stations in Kenya, and 17 in Rwanda. For this story, though, we are interested in areas where Ugandan music is likely to be played.
For streaming, we are going to use data exclusively gathered from Spotify Africa. Unlike the past years, where they shared information on the most streamed Ugandan artistes in Uganda with those exported, 2023’s data is more general in nature.
Either way, however, we are using Spotify because they provided some of their data, plus, as per January 2023, there was an increase in local music consumption on the platform by 294 percent.
Last year, the local music scene was dominated by Alien Skin, thanks to his antics, fights and disagreements with people, including Bobi Wine, McKats and Pallaso.
However, his ability to trend did not necessarily translate to dominating the charts. In fact, he appears only twice in the top 100 most played songs on local radio stations.
Vinka, Baraka feats
Vinka’s Bailando was the most played song. To be precise, per SongBoost’s dataset, it was the most played song for at least 13 weeks. Bailando was played by 156 stations in the six countries of Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
