Akhiyaan Gulaab, Sajni, Naina among top streamed Indian songs worldwide

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Indian music is clocking an exponential rise on the global music platform. In recent years, the export of Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu music has surged, fueled by cross-cultural collaborations and the rise of platforms like Spotify that enhance artist discoverability. In the first half of 2024, Indian artists, spanning film and independent music, saw their songs widely embraced in diaspora hubs such as the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, as well as expanding into new markets like France.

Here's what made it to the list of most streamed Indian songs, across the world (excluding India), between January to July this year:

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1. Akhiyaan Gulaab ("Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya"), by Mitraz
2. Naina ("Crew"), by Badshah, Diljit Dosanjh, Raj Ranjodh
3. Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya Title Song, by Asees Kaur, Raghav, Tanishk Bagchi
4. Jagga Jatt, Badshah, Diljit Dosanjh, Ikka, Sez on the Beat
5. Pagal, by Babbu Maan, Guru Randhawa, Sanjoy
6. Katchi Sera, by Sai Abhyankkar
7. Ve Haaniyaan, by Avvy Sra, Danny, Sagar
8. Sajni ("Laapataa Ladies"), by Arijit Singh, Prashant Pandey, Ram Sampath
9. House of Lies, by Ikky, Karan Aujla, Sanjoy
10. Drippy, by AR Paisley, Mxrci, Sidhu Moose Wala

These tracks represents a mix of Bollywood, Punjabi Pop and independent music, all of which made it to an international audience.

It's not over yet, There's more.

Punjabi artist Harsh Likhari who collaborated with Canadian artist Connor Price for "Customs" made it to Spotify's Top 50 - Canada playlist, while the collaboration between French artist Tayc, and local artists Shreya Ghoshal and Rajat Nagpal, "Yimmy Yimmy", made it to the Afropop playlist, one the biggest editorially curated pop playlists on Spotify.

Among the 50 most exported songs from India during the time are tracks such as "Pahadon Mein" by Vishal Mishra, "Ishq" by Faheem Abdullah and Rauhan Malik, "Kurchi Madathapetti" by Mahesh Babu, Sahithi Chaganti, Saraswati Putra Ramajogayya Sastry, Sri Krishna, Thaman S, and "Cuffed (Jo Tha Mila)" by Ananya Birla and Offset, among others. This diversity is representative of the music that is coming out of India, breaking through language and geographical boundaries.

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