In 2018, I researched the presence of English-language songs in 14 different national Top Weekly Streamed songs lists on Spotify, which was then, and still is, the world’s leading online streaming service. I also analyzed Spotify’s Global Weekly Top Streamed songs list for the presence of English-language songs.
What I found — and I looked across an 18-month period — confirmed, for the most part, that, among other things, on Spotify, there was almost zero presence of non-English language songs on the U.S. and U.K. top weekly streamed songs lists, there was significant presence of English-language songs on the top weekly streamed lists in European countries such as Sweden, Germany and Poland, that there was somewhat less of a presence of English-language songs on several Asian countries’ Spotify lists and, finally, very little presence of English-language pop songs in the Spotify lists from countries in which Spanish is a dominant language such as Spain and Argentina.
The significant presence of English-language pop songs on Spotify charts in diverse countries ranging from Sweden to Poland to Germany to Japan and the near total lack of non-English language songs on the U.S. and UK Spotify charts show cultural and linguistic imperialism are not outmoded nor invalid. Indeed, a cultural and linguistic imperialism perspective reveals much about the cultural and linguistic hierarchies and inequities that characterize contemporary global cultural and linguistic configurations of power
The empirical approach I took to examining Spotify in terms of my general research question — What sort of presence does English have on the national weekly top streamed Spotify songs from a variety of countries located in different geographic regions of the world as well as Spotify’s weekly global most streamed songs list? — is mostly an upper-level/macro-level approach. I deliberately chose to look at the very top of Spotify most-streamed song lists — The Top 10 — because this where I am most likely to find more, and stronger, evidence of English-language hegemony.
As a critical scholar, one of my primary goals is to identify, highlight and critique places/spaces with the biggest, clearest power inequities. Throwing critical light on these places and spaces, for instance on the Germany weekly Top 10 Spotify where English-language songs constituted 70, 80, and even 90 percent of the ‘German’ Top 10 across the 18-month period analyzed, shows that inequality and inequity are still very much part of the globalization equation. This is true even if it is also true that all culture is hybrid and that all individuals have (some) agency in how they respond to, work within, challenge, etc. a give (linguistic or cultural) hegemonic order.
What I found via my case study of Spotify Top 10 Weekly Streamed songs in selected countries is shown in the chart at the top of this page. You can read the entire article that focuses on English’s presence in select Spotify Top 10 Weekly Streamed Songs in the book Media Imperialism: Continuity and Change (2019), edited by Oliver Boyd-Barrett and Tanner Mirrlees. The article is entitled, New Global Music Distribution System, Same Old Linguistic Hegemony? Analyzing English on Spotify.
To recap, what I I found via this analysis was ==>
- Mostly English-language pop songs on the Spotify Global Top 10 & Top 200 Weekly Streamed songs across an 18-month time period with a some Spanish-language songs and very few songs sung in any other language other than these two;
- Virtually no non-English songs on the U.S. and U.K. Top 10 Weekly Streamed Songs;
- Significant presence of English-language pop songs on many Top 10 Weekly Streamed Song lists from several European countries where English is not a major language — Germany, Poland, Sweden;
- Less pronounced presence of English-language songs than in Europe on the Top 10 Weekly Streamed Songs in a few Asian countries such as Japan and Taiwan;
- Very little presence of English-language songs on the Top 10 Weekly Streamed Songs for Spanish-language dominant countries such as Spain and Argentina.