Interest in French-language music is increasing around the world, driven by artists like Stromae, Indila and Gazo, as revealed by Spotify listening figures or the report from the National Music Center on exports.
Aya Nakamura sings that she is “hyped”, and she is absolutely right. The Franco-Malian diva, who is exported to the United States, Latin America and even Asia, is still one of the most listened to French-speaking stars abroad. Others like Gazo, PLK, Stromae and Indila are also won by this «hype» growing worldwide, according to data revealed by Spotify, the world leader in music platforms on Monday September 30. Global listening to French-speaking music on the platform has jumped by “94% in five years”, notes Bruno Crolot, director of international music for the Swedish streaming company.
Thus, between August 1, 2023 and July 31, 2024, more than 100 million people around the world, or around a sixth of Spotify’s global users, listened to content in French on the platform. A boom that is also documented a report from the National Music Centerwhich falls for 2023 “an increase of 30%” international sales of albums by French artists compared to 2022.
Bruno Crolot underlines the fact that “understanding the language of the song we are listening to is much less meaningful than in the past”, which facilitates this growth. This attraction for the French-speaking world, also observed in podcasts – where understanding the language is otherwise determining – is “a strong trend” et “this is just the beginning” he adds. Contacted, the other heavyweight in the sector, Deezer, did not communicate its figures to Release.
From the Middle East to Latin America
Some numbers are staggering. NakamuraAya’s eponymous album, released in 2018, now exceeds one million copies “sold” internationally. In July, on the occasion of the star’s performance at the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games ceremony, Alexandre Lasch, head of the National Phonographic Publishing Union (Snep), recalled that the singer was “in the top sales of 46 countries”, what makes her “an instrument of French soft power”.
French rappers PLK and Gazo are also experiencing dazzling success in Europe. The title of the latter, Casanovafeaturing Soolking, reached 50 million plays abroad on Spotify. The Belgian Stromae charms Latin America in particular. Tayc, the king of afro love, a genre that mixes afrobeat and r’n’b, is appreciated as far as the Middle East.
The enthusiasm was amplified by the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which propelled French-speaking artists onto the international scene. The Hymn to Lovethe song by Edith Piaf performed by Céline Dion for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games saw its listening jump the next day to +497% in total worldwide on Spotify. The electro tube Nightcall by Frenchman Kavinsky, performed in a duet with Angèle during the closing ceremony, has become the most searched title in history on the Shazam application, with 6,921,000 simultaneous searches, by users mainly from of the United States and Mexico.
End of discs, time for streaming
Above all, even if albums continue to be sold on CD or vinyl, music has found itself freed from the need for physical support thanks to streaming platforms. There “technological fluidity” of these interfaces allow “directories to be discovered by potentially anyone, anytime, anywhere, in high volumes”, underlines Bruno Crolot.
French-speaking artists have also been able to benefit from the viral power of social networks. The singer Indila released her first album in 2014, Mini World. However, although his musical production has been almost non-existent since then, his listening still stands at 10.3 million monthly listeners. His success of yesteryear was revived by a trend on the Chinese application TikTok around his music thanks to which his hit Last Dance was covered by hundreds of thousands of videos. At the same time, the clip on YouTube reached one billion views, a first for a French song. Indila no longer produces but continues to shine internationally, particularly in North America where the singer is very popular.
